A ''woog'' (from ''wâc'', a

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

hydronym A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...

) is the local name for a body of still water in parts of southwest

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. A ''woog'' may be of natural origin or manmade.

Distribution of the name

The name is used for waterbodies in the German states of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

(being especially common in the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

), the

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

, in

South Hesse Darmstadt is one of the three of Hesse, Germany, located in the south of the state. The other two are Giessen and Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central ...

(commonly in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried' ...

) and in the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

( Nordbaden); even the names of roads or settlements are derived from such bodies of water. Examples are:

Baden-Württemberg

* Woogsee, natural lake near

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...

in the basin of the Kinzig-Murg-Rinne

Hesse

Großer Woog Grosser or Großer is the masculine nominative singular form of the German adjective "gross", meaning "big", "great", "large", "tall", and the like. It is part of many placenames, especially of mountains. It is also a surname. People with that surn ...

, reservoir on the

Darmbach The Darmbach (in its middle course: ''Landwehr'', in its lower course: ''Landgraben'') is a river of Hesse, Germany. It flows through Darmstadt, and into the Schwarzbach in Trebur. See also *List of rivers of Hesse This is a list of rivers of ...

Rhineland-Palatinate

* Biedenbacher Woog, reservoir on the Leinbach * Büttelwoog, campsite near

Dahn Dahn () is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemei ...

* Dämmelswoog, reservoir near Fischbach *

Eiswoog The Eiswoog is a reservoir, roughly six hectares in area, on the Eisbach (Rhine), Eisbach stream, locally also called ''die Eis'', in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is oriented from south to north in the water meadows near the source ...

, reservoir on the Eisbach * Finsterthaler Woog, reservoir on the Leinbach *

Franzosenwoog Franzosenwoog is a former reservoir in Pfälzerwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was created around 1828 to facilitate timber rafting on the nearby Hochspeyerbach The Hochspeyerbach () is a long river in the Palatinate forest in Rhineland- ...

, former reservoir on the

Hochspeyerbach The Hochspeyerbach () is a long river in the Palatinate forest in Rhineland-Palatinate and a left tributary of the Speyerbach. Course The Hochspeyerbach rises in the municipality Hochspeyer in the immediate vicinity of the swimming pool. In ...

Gelterswoog Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

, reservoir of tributaries of the Aschbach * Hammerwoog, reservoir in

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

* Kammerwoog, former ''woog'' on the Nahe in Idar-Oberstein, today a section of the river * Katzenwoog, reservoir on the Erlenbach near Kaiserslautern * Kolbenwoog, reservoir on a tributary of the Aschbach * Mörstadter Woog, reservoir on the northern perimeter of

Mörstadt Mörstadt is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies in Rhenish H ...

{{cite web , work= Wormser Zeitung , url=http://www.wormser-zeitung.de/region/vg-monsheim/moerstadt/4835558.htm , title=Idylle am Woog near Musik and Wein , date=2008-07-07 , access-date=2009-09-08 * Mühlwoog, reservoir on the Leinbach, just before its confluence with the

* Niederhausener Woog (also ''Niederhausener reservoir''), reservoir der Nahe between Norheim and

Niederhausen Niederhausen is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdeshei ...

* Pfälzerwoog (also Pfalzwoog), reservoir on a right tributary of the Saarbach * Salzwoog, district of Lemberg, named after an old reservoir on the Salzbach * Scheidelberger Woog, nature reserve between Miesau and

Hütschenhausen Hütschenhausen is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Western Germany. Sons and daughters of the community * Julius Koh (1884 – after 1936), chemist and manager of the chemical industry * Julius Rüb ...

* Schweinswoog, reservoir on the

Eußerbach The Eußerbach forms the right, northwestern headstream, over 11 kilometres long, of the Eisbach (Queich), Eisbach river in the county of Südliche Weinstraße, in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Sights Abbey Church (''Klost ...

* Seewoog, reservoir on the Leinbach near Waldleiningen * Sixmeisterwoog reservoir on the Aggenbach near

Otterberg Otterberg () is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate with about 7,350 (as of 6/2006) inhabitants. It is situated approximately north of Kaiserslautern. Otterberg is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemein ...

* Spießwoog, reservoir near Fischbach * Stüdenwoog reservoir on the Eppenbrunner Bach * Vogelwoog, reservoir and surrounding nature reserve on the edge of Kaiserslautern * Woogfelsen rocks, a

heritage site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

on the Biedenbacher Woog in

Frankenstein (Pfalz) Frankenstein () is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. On a hill towering over the village is Frankenstein Castle. Frankenstein (Pfalz) station is located on the Mannheim–Saarbrücken ra ...

Saarland

* ''Alter Woog'', road name in the old town of St. Wendel * ''Am Altwoog'', road name in the Neunkirchen district of Furpach * ''Merwoog'', road name in Kirrberg derived from an old reservoir on the Lambsbach * Möhlwoog, reservoir on the Erbach near Homburg-Jägersburg * Woogbachtal (also ''Ensheimer Gelösch''), valley with ponds near Saarbrücken-Ensheim Airport * ''Zum Altwoog'', road name in

Fürth im Ostertal Fürth (; East Franconian: ; ) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the second-largest city in Franconia and now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, th ...

References

Hydrogeology Hydronymy