Ponikve, Semič

Ponikve (pronounced [pɔˈniːkʋɛ]; German: Sporeben) is a remote abandoned settlement in the Municipality of Semič in southern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region. Its territory is now part of the village of Planina.

Name

The Slovenian name Ponikve is a plural form derived from the word ponikva 'influent stream' or 'sinkhole' (into which such a stream disappears). In its plural form it refers to a gently rolling landscape consisting of the basins of an influent stream. Like other villages named Ponikve and similar names (e.g., Ponikva), it refers to a local landscape element. The German name Sporeben was attested as Payrs-Eben 'Bavarian plain' in 1574. This developed via dialect ins Poar Eben 'in the Bavarian plain' into the name Sporeben and refers to a Bavarian ethnic presence among neighboring non-Bavarian settlers.

History

Ponikve was a Gottschee German village. In 1574 the village consisted of four half-farms. It had 12 houses in 1770, but only eight in 1931. The original residents were expelled in the fall of 1941. Italian troops burned the village during the Rog Offensive in the summer of 1942 and it was not rebuilt after the war. After the village was burned, the Partisans built the Kremen hospital in the nearby forest. The hospital continued to function until February 1945. The Partisan Veterans' Organization restored the headquarters building of the hospital in 1956.

Semič

Semič (pronounced [ˈseːmitʃ]; German: Semitsch) is a market settlement in Slovenia and the seat of the Municipality of Semič in the traditional region of White Carniola in southeastern Slovenia. The municipality is included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region. It gets its name from Semenič Castle, which used to stand on a hill above the settlement. Semič was the location of a Yugoslav Partisan base and airfield in the Second World War, from where Allied airmen and escaped and freed prisoners of war were airlifted to safety.

The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Stephen and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Mesto. It was first mentioned in written sources dating to 1228.

Hamlets

Semič contains a large number of hamlets, some of which used to be independent settlements. These include Coklovca, Gaber pri Semiču, Gora, Kašča, Kot pri Semiču (German: Winkel), Krč, Mladica, Podturn, Sadinja Vas (Sadinja vas, German: Sodinsdorf), Sela pri Semiču (German: Sela bei Heiligengeist), Trata, Vavpča Vas (Vavpča vas, German: Amtmannsdorf), Vrh, and Vrtača pri Semiču.

Semi

Semi- is a Latin prefix to a verb, noun, or adjective meaning "half". Some compounds formed with it are often abbreviated to simply "semi" in appropriate contexts:

See also

Numeral prefix

Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and other European languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words, such as unicycle – bicycle – tricycle, dyad – triad – decade, biped – quadruped, September – October – November – December, decimal – hexadecimal, sexagenarian – octogenarian, centipede – millipede, etc. There are two principal systems, taken from Latin and Greek, each with several subsystems; in addition, Sanskrit occupies a marginal position. There is also an international set of metric prefixes, which are used in the metric system, and which for the most part are either distorted from the forms below or not based on actual number words.

Table of number prefixes in English

In the following prefixes, a final vowel is normally dropped before a root that begins with a vowel, with the exceptions of bi-, which is bis- before a vowel, and of the other monosyllables, du-, di-, dvi-, tri-, which are invariable.