I think the confusing issue here is that nouns are actually gendered in German. "zum X" and "zur X" both literally mean "to the X" or "by the X" or (antiquated but still understood) "dedicated to X", but the form you choose depends on the gender of noun X in German. (Masculine and neutral are "zum", feminine is "zur".) It's one of the things that non-native speakers tend to have difficulties with. People and places named after trees should typically use "zur"; most trees (with some notable exceptions: maple is masculine... no one was talking about logic here) are feminine in German. (It's also "zur Linde", "zur Tanne", and so on.)
You could also just google modern names, I don't think naming conventions have changed much during the last few centuries. The few old names I've seen at renaissance fairs and the like are perfectly understandable to modern Germans. Also, Mittelhochdeutsch isn't that different when compared to some modern German dialects. (I can read it without ever having studied it, so...)
Some random examples for the use of "zum" and "zur" in modern inn names: https://www.zur-krone-tann.de/ Inn "Zur Krone" (dedicated tothe crown - note that "Krone" is feminine) https://www.zurtanne.de/ Rural inn "Zur Tanne" (This can refer to the inn being near a fir tree or simply named after one. German language doesn't differentiate here.) https://www.zumbraunenhirsch.de/ Hotel "Zum braunen Hirsch" (I have no idea how to translate the "zum" here - the hotel is clearly neither near the nor dedicated to the brown stag.) https://www.gasthof-zur-quelle.de/ Rural inn "Zur Quelle" (This is the only of the examples I found actually referring to a location: it's most likely near a wellspring or at the very least the inn owners would like their customers to believe that.)
In names of persons, however, the conventions are probably slightly different. You cannot dedicate someone to something, so these really would have to be locatives... Also, in really old names, you might have to look for "zer" instead of "zur". This site here https://www.heraldrysinstitute.com/lang/de/cognomi/zur+Eiche/Deutschland/idc/728191/# mentions one Gregor zer Eiche. Which is the same name as zur Eiche, just in seriously old-fashioned. It's a complicated topic and I'm, unfortunately, quite clueless.
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Date: 2019-01-05 09:21 pm (UTC)You could also just google modern names, I don't think naming conventions have changed much during the last few centuries. The few old names I've seen at renaissance fairs and the like are perfectly understandable to modern Germans. Also, Mittelhochdeutsch isn't that different when compared to some modern German dialects. (I can read it without ever having studied it, so...)
Some random examples for the use of "zum" and "zur" in modern inn names:
https://www.zur-krone-tann.de/ Inn "Zur Krone" (dedicated tothe crown - note that "Krone" is feminine)
https://www.zurtanne.de/ Rural inn "Zur Tanne" (This can refer to the inn being near a fir tree or simply named after one. German language doesn't differentiate here.)
https://www.zumbraunenhirsch.de/ Hotel "Zum braunen Hirsch" (I have no idea how to translate the "zum" here - the hotel is clearly neither near the nor dedicated to the brown stag.)
https://www.gasthof-zur-quelle.de/ Rural inn "Zur Quelle" (This is the only of the examples I found actually referring to a location: it's most likely near a wellspring or at the very least the inn owners would like their customers to believe that.)
In names of persons, however, the conventions are probably slightly different. You cannot dedicate someone to something, so these really would have to be locatives... Also, in really old names, you might have to look for "zer" instead of "zur". This site here https://www.heraldrysinstitute.com/lang/de/cognomi/zur+Eiche/Deutschland/idc/728191/# mentions one Gregor zer Eiche. Which is the same name as zur Eiche, just in seriously old-fashioned. It's a complicated topic and I'm, unfortunately, quite clueless.