The "Dorf" prefix means "village" in German. The English cognate is
thorp, and in the
Low German local dialect it is "Dorp". The "Mecklenburg" part derives from
Mecklenburg Castle and means "large castle" in
Old Saxon, the ancient version of Low German (mikil = large; Burg = castle). The original name of the castle was most likely "Wiligrad", which also means "large castle" in the Slavic
Polabian dialect which was previously spoken in the region. This led to another castle, located on the shores of
Lake Schwerin and built between 1896-1898, being named Wiligrad Castle (
:de:Schloss Wiligrad). ==Geography==