A. V. Superanskaya, E. M. Pospelov, P. V. Sytin, V. A. Nikonov, S. E. Melnikov and others were involved in solving this issue.
A. V. Superanskaya identifies four main ways of creating toponyms, which are confirmed in many languages:
1) From the words of one’s language as a result of their rethinking and transformation of common nouns into proper ones.
2) From the class of proper names itself through their further transformations.
3) From words of foreign languages by borrowing ready-made toponyms.
4) By artificially constructing toponyms from their borrowed words.
At the same time, he notes that “the first two methods of creating toponyms are especially numerous and typical. But if the composition of proper names from which toponyms are formed is quite wide and random, then the set of common nouns regularly involved in toponymy is easily visible and more or less compact” [Superanskaya 1984: 95].
Each toponym carries a variety of information: historical, geographical, linguistic. Any geographical name has specific content, but it is often lost. There are practically no meaningless names; they are all a reflection of the past. People give names to the objects around them according to those characteristics that seem to them at the moment to be the most important, the most characteristic. But in toponymy there are elementary requirements that the proposed names must meet.
“First of all, it must be associated with the named object, reflect some characteristic feature of it, in short, be accurate. In addition, titles should be short and simple in form; allow adjectives to be easily formed from it, fit well into the toponymic environment, i.e. not to be a “black sheep” among neighboring names, which is especially important for national territories. Subject to all these requirements, the name must remain original and not be repeated within the possible radius of fame. For rural settlements this is a region, region, republic, and for cities and urban-type settlements - all of Russia" [Pospelov 1996: 4].
The majority of all geographical names are the names of cities, villages and other settlements.
These names are more important than the names of other objects, since the entire economic, political and economic life of the country is connected with them.
“The names of populated places are almost never directly derived from common nouns: the name of the city of Kashin does not come from porridge, Stupina does not come from a stupa, the village of Chesnokova does not come from garlic.
The exception is some new, specially invented names. But they cannot be considered immediate: between them and the original common noun there is a long toponymic tradition. In accordance with the same tradition, when toponymic systems were formed in a natural way, between the common noun and the name of the settlement there was either the name of the physical-geographical object near which the settlement grew, or the name, patronymic, surname of the person most closely associated with this object (the owner, first settler)" [Superanskaya 1984: 65].
Of particular interest on the problem of toponymic nomination are the works of E. M. Pospelov. The book “Names of Cities and Villages” talks about oikonyms, their origin, types, changes and migrations of names.
“A high degree of oanthroponymy sharply distinguishes oikonyms from other types of toponyms. This is understandable: if villages, as has been said more than once, received names on behalf of the owner, founder, then rivers or mountains most often could not belong to any one person. Therefore, names of rivers by first and last names were given mainly in areas of active development, where, with an initially low population density, the residence of some Russian industrialist or local family served as a completely determining feature for the name of the river.
The picture is similar with the names of the mountains. There are relatively few cases where mountains were named after the names of people who lived at their foot.<…>Later, memorial names of mountains often arose, assigned in order to perpetuate someone’s memory<...>There are relatively few such names” [Pospelov 1996: 7].
The author (Pospelov) believes that “toponymic analysis of the names of rural settlements allows us to identify former forms of land ownership, right down to the names of successive landowners, and land use” [Pospelov 1996: 6].
The main lines of toponymic nomination come from the very properties of the object, from its geographical location and from the person and his activities.
Currently, monographic studies on the toponymy of individual regions of our country are appearing in print, and toponymic dictionaries are being published. “A toponymic dictionary is a book that contains geographical information about an object (settlement, river, lake, sea, mountain, plain, etc.) and explanations of the meaning of a toponym, its etymology, history of origin and evolution. In some cases, there may be several etymologies, when there is not one that is completely reliable and, as a rule, simple” [Murzaev 1979: 21].
“The earth is a book where human history is recorded in geographical nomenclature” [Nadezhdin 1837: 28].
So, in this chapter we set the task of finding out the current state of toponymy and the relevance of the study of geographical names at the present stage. We reviewed a small range of studies on toponyms. Based on them, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1) There are a number of controversial issues in toponymy. Various points of view have been expressed regarding the classification of geographical names. Scientists believe that the creation of a single universal scheme seems unlikely or even impossible.
2) Methods of toponymic research are also still in the development stage.
When studying geographical names, researchers use: the historical method (a supporter of this method is Popov A.I.), etymological method, formant method (Vostokov A.Kh., Orlov A., Toporov V.N., Trubachev O.N.), cartographic method (Pospelov E.M.) and the method of studying toponyms using folk terms (highlighted by Murzaev E.M.).
Despite the existence of various methods, the work of many researchers comes down to the etymological aspect, to the search for the origin of a geographical name.
3) Using toponyms you can trace the history of the people living in a given territory.
^ SECTION II. CLASSIFICATION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES
Various approaches to toponymic data by various scientists have led to the presence of various classifications of toponyms. The first attempts at scientific toponymic classification date back to the 19th century, when it was shown that they belong to different morphological groups and semantic types.
In 1924, geographer ^ V.P. Semenov-Tien-Shansky classified names into 7 categories: from personal names and nicknames; from church holidays; from historical names; from a pagan cult; from ancient tribes; assigned in honor of various events and persons; from objects that make up the typical geographical landscape of a given area.
^ A. M. Selishchev(1939) divided Russian names into 7 categories: those derived from the names of people and their nicknames; from the names of people by occupation; on social and property grounds; related to administration; reflecting the ethnic character of the population; reflecting the features of the landscape and the features of the development of populated areas; with abstract meaning.
Onomastic classification developed by a Polish scientist ^ V. Tashitsky in the middle of the 20th century, she differentiated toponyms into topographical, cultural, possessive and diminutive.
The so-called “language” classification is known for correlating toponyms to a particular language: names indigenous to a given language, the meaning of which is completely clear; names originating from the language of a given people, but changed and even reinterpreted; titles; inherited from other languages and transformed in accordance with the modern dominant language; names in foreign languages for this territory. Obviously, assigning a toponym to one type or another according to this classification is quite difficult.
Attempts have been proposed to divide toponyms according to morphological characteristics into simple toponyms and complex toponyms. The latter, in turn, are divided into 6 subtypes: noun + noun; adjective + noun; numeral + noun; phrases; reductions; other education.
The etymological classification of toponyms is interesting: toponyms with a completely clear semantic meaning (etymologically obvious); toponyms, the meaning of which is revealed as a result of etymological analysis (etymologically transparent); toponyms whose meaning cannot be deciphered (etymologically opaque). However, over time, toponyms can move from one group to another. Historical (stratigraphic) classification is based on the time reference of geographical names and dividing them into toponymic layers by age.
American toponymist ^ J.R. Stewart in the 70s XX century proposed the following classification of geographical names: descriptive; associative; incident-related; possessive; memorial; folk etymological; artificial; recommendatory; erroneous; transferred.
A classification was proposed according to objects of toponymic nomination: oronyms; hydronyms; phytotoponyms; oikonyms; urbanonyms.
The semantic classification is as follows: names reflecting natural conditions and processes (oronymic; hydronymic; phytotoponyms; soil-ground toponyms; weather-climatic toponyms; zootoponyms); anthropotoponyms; industrial toponyms; trade and transport; types of settlements; ethnotoponyms; memorial toponyms; religious - cult place names; migrant place names; other toponyms (not amenable to explanation or correlation to any group). Currently, semantic classification is most often used by specialists.
The controversy and inconsistency of many structural components of the above classifications is quite obvious. Each of them has pros and cons. The issues of creating any scientific classification are extremely complex. Each scheme depends on the goals and objectives of the study. Linguists are closer to morphological and linguistic classifications, historians - stratigraphic (based on the age of toponyms), geographers - semantic.
According to the professor V.A. Zhuchkevich, in ideal form, a unified classification should answer three key questions: what is called, what objects; how it is called, in what language and by what means of language; why is it called, what is the meaning of the names. This reflects the integrity of toponymy as a science - the answer to the first question belongs to geography, to the second - to linguistics, to the third - to toponymy as such. However, we have to admit that the creation by scientists of a single universal classification scheme is a matter of the future.
^ 2.2. TOPONYMS REFLECTING NATURAL CONDITIONS
Natural landscapes and their components were accurately detailed by the local population in geographical names as a result of centuries-old observations of natural phenomena and processes. The layer of toponyms reflecting natural phenomena is one of the most widespread on Earth. Among this category of geographical names, the most significant are toponyms that reflect relief (oronymic), weather and climate, water (hydronymic), soils and grounds, vegetation (phytotoponyms) and fauna (zootoponyms).
Oronymic toponyms.
This group of geographical names reflects specific features of the relief. Many well-known names of mountain ranges, massifs and peaks are associated with the specifics of the relief ( Cordillera, Sierra Madre, Himalayas, Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro and etc.)
Oronymic names are widely represented in the toponymy of the Caucasus. Armenian place names ^ Lernavan, Lernagyuh, Lernashen come from the word ler- “mountain”. Georgian terms MTA- “mountain”, kedi – “ridge”, klde – “rock” are the basis of such oikonyms as Mtiskalta, Mtisdziri, Shuamta, Kvemo Kedi, Sakarikedi, Okroskedi, Kldistavi, Kldisubani. The Turkic names of Azerbaijan retained relief terms such as dash- "stone", Doug– “mountain”, dere- "gorge" yal– “mountain ridge”, etc.
Toponymy reflects many terms associated with various features of the earth's surface. Among the Slavic ones, the following subgroups of terms can be noted: reflecting positive relief forms ( squirrel, shaft, crown, loach, hump, mane, stone, hill, ridge and etc.); reflecting negative landforms ( beam, depression, valley, dell, failure, hole and etc.); having opposite meanings, i.e. reflecting both positive and negative landforms ( veretie, top, ridge, cliff, ravine and etc.); neutral ( coast, plain).
Clarity of many terms, in particular such as loach(“treeless peak”), protein(“the peak white from snow”) allowed them to enter the scientific. In toponymy, these terms have been preserved only in limited areas - char and squirrel - in Eastern Siberia (for example, ridges Broad Char in the Khabarovsk Territory and Katunskie Belki in Altai).
Interesting Turkic place names ^ Alatau(“variegated mountains”) and Karatau(“black mountains”) are the names of many mountain ranges in Asia ( Zailiysky, Dzungarian, Kuznetsky Alatau; ridges Karatau in the Tien Shan, on the Mangyshlak Peninsula in Kazakhstan, etc.) These names do not have a direct color designation. Just a term Alatau denoted mountains, on the slopes of which white patches of snow, black areas of stone placers and alpine meadows alternated. A Karatau- These are low mountain ranges with desert, semi-desert and steppe vegetation with a complete absence of snow cover.
The relief was reflected in the historical and geographical division of Lithuania into Samogitia And Aukštaitija. These names are derived from the Baltic words žemas - “low” and aukštas - “exalted”.
Interesting origin of the toponym Fujiyama- a kind of symbol of Japan. Scientists have explained this name in different ways, but at the core they always highlight the word pit– in Japanese “mountain”. Here there is a “steep mountain”, and a “mountain of abundance”, and a “mountain of immortality”. Some toponymists word fuji explained from the language of the Ainu people in the meaning of “fire”, i.e. Fujiyama- “fire mountain”. However, the most likely version of the interpretation of this name was given by the authoritative Japanese scientist - toponymist Kagami Kandi. He dates the emergence of the toponym to the 1st millennium AD. e. and gives a figurative explanation of its meaning - “the beauty of a long slope hanging in the sky.”
Karst processes and phenomena are also reflected in toponymy. In various regions of the Earth where these natural phenomena have become widespread, toponyms containing karst terms are widely represented. These, in particular, are names with the meaning “cave”. Among them we can recall the Armenian Air, Spanish Sotano(this is the name given to deep vertical passages in limestone caves in Central America), Georgian Kvabi, Moldavian Grote, Azerbaijani Delik and many more etc.
Volcanism and other endogenous processes are also reflected in the names of volcanoes. These are the toponyms: Popocatepetl(in the Aztec language "smoking mountain"), Vesuvius(from the language of the ancient Oskov people “smoke, steam”), Kilauea(from Polynesian "belching") Cotopaxi(from the Quechua language "glittering" or "smoking mountain") Hekla(Icelandic for “hat, hood”), Etna(from ancient Greek “flame”), Krakatoa(from Javanese “crackling”), Pichincha(from the Quechua language "boiling peak"), Soufriere(in French “sulphurous”), etc.
Weather and climatic toponyms.
The presence of toponyms that reflect the meteorological and climatic conditions of a particular territory is not mandatory. In toponymy, this group of names is one of the least common. Meteorological terminology does not have any noticeable toponymic activity. This is due to the dynamism of the natural processes themselves, which are expressed and defined by this vocabulary. Quite long-term, long-term and stable observations of the population or the presence of constant phenomena and processes are needed for them to become determined by toponyms.
The map has names such as islands Windward And Leeward(off the northern coast of South America), city Windhoek(capital of Namibia, name means “windy pass”), city Nouakchott(capital of Mauritania, “windy place”), steppe Boro Dala(Mongolia, “windy valley”), Belarusian villages Calm And Buyavische- from the word buoy- “an open, windy place.”
The name of the state of Chile in the language of the indigenous Araucan Indians means “cold”, “winter”. This is how the inhabitants of the Araucan plains perceived the snow-capped peaks of the Andes. The extinct Chimborazo volcano depicted on the coat of arms of Ecuador also contains a weather and climatic component in its name: the word race (or race) in the language of the local Indians it means “snow” (the first part of the toponym is related to the hydronym Chimbo with an unknown etymology).
Name of the highest point of the Guiana Plateau mountain ^ Neblina (Sera-Neblina) means "foggy", and the state Kelantan(Malaysia) means "lightning" in Malay - during the rainy season there are actually a lot of thunderstorms with lightning. Volcano Waileleale(“overflowing with water”) in Hawaii, named for the enormous amount of rainfall that falls on its slopes. This is one of the wettest places on the planet. Common name for New Zealand in the indigenous Maori language Aotearoa- “long white cloud.”
The metaphorical name can also be attributed to the weather-climatic subgroup ^ Death Valley, the hottest place in North America, in the language of the Shoshone Indians: Tomesh- “the earth burning under your feet,” which reflects the exceptional severity of the climate. City name Srinagar(India) means "sunny city".
The names of this subgroup are widespread in Australia. In the life of the aborigines, climatic conditions and processes often turned out to be decisive. Therefore, a whole layer of toponyms is associated with weather phenomena in the languages of various aboriginal tribes.
Weather and climatic features are associated with peculiar warning names that were given by sailors during the period of discovery of new unknown lands. In 1488, the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias, after a long journey, reached the southern tip of Africa. In memory of the dangers and difficulties he experienced along the way, as well as because of the difficulties of navigation, Dias gave the name to the first cape encountered on the South African coast Cabo Tormentoso- “Cape Burny”. Later, by decision of King Joao II of Portugal, the cape was renamed Cabo da Boã Esperanza- "Cape of Good Hope", meaning the hope of achieving a wealthy India.
Hydronymic names.
Names based on the characteristics of water bodies are extremely common in the toponymy of the planet. The waters of the Earth - flowing and stagnant, lakes and springs, rivers and streams - are extremely diverse in their physical, geographical, chemical and other characteristics. Hydronymic toponyms reveal the characteristics of the flow, color, taste, smell of water, the nature of the channel and floodplain.
In desert areas of the planet, any source of water is of great importance. Therefore, peoples living in such harsh natural conditions clearly distinguish between different types of water sources. For example, in Turkmenistan, the terms and names of wells are highly specialized depending on the quality of the water: azhiguiy- "well of bitter water" suzhuguiy- “a well with fresh water”, shorgui- "salt well" uzinguiy- “deep well”, etc. There are settlements in Uzbekistan Minbulak(a thousand springs), Sarybulak(yellow source), Karabulak(black source), Taldybulak(talnik source), Sasykbulak(smelly source), etc.
As noted, the names of the largest water bodies known to mankind since ancient times often mean “big water, river, lake.” River name Indus comes from Sanskrit Sindhu- “big river”. The largest river on the North American continent, Mississippi, translated from one of the Indian languages means “great river”.
It is known that large rivers have different names in different parts of their course. This fact of the “multiple families” of large rivers is not surprising and is explained by geographical reasons - a change in the direction and nature of the flow or the settlement of a large number of peoples replacing each other along the entire length of the river. For example, the Nile gets the name Bahr el Jabal(“river of the mountains”) when it literally falls onto the flat East Sudan Basin from a high mountain plateau. And the huge number of ethnic groups living on the banks of the great river led to the presence of many names in different languages: Arabic El Bahr, Coptic Earo, in the Buganda language – Cyprus, in Bari language – Tkutsiri etc. For the most part, all these names have a similar meaning - “great river” or “big water”. Therefore, the Niger River (the name is derived from the Berber n'egiren- “river”) has different names in different parts of the course in local languages: in the upper reaches Joliba(“big river”), in the middle and lower reaches Kuara, Kwara("river"), Issa-Bari("great river") Mayo("river").
The Yangtze River also has many names in different parts of its course. This is Tibetan Muruy-Us(Where mustache- “river”), Chinese Jinshajiang(“river of golden sand”), Yangtzejiang. It was the latter form that served as the basis for the name in other countries. Hydronym means "river of the city of poplars." In China the river is often called Changjiang- “long river”, or simply Jiang- “river”.
Spanish word Rio(“river”) is a component of a huge number of place names in the New World - Rio Grande("big river") Rio Colorado("red river") Rio Solado(“salt river”), etc. One of the largest rivers in South America Magdalena, discovered and named by the Spaniard Rodrigo de Bastides in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, was called among the Carib Indians Caripuana, which means “big water.”
The hydronymic term is widely used in Malay toponymy kuala- "mouth". It is used in composite toponyms in combination with the names of rivers - Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Terengganu, Kuala Lipis and etc.
Vai ("water, river") is a Polynesian geographical term defining permanent surface watercourses in Polynesia and New Zealand. The names of many rivers and other objects in this region are formed by this word ( Vaivera, Waikiki etc.). Name of New Zealand's longest river Waikato means “a river flowing into the distance.”
In Australia the term scream (English creek - “stream, river branch”) defines periodically drying up watercourses of the mainland. Hence the hydronyms Coopers Creek, Diamantina Creek etc. Creeks are natural analogues of North African wadi (wedd). Toponyms with these hydronymic terms are widely represented in the names of this region of the planet. By the way, the term wadi in a slightly modified meaning of "river" was transferred by the Arabs to Spain. Therefore, such names of rivers of the Iberian Peninsula are associated with this term as Guadalquivir(from Arabic Wadi al-Kebir- river valley"), Guadalajara(from Arabic Wadi al-Harra– “rocky river”), etc.
Many of the planet's largest bodies of water have the term in their names. lake (high water): Nyasa, Chad, Michigan etc. Finland has a huge number of lakes. Many of them have names with the word yarvi- "lake" ( Inarijärvi, Oulujärvi, Kemijärvi). This is also typical for Turkic toponyms with the terms kul, kohl, gel- "lake". They are widely represented in the toponymy of Eurasia: Issyk-Kul(“hot lake”, according to another version “sacred lake”), Alakol(“motley lake”), Astrakhan(“black lake”), Gek-Gel(“blue lake”), etc.
The name of the most significant lake in the Caucasus ^ Sevan received an explanation when in the tract Otsabert A cuneiform stone was found on the shore of this reservoir. It mentioned the Urartian word Sunia- “lake”, which gave its name to Sevan.
At the same time, many large lakes, due to their size, were associated by some peoples with seas. Thus, Lake Baikal was called by the Evenks Lamu– “Sea”, the largest lake in Mongolia Khubsugol sometimes called Dalai- "sea ocean". People also call large reservoirs seas (for example, the well-known Minsk Sea).
Soil-ground titles.
These names are quite common in the toponymy of many regions of the Earth. City name ^ Maseru, the capital of the African state of Lesotho, means “place of red sandstones.” The Kalahari semi-desert is named in the Hottentot language - from the word karaha- “rocky and sandy terrain.”
Veld(from Afrikaans veld - field) is an arid plateau in South Africa. The term is used with definitions depending on the specific components of the landscape: relief (High, Middle and Low Weld, mountain veld, bankeveld – veld with parallel ridges of steep hills), soil cover ( hardeveld- solid veld, sandeveld– sandy veld, Surveld- sour veld, veld with calcareous soil deficiency), vegetation type ( bushveld– bush veld, grassveld- grassy veld).
Aboriginal term common in Australia gilgai(gilgai – failure, drawdown). This is the name given to a flat surface with scattered pillow-shaped hillocks. It is formed as a result of the penetration of soil particles from the upper horizon into the lower horizon through cracks. When saturated with moisture, particles are pushed to the surface, creating a lumpy landscape that is constantly subject to erosion processes. Gilgai typical of New South Wales. The term is found in aboriginal toponymy.
The soil characteristics of a particular area became the basis for such toponyms as ^ Glinka, Clay, Clay, Sand, Sandy, Mud, Kamenka, Cretaceous . Names associated with swamp ores have become widespread in hydronymy - Rudnya, Rudnitsa, Rzhavets, Zheleznitsa.
Folk geographical terms reflecting soils and soils are also widely represented in geographical names. River Gverstyanets may contain in its sediments gverstu– coarse sand, bed Stone river – rocky (or it starts from a source – “stone”), in a river valley Opochinki exits should be expected flasks– Cretaceous limestone.
Phytotoponyms.
Toponymic data in many cases provide an idea of the distribution of various plant formations and types of flora. Acting as an important natural landmark, as well as being one of the key sources of livelihood for the population, vegetation is reflected in the toponymy of many regions of the Earth.
Such Slavic names of rivers as ^ Olshanka, Berezina, Dubenka, Krapivna, Lipna, Orekhovka determine the composition of the dominant vegetation species. In the same series are names such as Karaganda (caragana– black acacia), Almaty(apple), Liepaja(linden), Brest (elm), Bangkok(place of wild plum), Dakar(tamarisk), Mato Grosso plateau(large thickets of bushes), R. Marañon(thicket), R. and Madeira Islands(forest), O. Java (millet) and many others in different parts of the world.
The appearance of the toponym Brazil due to the fact that during the period of Portuguese colonization one of the most important items exported from this country was red sandalwood- a tree with very valuable red wood. This tree is also known as pernambuco (fernambuco) by name Pernambuco, which means “long river” in the Tupi-Guarani Indian language (now a state in Brazil). The scientific name of the tree is brazilwood. It was also used in dyeing, because... gave a bright red dye. This paint was called in Portuguese braza(from the word brassa- “heat, coals”). Hence the tree began to be called brazil, and subsequently the whole country - Brazil(in Russian version – Brazil).
Many settlements in Georgia have names of plant species in their names: ^ Vaziani, Vasizubani (wazi- vine), Vashlevi, Vashliani (Washley- cherry), Tsablana, Tsablini (tsabli– chestnut), Mukhrani, Mukhnari (fly– oak), Telavi(body- elm), etc.
National park name Manyara(East Africa) is the name of a tree, a species Europhobia, from the thorns and branches of which the Maasai make fences for livestock. Name of the capital city of Sri Lanka Colombo According to one version, it means “mango leaves.”
In Eastern Europe, vegetation is well reflected in hydronyms. The physical and geographical conditions of certain territories dictate the distribution of certain toponymic bases. Poles, Czechs, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians give preference in phytotoponyms to such species as birch, alder, linden, viburnum, oak, and willow. Toponymic evidence of past landscapes of the East European Plain indicates significantly larger areas of distribution of broad-leaved species than those observed in our time.
The dominance of phytotoponyms among the physical-geographical category of names is typical for Belarus, with the majority of names associated with the names of tree species. The wide distribution of names of local flora in toponymy is illustrated by a rich list of toponym-forming bases : forest, pine forest, oak, linden, alder, aspen, birch, birch bark, elm, willow, ash, sycamore, vine, broom, pine, needles, spruce, pear, cherry, shoots, buckthorn, oles, forest, chakhets, kokora, bez, walnut, rushnik, reed and etc.
Zootoponyms.
Toponymic information reflects the distribution of various animal species in the past. There are fewer such names than phytotoponyms, but they are also quite common.
In the toponymy of North America, many river names are reminiscent of the animal world: Deer - deer, Buffalo– bison, Elk - elk, Grizzly - Grizzly bear, Racoon – raccoon, etc. River Alligators in the state of North Carolina is located on the extreme northern border of the distribution of these reptiles. The names of many water bodies reflect the ichthyofauna - fish wealth. There are rivers and lakes in Belarus Okunet, Okunevo, Okunevets, Karasevo, Karasinka, Karasevki, Shuchye, Shchuchino, Shchuchinka, Link, Linets and etc.
Many islands in the World Ocean are named after representatives of the animal world - Azores(“hawklike”), Cayman(caiman is a type of crocodile), Galapagos(“turtles”), Samoa(“place of the moa bird”). Name of city and emirate Dubai in the UAE means "locust". Peninsula Yucatan the indigenous people called the Mayans Ulumit Kus el Ethel Zet- “the country of roosters and deer”, and the name Alaska means "place of whales". Isthmus Tehuantepec between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in Mexico (the conditional northern border of Central America) received its name from the Aztec language, where Teuan- “wild beast” (sometimes this word was used to call a jaguar), and Tepec– mountain.
Name of West African state ^ Mali in the Mandingo language it means “hippopotamus”, but this version does not always find scientific confirmation. Name of the capital city of this country Bamako in the Malinke language it means "crocodile river". Capital of Uganda Kampala According to the main version, its name reflects one of the species of antelope - impala.
There are in Armenia ^ Gailadzor Gorge (Guile- wolf), sat down Archut (arch- bear), Artsvanik (arts- eagle), Ukhtasar (wow- camel). The names of many Lithuanian rivers and lakes reflect the animal world: Babrinis, Babrukas, Babrune(babras – beaver), Gerve, Gervele, Gervinas(gerve – crane), Vilka, Vilkauya, Vilkas (vilkas – wolf), Bite, n.p. Bitenay(bite – bee). According to one version, the name of the Estonian city Tartu comes from the word tarvas - bison.
In documents from the 15th century. for the East Slavic territory, beaver ruts are mentioned - places for beaver hunting. Toponyms with the root “beaver” are very widely represented within this region. Only in the Oka River basin is a Russian toponymist G. P. Smolitskaya counted more than 70 titles. The distribution of beavers in Georgia is also marked by place names. Georgian scientist G. I. Khornauli provides toponymic evidence of the presence of beavers in the past, for example, a lake Sathave(“beaver place”) in southern Georgia. Now these animals are not found in this state.
According to toponymy, E. L. Lyubimova established the former ranges of the following animals and birds on the Russian Plain: tur, bison, wild boar, beaver, sable, wolverine, bear, wolf, fox, hare, badger, bear, elk, various species of birds.
Azerbaijani scientists have reconstructed the former habitats of goitered gazelle antelopes, which are now preserved only in the reserves of this state (toponyms Dzheyran-bulags- “source of gazelle”, Jeyranbatangel- “the lake where the goitered gazelle drowned”, etc.) Toponyms also make it possible to study the modern zoogeography of different regions of the Earth.
Any person who speaks Slavic languages can easily determine the meaning of such names as ^ Wolf River, Bear Mountains, Losiny Bor, Pike Lake etc. However, it should be noted that names like Zaitsevo, Shchukino, Sorokino, Volkovo, Medvedino do not belong to zootoponyms. Names and nicknames were common in the Old Russian language Hare, Pike, Magpie, Wolf, Bear and so on. In the XIV – XVIII centuries. From these nicknames arose numerous surnames with the endings “-ov, -ev, -in, -yn.” In turn, geographical names emerged from these anthroponyms. Ignorance of this pattern often leads to incorrect interpretation of toponyms and gross errors in etymologization.
^ 2. 3. ANTHROPOTOPONYMS
The names of places and the names of people are closely interrelated. Countless geographical features are named after people's personal names. This category of names is mainly common in oikonymy. Two stands out e main subcategories of anthropotoponyms –patronomic And memorial place names.
Patronymic toponyms.
These toponyms arose on the basis of the names, surnames and nicknames of pioneer settlers, landowners and other categories of people ( patronymic from the Greek πατρωνυμος - “bearing the name of the father”). Already before our era, the names of ancient Greek colony cities began to appear, assigned after the names of their founders - Hermonassa, Phanagoria, Amastria and etc.
Thousands of toponyms like Ivanovo, Petrovo, Nikolaevka, Nikitino and the like. This is due to the spread among Russians of such names as Ivan, Vasily, Alexey, Peter, Andrey, Grigory, Fedor, etc.
Patronymic names also include such names as ^ Bessonovo, Baranovka, Bykovo, Bulanovo, Gusevo etc. Academician S. B. Veselovsky was interested in proper names, which, in his opinion, represented the most valuable historical material. According to his calculations, only in the area between the Oka and Volga rivers, up to 60% of villages originate from the names and nicknames of the owners. The ancient Russian names collected by the scientist allow us to see the patronymic where, at first glance, there is none. So, in the past the Slavs had such names and nicknames as Denga, Erzik, Mozglyak, Moshchalka, Ostuda, Chowder, Boil. Some of them are preserved only in surnames and toponyms. Academician S. B. Veselovsky said that geographical names are essentially akin to archaeological materials. Often, residents of the same village have a surname similar to the oikonym ( Ivanovs from Ivanovki, Petrovs from Petrovka etc.)
At the beginning, the prince of the 11th century. Yaroslav founded a city on the Upper Volga that was named after him - Yaroslavl. The Old Russian form of the possessive adjective with the format “-l” is often found in East Slavic toponymy (Zaslavl, Mstislavl in Belarus, Likhoslavl in the Tver region, etc.)
In all countries of the world there are patronymic place names. This pattern is toponymically universal. Examples of patronymic names in Europe are extremely numerous - Vittorio(Italy), Hermannsdorf(Germany), Wilhelmsburg(Austria), etc. In North America, the geographical map is replete with place names like Morgan, Simon, Jackson, Joshua etc.
But in other regions of the Earth this pattern is clearly visible. In Manchuria, one of the most common categories of place names are patronymics. The main element in them is the family name of the first settlers of the village. Taking into account the very wide distribution of the surnames Wang, Zhang, Li, Zhao, there are quite a lot of toponyms like Wanzhuang(“Van village”), Lizhuang etc.
Memorial toponyms.
This group of geographical names is derived from the personal names and surnames of individuals known in various spheres of human activity. These toponyms perpetuate the names of outstanding or simply famous people - discoverers, travelers, scientists, political figures. The tradition of giving such names goes back to ancient times. About 30 cities were named in honor of the conqueror of the East, the Macedonian king Alexander: Alexandria of Egypt(now the city Alexandria in Egypt, local Arabic name Al – Iskandaria), Alexandria Margiana, Alexandria Oxiana, Alexandria Eskhata and etc.
The names of Roman emperors are reflected in place names such as Caesarea-Augusta(now Zaragoza, Spain), Julia-Felis(now Sinop, Türkiye), Augusta Emerita(now Merida, Spain), Prima Justiniana(now Skopje- capital of Macedonia) Diocletian-Palatium(now Split, Croatia), Gratianople(now Grenoble, France) and many others.
Memorial toponymy became most widespread during the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Names that perpetuate the memory of famous travelers and explorers of the planet include: country Columbia, British Columbia archipelago Colon, cities Colon(more than 10 in various Latin American countries) - in honor of H. Columbus; Strait of Magellan; islands, strait, mountain Cook; waterfalls Livingston; Beringov strait and sea; sea Amundsen; island, river, ridge and reefs Flinders; peninsula, lake, river Air and many others. The names of explorers and pioneers can be found in the Arctic Semyon Dezhnev, Laptev, admiral Makarova and etc.
The names of the natives of Belarus are also immortalized: the city and the ridge Domeyko(Chile), ridge Chersky, strait Vilkitsky etc. In honor T. Kostsyushko the highest point of Australia, an island off the northwestern coast of North America and a settlement in the state of Mississippi (USA) are named.
Titles ^ Carolina, Victoria, Louisiana given in honor of titled persons. Names like Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darling, Durban, Wellington, Orange, Seychelles etc. were given in honor of ministers, governors and other government officials.
In Russia, names were given in honor of crowned heads such as Saint Petersburg(in honor of Saint Peter- heavenly patron of the first Russian emperor), Petrozavodsk, Ekaterinburg, Nikolaevsk-on-Amur etc. There are a lot of such toponyms in Antarctica: Alexander LandI, Queen Maud Land, island PetraI. This continent has the most memorial toponymy on the planet. In the Scandinavian countries, the names of various kings who bore the same name are associated with the names Karlskrona, Karlsborg, Karlstad, Karlshamn, Kristianstad(all from Sweden), Kristiansund And Kristiansan(Norway), etc. This should also include the obsolete name of the Norwegian capital, Oslo - Christiania.
In the countries of Latin America there are a lot of toponyms given in honor of the fighters for the independence of these countries, as well as presidents, generals, and officers. In particular, in honor Simon Bolivar named cities in Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, mountain, state of Venezuela and country Bolivia. In addition, the toponym is found in the names of US cities (states Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee). There is a whole list of more than 20 place names in honor of Latin American generals: General - Cabrera, General - Conesa, General - Pinedo, General - Juan - Madariaga, General - Lorenzo - Winter and etc.
In the Soviet Union and some other countries of the socialist camp, there were a huge number of memorial ideological toponyms. They were assigned the names of party leaders, participants in the revolution, civil war, etc. This is how endless Leninsky, Dzerzhinsky, Kuibyshev, Kalinin etc. Toponyms appeared in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe Dimitrovgrad, Blagoevgrad(Bulgaria), Karl-Marx-Stadt And Wilhelm-Piek-Stadt-Guben(in the GDR), Gottwaldov(Czechoslovakia), Leninvaros(Hungary), etc. Currently, such names in many countries have been renamed, and the original versions of the names have been returned to settlements.
The island belongs to the same category ^ Beagle in the Indian Ocean in honor of the ship of the round-the-world expedition in which he participated C. Darwin; Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky by the names of two ships of the expedition V. Bering - “St. Peter” and “St. Paul”. Due to the presence of memorial toponyms not associated with the names of people (names of ships, events, etc.), this category of names is often considered as independent.
Toponymy (from other Greek fürpt (topos) - place and they are educated. The set of geographical names is denoted by the word toponomy, and a person who studies geographical names is called a toponomist.
Is toponymy a branch of onomastics? branch of linguistics that studies proper names. Accordingly, any toponym is at the same time an onym.
In the West, linguists such as William Bright, Robert Ramsay and George Stuart dealt with the problems of toponymy. Among Russian toponymists, the most famous are Alexandra Vasilievna Superanskaya and Vladimir Andreevich Nikonov.
Toponymy is also closely related to history and geography. Scientists have still not agreed on the question of how large the role of each of these three sciences is in toponymy. For example, A.V. Superanskaya believes that “Only linguists can and should analyze all types of geographical names in their connection with each other, with other proper names and with the entire system of the language in which they are created and used.” Her colleague V.A. Nikonov, on the contrary, says that history, geography, and linguistics play their own specific, although varying in size, role in toponymy: “A toponym does not exist without a named object, and geography studies objects. The need for toponyms, their content, their changes are dictated by history, but only through language. The name is a word, a fact of a sign, not geography and not history directly."
However, our study is devoted directly to the linguistic aspect of toponymy, namely the methods of word formation of toponyms. But before turning to them, you should become familiar with a few more terms used within the framework of toponymy.
Topobases and topoformants
Any word consists of a certain number of elements, called morphemes in linguistics. Naturally, this statement is also true for toponyms, however, when considering the composition of geographical names and their etymology, according to toponymists, it is more correct to talk about such elements as topobases and topoformants.
The topological basis, or the basis of a toponym, is the semantic component of a geographical name (even if in a given language the meaning, that is, the connection with a common noun or other proper name, is not entirely obvious).
Topoformants, or toponymic formants, are service elements that participate in the construction of toponyms.
For example, for toponymic systems of Russia such elements are the suffixes -sk; - hail; -ov (Chelyabinsk, Volgograd, Azov).
Topographic fundamentals do not exist in their pure form. They are necessarily supplemented to whole words and formed using topoformants. Even if the topobase is completely homonymous to the whole toponym, then the topoformant is still present in the structural plan and is called zero.
Territorially organized sets of topographic bases and topoformants, rules and ways of connecting them with each other, as well as the specifics of perception of certain toponymic formations form toponymic systems.
The names are the folk poetic design of the country. They talk about the character of the people, their history, their inclinations and peculiarities of life. ( Konstantin Paustovsky)
Throughout our entire life, from the moment of birth to death, various geographical names accompany us. We live on the Eurasian continent, in Russia, in a certain region or region, in a city, town, village and village, and each of the listed objects has
Thus, a toponym is the name of continents and oceans, countries and geographical areas, cities and streets in them, rivers and lakes, natural objects and gardens. The origin and semantic content, historical roots and changes over the centuries in the pronunciation and spelling of the names of geographical objects are studied by a special science - toponymy.
What is toponymy
The word “toponymy” comes from two Greek words: topos - place and onyma - name. This scientific discipline is a branch of onomastics - a branch of linguistics that studies proper names. Toponymy is an integral science that operates at the intersection of linguistics, geography and history.
Geographical names do not appear out of nowhere: noticing certain features of the relief and nature, people who lived nearby named them, emphasizing their characteristic features. Over time, the peoples living in one region or another changed, but the names were preserved and used by those who replaced them. The basic unit for the study of toponymy is the toponym. The names of cities and rivers, villages and villages, lakes and forests, fields and streams - all these are toponyms of Russia, very diverse both in time of appearance and in their cultural and linguistic roots.
What is a toponym
Literally translated from Greek, a toponym is “the name of a place,” that is, the name of a particular geographical object: a continent, mainland, mountain and ocean, sea and country, city and street, natural objects. Their main purpose is to fix the “binding” of a particular place on the surface of the Earth. In addition, place names for historical science are not just the name of a geographical object, but a historical trace on the map, which has its own history of occurrence, linguistic origin and semantic meaning.
By what criteria are toponyms classified?
A unified classification of toponyms that would suit both linguists, geographers and historians does not exist today. Toponyms are classified according to a variety of criteria, but most often according to the following:
- by type of designated geographical objects (hydronyms, oronyms, droonyms and others);
- linguistic (Russian, Manchu, Czech, Tatar and other names);
- historical (Chinese, Slavic and others);
- by structure:
- simple;
- derivatives;
- complex;
- composite; - by area of the territory.
Classification by area
Of greatest interest is the classification of toponyms according to their territorial characteristics, when geographical objects, depending on their size, are classified as macrotoponyms or microtoponyms.
Microtoponyms are individual names of small geographical objects, as well as characteristic features of the relief and landscape. They are formed on the basis of the language or dialect of the people or nationality living nearby. Microtoponyms are very mobile and changeable, but, as a rule, they are limited geographically by the distribution zone of a particular language.
A macrotoponym is, first of all, the names of large natural or natural and socio-administrative units created as a result of human activity. The main characteristics of this group are standardization and stability, as well as breadth of use.
Types of place names
The following types of toponyms are distinguished in modern toponymy:
| Geographical names of objects | Examples | |
| Astyonyms | cities | Astana, Paris, Stary Oskol |
| Oikonyms | settlements and settlements | Kumylzhenskaya village, Finev Lug village, Shpakovskoye village |
| Urbonyms | various intracity objects: theaters and museums, gardens and squares, parks and embankments and others | City garden in Tver, Luzhniki stadium, Razdolie residential complex |
| Godonyms | streets | Volkhonka, Guardian of the Revolution Street |
| Agoronyms | areas | Palace and Trinity in St. Petersburg, Manezhnaya in Moscow |
| Geonyms | avenues and driveways | Avenue of Heroes, 1st passage of the First Konnaya Lakhta |
| Dromonyms | transport highways and roads of various types, usually passing outside settlements | Northern Railway, BAM |
| Horonyms | any territories, regions, districts | Moldavanka, Strigino |
| Pelagonyms | seas | White, Dead, Baltic |
| Limnonyms | lakes | Baikal, Karasyar, Onega, Trostenskoye |
| Potamonyms | rivers | Volga, Nile, Ganges, Kama |
| Gelonims | swamps | Vasyuganskoye, Sinyavinskoye, Sestroretskoye |
| Oronyms | hills, ridges, hills | Pyrenees and Alps, Icy Mountain and Dyatlov Mountains |
| anthroponyms | derived from a surname or personal name | the city of Yaroslavl, many villages and villages with the name Ivanovka |
How place names are declined
Words-toponyms with Slavic roots and ending in -ev(o), -in(o), -ov(o), -yn(o) were previously considered traditionally inflected. However, in recent decades, they have increasingly been used in an inflexible form, as they were previously used by professional military personnel and geographers.
Declension of toponyms, such as Tsaritsyno, Kemerovo, Sheremetyevo, Murino, Kratovo, Domodedovo, Komarovo, Medvedkovo and the like, was mandatory in the time of Anna Akhmatova, but today both indeclinable and indeclinable forms are considered equally correct and used. The exception is the names of settlements, if they are used as applications with a generic name (village, village, hamlet, town, city, etc.), then it would be correct not to incline, for example, to the Strigino district, from the Matyushino district, to the city of Pushkino . If there is no such generic name, then you can use both inflected and indeclinable options: from Matyushino and towards Matyushin, to Knyazevo and from Knyazevo.
Indeclinable toponyms
In modern Russian there are several cases in which place names ending in -o can only be used in an unchangeable form:
Place names are in various stages of change. Some of them have been preserved in their original form, but most of them have been modified in the process of long-term use over centuries. The reasons for the historical change of a toponym may be different. In some cases, they are associated with the use of names by peoples speaking different languages, in others - with the mixing of words of the same language that are close in sound but different in meaning, and thirdly - with changes in the sound and grammatical structure of the language, leading to change in the sound appearance of the toponym. There are other reasons for the changes. This phenomenon is called transformation. Transformation of geographical name – this is its change in the process of historical use.
There are several types of transformation of toponyms:
1. Reduction. As V. A. Zhuchkevich notes, reduction– one of the most typical phenomena in toponymy. It is explained by the fact that a conversation does not require a detailed description of the named geographical object, just a general and, if possible, brief designation is enough. The speed of envy reduction depends on the frequency of use of the toponym. Yes, city Rostov-on-Don in oral speech they call Rostov-Don or simply Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod – Lower, St. Petersburg - Peter. City in the USA San Francisco called Frisco, A Los Angeles - L.A.(according to the first English letters of the components).
Abbreviations are common in Spanish-language toponymy. When founded in the 16th century, the city and port at the mouth of the river. La Plata received a magnificent name Ciudad de la santissima Trinidad e Puerto de nuestra señora la virgen Maria de los Buenos aires, which means “City of the Holy Trinity and the harbor of our Lady Mary of the Good Winds.” In the name of the modern capital of Argentina, only the last two words remain - Buenos Aires, which simply means “good winds”. In local usage, Argentines call their capital Bayres. The archipelago in the Pacific Ocean was named after the Viceroy of Peru, Marquis de Mendoza - Las isles marquesas de don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza de Cañete. Now these islands are simply called the Marquesas.
2. Abbreviation or acronym ( from Greek άκρος – “external, extreme”). This form of transformation can be considered as one of the types of abbreviation of toponyms. It consists of conveying verbose geographical names through capital letters or initial syllables. Toponyms and abbreviations such as USA (United States of America), UK (United Kingdom), EU (European Union) widely used in the world. The names of socialist countries are also used - China, North Korea, Vietnam. In the past, this phenomenon was common in the countries of the socialist camp ( USSR, Poland, East Germany, SFRY, Hungary, Czechoslovakia etc.)
In 1931, a joint expedition led by D. Mawson discovered a new coast in East Antarctica. It was named after this expedition Banzare coast: English BANZARE – British-Australian-New Zealand Antarctic research Expediton(“British-Australian-New Zealand Antarctic Scientific Expedition”). There in Antarctica there is the Valley of the IGY - International Geophysical Year.
In the very north of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago there is a small bay with a name that is somewhat strange at first glance - Ex. That’s what geologists named it in 1933, based on the initial letters of the first name, patronymic and last name of expedition participant Elena Konstantinovna Sychugova.
3.Agglutination or gluing . This type of transformation involves combining two or more words. Examples: Ustyug from Ust-Yug, Ushachi from Ust-Shacha and so on.
4. Phonetic transformation. Arises as a result of adaptation of a geographical name, often a foreign language, to the norms of a close language (for example, in the environment of Turkic languages - terms tag And Doug, Alatoo And Alatau) or a foreign language. Most foreign language names in Russian differ in pronunciation from the original version ( Paris And Bet, London And Landon, Bucharest And Bucuresti etc.)
This type of transformation also includes the transfer of stress to another syllable. The issue of phonetic transformation lies within the framework of the unification of toponyms, which is what the UN group of experts on geographical names is doing.
5.Morphological transformation. This type of transformation is a consequence of the adaptation of geographical names in various languages over a significant historical period. During morphological transformation, the original version of the toponym may change beyond recognition.
Thus, the Phoenicians founded a settlement in the west of the Iberian Peninsula and named it after the bay in which it was founded: Alisubbo- “joyful bay”. Subsequently, the name experienced significant changes under the influence of Latin, Gothic, Arabic and Portuguese - Olissippo – Olissipona – al-Oshbuna – Lishbois(Lisbon is traditionally used in Russian).
There are many examples of this type of change in toponyms on Earth: Kart-Hadasht - Cartago - Kartagianna - Carthage, Bellum Vadum - Belvado - Bilbao, Posonium - Preslav - Breslavburg - Pressburg - Bratislava, Grantakastir - Grantebrikge - Catebrigge - Countbridge - Cambridge, Novum Castellum - Newcastle, Jebel el-Tariq - Jebeltar - Gibraltar etc.
Name Yosemite Valley and the national park of the same name in the USA also appeared as a result of morphological transformation. It was a consequence of the distortion by European settlers of the name of the local Indian tribe uzumati(“bear”, totem animal) in Ahuanichi and finally in yosemite.
6.Rethink. As a result of this type of transformation, the name changes both its appearance and semantics. Reinterpretation is the erroneous understanding and explanation of the unclear meaning of a place name based on sound similarity. According to the figurative comparison of V. A. Zhuchkevich, “like a plant, a word is extracted from the previous soil and transplanted into another, and it is not always possible to find the grain that gave birth to it.”
In 1589, a city was founded on the Tsaritsa River Tsaritsyn(present Volgograd). However, the name of the river turned out to be rethought: in ancient times it was called Sarysu(in Turkic “yellow water”), but according to the sound similarity in Russian there was a transformation into the Queen.
In 1631, on the Angara River, Cossack explorers founded a fortification, which they named after the Buryats who lived there - Buryat fort. But words unfamiliar at that time Buryat, Buryat looked like Russians brother, fraternal. As a result, the fortress gradually began to be called Brotherly prison. Later, the toponym Bratsk arose on this basis.
7.Translation or tracing paper(from the French calque - “copy”). Translation (tracing) of a toponym from one language to another with a change in form but preserving the etymology is one of the types of transformation of toponyms. For example: Belgorod - Moldavian Chetatya-Alba - Turkish Akkerman, Chinese Yellow River - Yellow River, Turkic Dzhetysu - Semirechye, Greek Mesopotamia - Mesopotamia, Hindi Punjab - Pyatireche, Turkic Beshtau - Pyatigorsk, Lake Kukunor (the Mongols have a “blue lake”) - Qinghai (also among the Chinese), etc.
Many tracing toponyms have been included in Russian-language geographical literature: Cape of Good Hope; Great Salt, Great Bear, Great Slave and Superior lakes of the North American continent; Mediterranean and Yellow Seas, etc.
In geographical names there are also hybrid toponyms or semi-calques, when one part of a complex toponym is translated, while the other remains in its original form: Kask-lake, Kapustmaa (Finno-Ugric maa- “land”), Sekiz-Muren (Eight Rivers, the first word is Turkic, the second is Mongolian).
Tracing is an undesirable technique when transmitting foreign names, because The addressing function of toponyms decreases.
8. Official renaming. This is the elimination of a previous toponym and replacing it with a new one for some reason (ideological, political, social, etc.). Renaming of geographical objects occurs for various reasons. Basically, this process is associated with political reasons - revolutions, wars, the formation of new and destruction of old states, the ideological background of toponyms, and the improvement of national toponymy.
As E.M. Pospelov notes, there are two possible immediate motives for renaming: 1. the desire to eliminate the existing name associated with names or concepts of the past, which have become unacceptable in changed conditions; 2. the desire to introduce a new name in order to reflect the ideas, names and concepts of the new government, system or state formation. But often, numerous neutral names are drawn into the renaming process. Some of them are mistakenly classified as unacceptable, others become the foundation for the introduction of names with new ideological content.
Revolutionary renamings begin their history since the Great French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. First of all, this affected toponyms associated with royal power, titles of nobles, and religious concepts. Yes, the name Saint-Piens was replaced by a consonant Sapiens("wisdom"), Saint-Lo on Rocher de la Liberte("liberty rock"), island Ile de Bourbon(“Island of the Bourbon Dynasty”) was renamed Reunion("An association"), Place Louis XVI was named in Paris Revolution Square(now – Place de la Concorde). From the first days of Soviet power, renaming began in Russia. First of all, toponyms associated with kings, titles of nobles, Orthodox and other religions were eliminated. As a result Alexandrovsk became Zaporozhye, Land of Nicholas II – Severnaya Zemlya, Novo-Nikolaevsk – Novosibirsk, Tsarevo-Kokshaysk – Yoshkar-Oloy(Mari " red city»), Romanov-on-Murman – Murmansk, Petrograd – Leningrad etc. The process of renaming has become widespread. Many objects received memorial and symbolic names.
At the same time, there was a process of getting rid of the so-called dissonant toponyms. Basically, they represented a whole layer of names derived from Old Russian personal names. V. A. Zhuchkevich in his “Brief Toponymic Dictionary of Belarus” provided a significant list of renamed geographical names by 1974. As a result, they disappeared from geographical maps Whore And Blevachi, Flea insects And Manure, Smerdyacha And Devilry and many hundreds of unique names that were considered “discordant.” The improvement of toponymy turned out to be extremely dubious and, moreover, disastrous. But, despite the official renaming, many toponyms continue to live in popular speech.
Military actions were also of great importance in the formation of toponymy. Thus, after the end of the Second World War, the borders of Poland changed. The ancient Polish lands were annexed to it - Pomerania, Silesia, Gdansk. A special state commission was created, which within 5 years established Polish names: Allenstein became Olsztyn, Danzig – Gdańsk, Breslau – Wroclaw, Kattov – Katowice, Oppeln – Opole etc. The Soviet authorities carried out similar work in East Prussia, where a completely new toponymy was created: Koenigsberg became Kaliningrad, Instenburg – Chernyakhovsky, Pillau – Baltic, Rauschen – Svetlogorsk etc. During the years of occupation of the Korean Peninsula, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Archipelago, Japan also imposed its toponymy. After the end of the war, the name was also renamed here.
Significant changes in geographical names occurred as a result of the collapse of the colonial system. The liberated young states began to get rid of the toponymic heritage of the past. As a result, a significant layer of new or restored toponyms arose.
With the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of the socialist camp, the process of renaming swept through the newly independent countries. The name of the capital of Kyrgyzstan has been returned Bishkek(close to previously used Pishpek); new capital of Kazakhstan (formerly Tselinograd) first received the same name Akmola(“white grave”), but was later renamed again - to Astana("capital"); the highest point of Tajikistan and, in the past, the entire Soviet Union - Peak of Communism renamed to peak Ismaila Samani(national hero of the country); city Krasnovodsk got the name Turkmenbashi in honor of the President of Turkmenistan S. Niyazov, etc. These processes continue in many CIS countries.
Official renaming may be associated with significant events or dates in the life of the country. The appearance of such geographical names continues to this day. So, in the island state of Vanuatu (Oceania) O. Santa Catilina was renamed to Millennium in honor of the new millennium.
The examples given reflect the dynamics of geographical names and their dependence on socio-political processes occurring in the world. A thoughtless, unjustified renaming causes enormous damage from the point of view of preserving the cultural and historical traditions of the people.