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[Facts] Minden
German, meaning?
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Minden - Hey, Thanks Andy, just can't think a descent reference book on German Place name origins! Now i'm curious as to the origins of Mime? Of a Old German origin? Cheers, Bobby
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The dictionary I use is:
Dieter Berger: Geograpgische Namen in Deutschland, Mannheim 1999 (ISBN 3-411-06252-5)Of course it's in German, but as a paperback it's fairly cheap (10 Euro)Now to MIME. The book I mention says, the name of the city is usually interpreted as a formation (?) to Germanic "Mime".Old Norse Mímir in Norse mythology, the wisest of the gods of the tribe Aesir; he was also believed to be a water spirit. Mimir was sent by the Aesir as a hostage to the rival gods (the Vanir), but he was decapitated and his head was returned to the Aesir. The god Odin preserved the head in herbs and gained knowledge from it. According to another story, Mimir resided by a well that stood beneath …
(Encyclopedia Britannica)This is in German: http://www.sungaya.de/schwarz/germanen/mimir.htmAnd this is what I found in the Grimm brothers' "Deutsche Mythologie" on the etomology of Mime: Maybe related to Latin "memor" (to remember) and Greek "mimeomai" (to imitate)
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German: habitational name from any of various places so named, for example in Westphalia.

(Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press) This place was called Mimidon in the 9th cent., Mimthum in the 8th, and supposedly goes back to the name of a male nymph "Mime".(Duden, Geographische Namen in Deutschland)
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