Eulgem

Eulgem is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kaisersesch, whose seat is in the like-named town.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies in the Eifel roughly 2 km northeast of Kaisersesch.NameThe village’s name has taken various forms over the ages. About 1100, it was Hylichenheim, in 1278 Holichenheim, in 1427 Ulchenheym, in 1592 Ulchem, in 1656/1657 Eulchem and in 1789 Eultgem. Clearly, the placename is one of many that end in —heim, or at least it originally was. This placename ending is very typical of places founded in Frankish times. Over time, the —heim ending has been corrupted to —em.Werner Schumacher offers several possible derivations for the distinguishing prefix, but none is certain. It could be from the Latin for elm, or perhaps from Olk or Ulca, meaning “land that can be worked by plough” or “land that is worked”. Schumacher also cites a Dr. Beestermöller who believes that the root may be a Celtic reference to wetlands.