Kilchberg (Tübingen)

Kilchberg is a village within the administrative district of Tübingen. Kilchberg is located 2.6 miles (4.2 km) south west of the city center, and is situated along the south bank of the Neckar River in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The municipality of Kilchberg was incorporated into the university city of Tübingen on July 1, 1971.

The name Kilchberg is unique in Germany as a place name. In Northern Switzerland there are two places also called , located in Basel and Zürich cantons respectively. All three are located in areas where Alemannic German dialects are spoken.

The word Kilchberg is ambiguous in its origin and meaning. If broken down to its component parts “kilch” and “berg,” the latter part is common and having a meaning of mountain or hill in German. The former part “kilch” is not so highly attested. Kilch is the common name in southern Germany for various species of European freshwater whitefish, such as Coregonus bavaricus (endangered), and Coregonus gutturosus (extinct). These fish are also commonly known as kilchen, and kirchfisch (church fish). The name Kilchberg can thus mean “salmon hill/mountain.”

There is also the probability of another meaning for Kilchberg, based on the ambiguity and apparent interchangeability of the words “Kilch” and “Kirch” in some Old High German and medieval sources. “Chirihha” and “chilihha” respectively, represent the same word in OHG, meaning “church.” Interestingly another name, mentioned above, for the kilch is kirchfisch aka churchfish. This would then give an alternate meaning “church hill/mountain” for Kilchberg.

One other possible origin for the name Kilchberg is from the German word “kelch.” Kelch is German for “chalice” or goblet. Located on the outskirts of the village is a prominent Celtic burial mound dating from the Halstatt culture, about 500 BCE. The mound stands about 2.5 meters high, encircled with stone at the bottom, and on the top features a sandstone stelae approximately one meter high. To the casual observer this may be easily perceived as a hill resembling an upsidedown challace. In the relatively flat plains of the Neckar river valley this ancient mound, located in Kilchberg, may be reckoned a “Kelchberg” or “chalice hill/mountain.” More evidence would need to come to light to have a definitive origin of the name.

...
Wikipedia