Postcard from early 1920s of Kubachy. (source: Branislav Chovan)
The village of Spišské Bystré lies in the Hornád river basin. Its original name was supposed to be buried in the past, as ordered by authorities, but the name still lives on. The German-influenced name of Kubachy was replaced in the wave of revanchism against everything German that swept across Slovakia after the Second World War.
Thus it is officially called Spišské Bystré; however, locals will not use a name other than Kubachy. Where does the power of this tradition stem from? All the way back to the Middle Ages, when many settlers came to the Spiš region during German colonisation.
It is not quite clear, though, what lies behind the name of Kubachy itself. The first mention of the village dates back to 1294, when it was called Villa Cubach. From such a name we could deduct that this was the place where cows used to drink water from the brook: Kuh means cow in German, and Bach means brook. This theory could be boosted by the Slovak name of the neighbouring village – Kravany (krava is cow in Slovak).
This looks quite simple, but it's more complicated than that. Another mention of the village is registered as Künbach and Kunigesbach. This could imply that in its beginning it might have belonged to a certain landlord called Kun. To make it still more complicated, a version about a cool brook – Kühlbach in German – could also be true, as in those times this was quite a common name for a brook. And the Spiš region is a cooler region, near the mountains.
This colourised postcard stems from some time towards the beginning of the 1920s. The subtitle “Spišská župa”, or Spiš region, proudly stating the geographical jurisdiction of Kubachy, is unique.
This article was originally published by The Slovak Spectator on Nov 24, 2014. It has been updated to be relevant today.
