Podlehnik (; german: Lichtenegg) is a settlement in the

Haloze Haloze () is a geographical sub-region of Slovenia. It is in the northeast of the country, in the Styria region. General characteristics Haloze is a hilly area, running roughly east–west bounded by the border with Croatia to the south and the ...

Hills in eastern

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. It is the seat of the

Municipality of Podlehnik The Municipality of Podlehnik (; sl, Občina Podlehnik) is a municipalities of Slovenia, municipality in Slovenia. It lies in the traditional region of Lower Styria, Styria in northeastern Slovenia and belongs to the Drava Statistical Region. Th ...

. The area traditionally belonged to the region of Styria. It is now included in the Drava Statistical Region.

Name

Podlehnik was attested in historical sources as ''Lihteneck'' and ''Leichtenekke'' in 1259–1260, as ''Lihtneck'' in 1297, and as ''Liehtneck'' in 1308, among other variants. The Slovene name is a fused prepositional phrase that has lost case inflection: ''pod'' 'under' + ''Lehnik'', referring to the location of the village below Lehnik Castle. The name of the castle (german: Li(e)chtenegg) is a compound from

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

''lieht'' 'light, bright' + ''egge'' 'hill, peak', thus meaning 'castle on a bright/sunny hill'. The Slovene change of the ending from -''negg'' to -''nik'' is an example of folk etymology based on analogy with many other toponyms ending in -''nik''.

History

The settlement developed around 13th-century Lehnik Castle. The castle was destroyed during Ottoman raids in 1532 and very few traces of it remain (foundations of a tower and a defense ditch). What was originally the castle chapel is now the local church, dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, and was expanded in the 16th and 18th centuries.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number 3462

References

External links

Podlehnik on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Podlehnik {{Podlehnik-geo-stub