Saterfrisian

Saterland is a unique area in North-West Germany near the Dutch border (see map). Here a Frisian language enclave could maintain itself within the Low German surroundings. Of all living continental languages, Sater Frisian is perhaps the nearest relative to Old English. In its phonetics and morphology as well as its vocabulary, it saved many traces of North Sea Germanic.
Saterland is the valley of a small river (Äi or in German Sater Ems), which crossed the formerly extensive peat-moor district between the Frisian coastal strip and the Low Saxon interior. Along this river the Sater Frisians developed intensive trade, using small boats. Because of this, agriculture was only the second means of subsistence, which led to an extreme partition of the private land and consequently to a great number of field names, in fact about two thousand for a population which did not exceed one thousand during centuries.
The ploughland and the peat moors were in private possession, whereas dry pastures and heath were common property and the meadows along the river were in alternating use. This is an inland type of agriculture, in its pure form not appearing elsewhere in the Frisian language area.

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P. Kramer, Lound un Noomen (Die saterfriesischen Orts- und Flurnamen in der Landschaft), 1994. [Text und Atlas].

The book starts with some introducing chapters about the origin and the use of the soil and about the history of Saterland. Then a summary follows of the Sater Frisian phonetics in its relation to Old Frisian and Germanic. Next the place- and country names and the waters names are considered, often accompanied by etymological remarks. These are not only concerning Saterland, but also the neighbourhood, where many place names have characteristic Sater Frisian counterparts.
The field names are the main item of the book. After a description of the written sources, the field names have been given in geographical order. All transmitted forms of a name have been reported because of the linguistic value of the material. Also all available information has been given on use, soil, and location of the plots, including stories. In addition to written sources, much material was gathered from a great number of interviews, held with original inhabitants by the author. This part is closed by a summary about persons names and a dictionary of the field name elements, accompanied by etymological remarks and comparisons with the neighbourhood. The book concludes with a survey of results, a list of literature references and an alphabetical name index. Because of the parts in Sater Frisian, mainly the source collection, a word index Sater Frisian - German - English has been added.