Andau

Geschichte

Andau is a village in Burgenland, Austria, near the border of Hungary. It is situated in the flat, lake-studded Seewinkel region which is part of the Little Hungarian Plain.NameThe village was first mentioned in 1487 under the name Anthau al. nom. Zantho. Szántó means "plower, or tiller" in Hungarian. The German name was derived from the Hungarian one by dropping the first "z" : z'Antau - Antau - Andau. Another village in present-day Burgenland, Antau (Selegszántó) had a similar etymology. In 1525 it was mentioned as "Anthau das dorff". During the 17th century the Hungarian name changed from Szántó to Tarcsa, first recorded in 1659 as Tarcza, Tarcsa seu Andau in 1679 and Tarcsa seu Ontau ad Pratum in 1680. Tarcsa is an old personal name which appears often in Hungarian toponymy. From the 18th century onwards both names were used consistently. In the 19th century the village was called unofficially Moson-Tarcsa to show its location in Moson county. In 1904 the name was officially changed to Mosontarcsa. After 1923 the official name was changed to Andau.HistoryAndau and all of present-day Burgenland belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary until 1921 as part of the historical county of Moson. The village was first mentioned in 1487 under the name Zantho (with modern orthography Szántó). In the late Middle Ages the village belonged to the Magyaróvár estate. Szántó was destroyed two times by the invading Ottoman army, first in 1529, later in 1683.