Toponymy
Toponymy is the
taxonomic study of
toponyms (place-names), their origins and their meanings. The word is derived from the
Greek τόπος
topos, place, and oνομα
ōnoma, name. It is itself a branch of
onomastics, the study of names of all kinds.
A toponym is a
name of a locality, region, or some other part of Earth's surface or an artificial feature. In some cultures, most or all such place names have a definite meaning in the language; this is not the case, generally, for place names in the
English language.
In
linguistics and
ethnology, a toponym is a name derived from a place or a region. In
anatomy, a toponym is a name of a region of the
body, as distinguished from the name of an
organ. In
biology, a toponym is a
binomial name of a plant.
A
toponymist is one who studies toponymy. According to the
Oxford English Dictionary, the first occurrence of the word "toponymist" can be dated roughly to the middle of the nineteenth century. It can be argued that the first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of certain place names in order to elucidate their tales; sometimes place-names served as the basis for the legends themselves. The process of
folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, the toponym of
Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after
Helle, daughter of
Athamas, who drowned here as she crossed it with her brother
Phrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however, most likely is derived from an older language, such as
Pelasgian, which was unknown to those who explained its origin.
George Rippey Stewart theorized, in his book
Names on the Globe, 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.
|
Vladivostok: "Command the East" |
Toponymists attempt to approximate the original meaning of a place-name, their conclusions often competing with popular or spurious etymologies that may sound more poetic or attractive to tourists. Thus, the river-name "Mississippi" is claimed to mean "Father of the Waters" (though it may simply mean "Big River"), the state name "Idaho" was said to mean "Gem of the Mountains" (though it may be merely an invented name), and the city name "
Vladivostok" is
Russian for "Command the East" (though this is often rendered as "Lord of the East").
Toponymists are sometimes used by governments in order to verify the accuracy of certain names as used by
cartographers, the media, researchers, publishers, and their duties also include the inputting of new names into databases and
topographical maps.
*
Robert L. Ramsay*
Eilert Ekwall*
George R. Stewart*
Isaac Taylor*
William J. Watson*
Margaret Gelling*
John Mcneil Dodgson*
Gillian Fellows Jensen*
Demonym*
Placename etymology**
List of country name etymologies**
List of subnational name etymologies*
List of country nicknames*
List of double placenames*
List of toponyms*
List of tautological place names*
Place names considered unusual*
List of placenames containing the word "new"*
British toponymy*
Roman place names*
Historical African place names*
Maghreb toponymy*
Japanese place names*
Latin names of European rivers*
List of English exonyms for German toponyms*
Names of European cities in different languages*
List of river name etymologies*
List of political entities named after people*
List of places named after peace*
List of names in English with non-intuitive pronunciations*
List of adjectival forms of place names*George Rippey Stewart,
Names on the Globe (1975).
*
Who Was Who in North American Name Study*
Placename indexes*
The origins of British place names*
An Index to the Historical Place Names of Cornwall
