Toponymy,toponymics, ortoponomastics is the study oftoponyms (proper names of places, also known asplace names andgeographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types.[1][2][3][4]Toponym is the general term for a proper name of anygeographical feature,[5] and full scope of the term also includes proper names of allcosmographical features.[6]
In a more specific sense, the termtoponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to astoponymics ortoponomastics.[7] Toponymy is a branch ofonomastics, the study ofproper names of all kinds.[8] A person who studies toponymy is calledtoponymist.[1]
The termtoponymy comes fromAncient Greek:τόπος /tópos, 'place', andὄνομα /onoma, 'name'.TheOxford English Dictionary recordstoponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876 in the context of geographical studies.[9][10] Since then,toponym has come to replace the termplace-name in professional discourse amonggeographers.[1]
Asimplex toponym consists of just onemorpheme that identifies the geographic feature by itself, whereas acomposite toponym can be broken down into multiple elements, namely, aspecific that distinguishes the feature from others within its class and ageneric that distinguishes the feature from others with the same name in other classes.[34][35] In English, a composite toponym may consist of a specific and a generic (such as "Tweed River", "River Tweed", or "River Road") or less commonly a generic with adefinite article (such as "The Bend" or "The Dalles").[36]
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 theiretiological legends. The process offolk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, for example, the toponym ofHellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named afterHelle, daughter ofAthamas, who drowned there as she crossed it with her brotherPhrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however, is probably derived from an older language, such asPelasgian, which was unknown to those who explained its origin. In hisNames on the Globe,George R. Stewart theorizes thatHellespont originally meant something like 'narrow Pontus' or 'entrance to Pontus',Pontus being an ancient name for the region around theBlack Sea, and by extension, for the sea itself.[37]
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 cartographerPetermann 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 von Heuglin and countKarl 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 ...".[38]
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]
A toponymist, through well-established local principles and procedures developed in cooperation and consultation with theUnited 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 thephilologists."[39]
Toponyms not only illustrate ethnic settlement patterns, but they can also help identify discrete periods of immigration.[40][41]
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 asgeographic information systems,Google Maps, or thesauri like theGetty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.[1]
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.[43] Similarly, therevisionist practice ofrenaming streets, as both the celebration of triumph and the repudiation of the old regime is another issue of toponymy.[44] Also, in the context ofSlavic nationalism, the name ofSaint Petersburg was changed to the more Slavic soundingPetrograd from 1914 to 1924,[45] then toLeningrad following the death ofVladimir Lenin and back toSaint-Peterburg in 1991 following thedissolution of the Soviet Union. After 1830, in the wake of theGreek 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 apostcolonial context.[46]
Frictions sometimes arise between countries because of toponymy, as illustrated by theMacedonia naming dispute in whichGreece has claimed the nameMacedonia, theSea of Japan naming dispute betweenJapan andKorea, as well as thePersian 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 theGulf 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.[48]
Ageographic 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 by this name. In some countries (especially those organised on a federal basis), subdivisions such as individual states or provinces have individual boards.
^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.
^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.S2CID144414677.
Cablitz, Gabriele H. 2008. "When 'what' is 'where': A linguistic analysis of landscape terms, place names and body part terms in Marquesan (Oceanic, French Polynesia)."Language Sciences 30(2/3):200–26.
Desjardins, Louis-Hébert. 1973.Les nons géographiques: lexique polyglotte, suivi d'un glossaire de 500 mots. Leméac.
