Lhota is a popular name of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

s, founded during the middle-age colonization in Bohemia,

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. It is assumed that most of them were founded in the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century. The name was first mentioned in 1199. The inhabitants of newly founded villages had obligations towards suzerains, but those duties were usually suspended for a certain period (such as 5–8 years) as a compensation for felling of forests and making the land available for agriculture. This period used to be called "lhóta" (= 'grace period') and often became a part of the village name. There are about 500 villages called Lhota or a derivation of this name (Lhotka, Lhotice, Lhoty, Lhůty in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

; Lehota or Lehótka in

). The largest of them is Ostrožská Lhota in the

Uherské Hradiště District Uherské Hradiště District ( cs, okres Uherské Hradiště) is a district ('' okres'') within the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Uherské Hradiště. List of municipalities Babice - Bánov - Bílovice - Bojkov ...

. Most of them are in East, South-East and South Bohemia, outside the oldest inhabited area. Therefore, it is assumed that they were founded in the latter part of colonization process, on less fertile land on higher altitudes. They were usually established by local inhabitants, namely smaller noblemen close to their own village. The name of the founder, usually of a Slavonic origin, became sometimes a part of village name (e.g., Vlachova Lhota). In other cases, the adjective in village name relates to its size (Dlouhá Lhota – Long L.) or other characteristics (Dolní Lhota – Lower L., Písková Lhota – Sandy L.).

External links

The links below point to a map server of the Czech Republic.
342 villages

Sources

* Lhota – Czech Wikipedia (translation)
"Ask the Library"
- information service of Czech National Library (quoting ''Pomístní jména v Čechách : o čem vypovídají jména polí, luk, lesů, hor, vod a cest'' by Libuše Olivová-Nezbedová, published in Prague 1995)

External links

Sources

See also