feld

Feld is a German noun meaning field, open land, or area. It denotes a cultivated field as well as a geographic region and appears in many compound terms such as Forschungsfeld (field of study) or Arbeitsfeld (work field). In physics and mathematics, Feld is the standard German translation of field (as in elektromagnetisches Feld or Gravitationsfeld). The word is also used in everyday phrases relating to sports fields, agricultural fields, and fields of vision. The term derives from Old High German feld, from Proto-Germanic *feldaz, and is cognate with English field and Dutch veld.

Feld is also a surname. As a family name, it is of German origin and commonly developed as a habitational name for someone who lived by a field or worked on a field, or as a toponymic surname from places named Feld. It is widespread among German-speaking populations and Ashkenazi Jewish communities. Variants include Feldt, Feldmann, and Feldman; some forms such as Feldman arise from Yiddish-language adaptation or from the addition of a patronymic element to the base Feld.

Place names and geography: Feld appears in German toponymy as a component in various localities and geographic features and is used to name landscapes characterized by fields. The surname Feld is distributed across Germany, Austria, and diaspora communities around the world through historical migration and marriage patterns.