Toponymy

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Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. [1] [2] [3] [4] Toponym is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature, [5] and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features. [6]

Contents

In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics. [7] Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, the study of proper names of all kinds. [8] A person who studies toponymy is called toponymist. [1]

Etymology

The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek : τόπος / tópos, 'place', and ὄνομα / onoma, 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876. [9] [10] Since then, toponym has come to replace the term place-name in professional discourse among geographers. [1]

Toponymic typology

Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups: [1]

Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order: [1]

Various types of cosmographical toponyms (cosmonyms) include:

History

Probably the first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of specific place names as part of their tales; sometimes place-names served as the basis for their etiological legends. The process of folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, for example, the toponym of Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after Helle, daughter of Athamas, who drowned there as she crossed it with her brother Phrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however, is probably derived from an older language, such as Pelasgian, which was unknown to those who explained its origin. In his Names on the Globe, George R. Stewart theorizes that Hellespont originally meant something like 'narrow Pontus' or 'entrance to Pontus', Pontus being an ancient name for the region around the Black Sea, and by extension, for the sea itself. [34]

Especially in the 19th century, the age of exploration, a lot of toponyms got a different name because of national pride. Thus the famous German cartographer Petermann thought that the naming of newly discovered physical features was one of the privileges of a map-editor, especially as he was fed up with forever encountering toponyms like 'Victoria', 'Wellington', 'Smith', 'Jones', etc. He writes: "While constructing the new map to specify the detailed topographical portrayal and after consulting with and authorization of messr. [Theodor] v[on] Heuglin and count Karl Graf von Waldburg-Zeil I have entered 118 names in the map: partly they are the names derived from celebrities of arctic explorations and discoveries, arctic travellers anyway as well as excellent friends, patrons, and participants of different nationalities in the newest northpolar expeditions, partly eminent German travellers in Africa, Australia, America ...". [35]

Toponyms may have different names through time, due to changes and developments in languages, political developments and border adjustments to name but a few. More recently many postcolonial countries revert to their own nomenclature for toponyms that have been named by colonial powers. [1]

Toponomastics

Place names provide the most useful geographical reference system in the world. Consistency and accuracy are essential in referring to a place to prevent confusion in everyday business and recreation.[ citation needed ]

A toponymist, through well-established local principles and procedures developed in cooperation and consultation with the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), applies the science of toponymy to establish officially recognized geographical names. A toponymist relies not only on maps and local histories, but interviews with local residents to determine names with established local usage. The exact application of a toponym, its specific language, its pronunciation, and its origins and meaning are all important facts to be recorded during name surveys.

Scholars have found that toponyms provide valuable insight into the historical geography of a particular region. In 1954, F. M. Powicke said of place-name study that it "uses, enriches and tests the discoveries of archaeology and history and the rules of the philologists." [36]

Toponyms not only illustrate ethnic settlement patterns, but they can also help identify discrete periods of immigration. [37] [38]

Toponymists are responsible for the active preservation of their region's culture through its toponymy.[ citation needed ] They typically ensure the ongoing development of a geographical names database and associated publications, for recording and disseminating authoritative hard-copy and digital toponymic data. This data may be disseminated in a wide variety of formats, including hard-copy topographic maps as well as digital formats such as geographic information systems, Google Maps, or thesauri like the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names. [1]

Toponymic commemoration

In 2002, the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names acknowledged that while common, the practice of naming geographical places after living persons (toponymic commemoration) could be problematic. Therefore, the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names recommends that it be avoided and that national authorities should set their own guidelines as to the time required after a person's death for the use of a commemorative name. [39]

In the same vein, writers Pinchevski and Torgovnik (2002) consider the naming of streets as a political act in which holders of the legitimate monopoly to name aspire to engrave their ideological views in the social space. [40] Similarly, the revisionist practice of renaming streets, as both the celebration of triumph and the repudiation of the old regime is another issue of toponymy. [41] Also, in the context of Slavic nationalism, the name of Saint Petersburg was changed to the more Slavic sounding Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, [42] then to Leningrad following the death of Vladimir Lenin and back to Saint-Peterburg in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. After 1830, in the wake of the Greek War of Independence and the establishment of an independent Greek state, Turkish, Slavic and Italian place names were Hellenized, as an effort of "toponymic cleansing." This nationalization of place names can also manifest itself in a postcolonial context. [43]

In Canada, there have been initiatives in recent years "to restore traditional names to reflect the Indigenous culture wherever possible". [44] Indigenous mapping is a process that can include restoring place names by Indigenous communities themselves.

Frictions sometimes arise between countries because of toponymy, as illustrated by the Macedonia naming dispute in which Greece has claimed the name Macedonia , the Sea of Japan naming dispute between Japan and Korea, as well as the Persian Gulf naming dispute. On 20 September 1996 a note on the internet reflected a query by a Canadian surfer, who said as follows: 'One producer of maps labeled the water body "Persian Gulf" on a 1977 map of Iran, and then "Arabian Gulf", also in 1977, in a map which focused on the Gulf States. I would gather that this is an indication of the "politics of maps", but I would be interested to know if this was done to avoid upsetting users of the Iran map and users of the map showing Arab Gulf States'. This symbolizes a further aspect of the topic, namely the spilling over of the problem from the purely political to the economic sphere. [45]

Geographic names boards

A geographic names board is an official body established by a government to decide on official names for geographical areas and features.

Most countries have such a body, which is commonly (but not always) known under this name. Also, in some countries (especially those organised on a federal basis), subdivisions such as individual states or provinces will have individual boards.

Individual geographic names boards include:

Notable toponymists

See also

Toponymy

Hydronymy

Regional toponymy

Other

Related Research Articles

The toponymy of England derives from a variety of linguistic origins. Many English toponyms have been corrupted and broken down over the years, due to language changes which have caused the original meanings to be lost. In some cases, words used in these place-names are derived from languages that are extinct, and of which there are no known definitions. Place-names may also be compounds composed of elements derived from two or more languages from different periods. The majority of the toponyms predate the radical changes in the English language triggered by the Norman Conquest, and some Celtic names even predate the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in the first millennium AD.

Onomastics is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An alethonym or an orthonym is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.

The suffix -onym is a bound morpheme, that is attached to the end of a root word, thus forming a new compound word that designates a particular class of names. In linguistic terminology, compound words that are formed with suffix -onym are most commonly used as designations for various onomastic classes. Most onomastic terms that are formed with suffix -onym are classical compounds, whose word roots are taken from classical languages.

In much of the "Old World" the names of many places cannot easily be interpreted or understood; they do not convey any apparent meaning in the modern language of the area. This is due to a general set of processes through which place names evolve over time, until their obvious meaning is lost. In contrast, in the "New World", many place names' origins are known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endonym and exonym</span> Name variations of ethnic groups, languages, persons, and places

An endonym is a common, native name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate themselves, their homeland, or their language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydronym</span> Proper name of a body of water

A hydronym is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of toponymy, a distinctive discipline of hydronymy studies the proper names of all bodies of water, the origins and meanings of those names, and their development and transmission through history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemshorn</span> Type of musical instrument

The gemshorn is an instrument of the ocarina family that was historically made from the horn of a chamois, goat, or other suitable animal. The gemshorn receives its name from the German language, in which Gemshorn means a "chamois horn". According to Etymologist Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, the form could have prehistoric origins and come from Proto-Germanic *gămĭtă-χŭrnă-n < Indo-European *gʱŏm-ĭdó-ḱrhₐ-nŏ-m (or *gʱŏm-ĭdó-ḱrhₐ-nŏ-m > Gämshorn, indicating a "'specific' wind instrument, crafted by using the horns of ungulated animals and different from a hunting horn or a signaling horn".

Anthroponymy is the study of anthroponyms, the proper names of human beings, both individual and collective. Anthroponymy is a branch of onomastics.

An English exonym is a name in the English language for a place, or occasionally other terms, which does not follow the local usage. Exonyms and endonyms are features of all languages, and other languages may have their own exonym for English endonyms, for example Llundain is the Welsh exonym for the English endonym "London".

Borgomale is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Turin and about 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Cuneo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bistagno</span> Municipality in Piedmont, Italy

Bistagno is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Turin and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Alessandria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pareto, Piedmont</span> Municipality in Piedmont, Italy

Pareto is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southeast of Turin and about 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Alessandria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleo-Sardinian language</span> Extinct language isolate indigenous to the island of Sardinia

Paleo-Sardinian, also known as Proto-Sardinian or Nuragic, is an extinct language, or perhaps set of languages, spoken on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia by the ancient Sardinian population during the Nuragic era. Starting from the Roman conquest with the establishment of a specific province, a process of language shift took place, wherein Latin came slowly to be the only language spoken by the islanders. Paleo-Sardinian is thought to have left traces in the island's onomastics as well as toponyms, which appear to preserve grammatical suffixes, and a number of words in the modern Sardinian language.

Road names in Singapore come under the purview of the Street and Building Names Board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. In 1967, the Advisory Committee on the Naming of Roads and Streets was formed to name roads in Singapore. The committee was eventually renamed the Street and Building Names Board (SBNB) in 2003. The secretariat role of SBNB was taken over by Urban Redevelopment Authority in 2010 and SBNB is under the Ministry of National Development of Singapore.

Choronym is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of an individual region or a country. The study of regional and country names is known as choronymy, or choronymics. Since choronyms are a subclass of toponyms, choronymic studies represent a distinctive subfield of toponymic studies and belong to the wider field of onomastic studies.

Place names in Azerbaijan is a set of geographical names, including the names of natural and cultural objects on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

<i>Place Names</i> 2023 book by Francesco Perono Cacciafoco and Francesco Paolo Cavallaro

Place Names: Approaches and Perspectives in Toponymy and Toponomastics is a book by linguists and authors Francesco Perono Cacciafoco and Francesco Paolo Cavallaro. The book explores toponymy and toponomastics. Through associating these studies with various disciplines and elucidating key methodologies with illustrative case studies, the volume provides an introduction to the origins, structures, and significance of place names worldwide. It was published in March 2023 by Cambridge University Press.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco; Cavallaro, Francesco Paolo (March 2023). Place Names: Approaches and Perspectives in Toponymy and Toponomastics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9781108780384.
  2. ↑ Wyrwas, Katarzyna. 5 December 2004. § "Czy nauka zajmująca się nazewnictwem miast to onomastyka? Według jakich kategorii dzieli się pochodzenie nazw? Archived 9 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine [Is science dealing with city names an onomastics? What categories does the origin of names fall into?]." Poradniki Językowe. Katowice, PL: Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.
  3. ↑ Českʹy jazyk a literatura (in Czech), vol. 11, Státní pedagogické nakl., 1961, p. 176
  4. ↑ Ormeling, F. J. Sr. (16–18 October 1989). "Terms used in geographical names standardization". In Tichelaar, T. R. (ed.). Proceedings of the Workshop on Toponymy held in Cipanas, Indonesia. Cibinong: Bakosurtanal.
  5. ↑ United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, London, 10–31 May 1972. New York: United Nations Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs. 1974. p. 68.
  6. ↑ Room 1996, p. 13, 23, 27, 62, 80.
  7. ↑ Marulić (in Croatian), vol. 35, Hrvatsko književno društvo sv. Ćirila i Metoda, 2002, p. 1183
  8. ↑ Tent, Jan (2015). "Approaches to Research in Toponymy". Names . 63 (2): 65–74. doi: 10.1179/0027773814Z.000000000103 . S2CID   144115142.
  9. ↑ "toponymy, n.", OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2021, retrieved 13 March 2022
  10. ↑ " toˈponymist" appears in 1850s
  11. ↑ Room 1996, p. 46.
  12. ↑ Room 1996, p. 27.
  13. 1 2 Room 1996, p. 4.
  14. ↑ Room 1996, p. 20.
  15. ↑ Room 1996, p. 33.
  16. ↑ Room 1996, p. 34.
  17. ↑ Room 1996, p. 35.
  18. ↑ Room 1996, p. 25.
  19. 1 2 3 Room 1996, p. 13.
  20. ↑ Room 1996, p. 51.
  21. ↑ Room 1996, p. 48.
  22. ↑ Room 1996, p. 56.
  23. ↑ Room 1996, p. 71.
  24. ↑ Room 1996, p. 79.
  25. ↑ Room 1996, p. 84.
  26. ↑ Room 1996, p. 54.
  27. ↑ Room 1996, p. 75.
  28. ↑ Room 1996, p. 92.
  29. ↑ Room 1996, p. 104.
  30. ↑ Room 1996, p. 49.
  31. ↑ Room 1996, p. 23.
  32. ↑ Room 1996, p. 62.
  33. ↑ Room 1996, p. 80.
  34. ↑ Stewart, George Rippey (7 August 1975). Names on the Globe (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-501895-0.
  35. ↑ Koldewey, K. (1871. Die erste Deutsche Nordpolar-Expedition im Jahre 1868. In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, Ergäzungsband VI, p. 182.
  36. ↑ Powicke, F. M. 1954. "Armstrong, Mawer, Stenton and Dickins 'The Place-Names of Cumberland' (1950–53)" (book review). The English Historical Review 69. p. 312.
  37. ↑ McDavid, R.I. (1958). "Linguistic Geographic and Toponymic Research". Names. 6 (2): 65–73. doi:10.1179/nam.1958.6.2.65.
  38. ↑ Kaups, M. (1966). "Finnish Place Names in Minnesota: A Study in Cultural Transfer". The Geographical Review. 56 (3). Geographical Review, Vol. 56, No. 3: 377–397. Bibcode:1966GeoRv..56..377K. doi:10.2307/212463. JSTOR   212463.
  39. ↑ Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2002. ISBN   9789211009156.[ permanent dead link ]
  40. ↑ Pinchevski, Amit; Torgovnik, Efraim (May 2002). "Signifying passages: the signs of change in Israeli street names". Media, Culture & Society. 24 (3): 365–388. doi:10.1177/016344370202400305. S2CID   144414677.
  41. ↑ Azaryahu, Maoz (2009). "Naming the past: The significance of commemorative street names". Critical Toponymies: The Contested Politics of Place Naming. Routledge. ISBN   9780754674535.
  42. ↑ Lincoln, Bruce (2000). Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia. Basic Books. ISBN   9780786730896.
  43. ↑ Rose-Redwood, Reuben; et al. (2009). "Geographies of toponymic inscription: new directions in critical place-name studies". Progress in Human Geography: 460.
  44. ↑ "Indigenous-place-names". 9 June 2017.
  45. ↑ Kadmon, Naftali (2004). "Toponymy and Geopolitics: The Political Use — and Misuse — of Geographical Names" (PDF). The Cartographic Journal. 41 (2): 85–87. Bibcode:2004CartJ..41...85K. doi:10.1179/000870404X12897. S2CID   128707537.

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