Geographical names and their meanings. From the history of geographical names. Place names mentioned

Articles and materials about toponyms

The book “Toponymy of the Voronezh Region” has been published
From this book you can learn about the administrative-territorial affiliation of all currently officially existing settlements Voronezh region, the time of their origin, previous names, owners and pioneers, the time and reasons for renaming, the etymology of names, the norm of their pronunciation. Another interesting genre of folklore is toponymic legend. The second part of the book is devoted precisely to this genre, often associated with the “folk etymology” of the origin of a number of Voronezh toponyms. –
The collection “Current problems of toponymy” has been published
The new issue of the “Questions of Geography” series is composed of articles on toponymy, as well as related sections of onomastics. It was prepared by the Toponymic Commission of the Moscow Geographical Society of the Russian Geographical Society (since 2009, the renewed series “Questions of Geography” became a publication of the Russian Geographical Society) and is dedicated to two significant dates– To the 100th anniversary of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the 60th anniversary of the Toponymic Commission of the Moscow Geographical Society of the Russian Geographical Society. –
Chuk and Gek and other place names of Antarctica

Rosreestr (Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography) announced on its website the creation of a register of names of geographical objects of Antarctica, which in different years were discovered by Russian researchers. The register contains information on 1,752 names of geographical objects of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone Russian Federation, as well as objects discovered or identified by Russian researchers within the open sea and Antarctica. –
Groups of urbanonyms with common feature(using the example of the city of Zwickau)

In the names of urbanonyms of cities, towns, villages (i.e. linear and non-linear objects - streets, avenues, avenues, boulevards, squares, enterprises of various types and other objects) one can find microgroups united by a common feature, common theme. For example, in the city of Verny (the name of the city of Almaty in pre-Soviet times and in the first Soviet years) in its western part parallel streets ran in a row Sartovskaya, Kyrgyz Dunganskaya, then for Kashgar – Taranchinskaya. –
The attitude of Russians to the toponymic heritage of the USSR

The company “Institute of Public Opinion Questionnaire” conducted a study to study the attitude of Russians to the issues of renaming and naming. More than half of Russians (57%) believe that the advisability of changing Soviet toponyms to pre-revolutionary ones should be considered separately in each case. 29% were in favor of completely preserving the Soviet names of streets and squares, and 9% were in favor of returning pre-revolutionary ones. –

Gaiduk S. Toponyms of Petrozavodsk: streets and parks
The book “Petrozavodsk Toponyms: Streets and Parks” has been published. It tells the history of the names of the city's streets and parks that have ever existed. –

Moiseev B. A. Toponymic sketches of the Orenburg region

In Orenburg, on October 13, 2017, a solemn ceremony was held to award the winners of the Regional Literary Prize named after P. I. Rychkov. In the third category, “Artistic and Documentary Work,” the prize winner was Boris Aleksandrovich Moiseev with his book “Toponymic Sketches of the Orenburg Region.” It reveals the world in a fascinating and detailed way. geographical names Orenburg region: names of rivers, mountains, settlements. The toponymy of the region is considered in a broad context historical events: foundation of the province, resettlement of residents from other areas Russian Empire, the influence of the Turkic language and Cossack dialects on the names of objects. –
A new version origin of the toponym Samara

One of the new hypotheses for the origin of the Russian toponym Samara has been developed by local historian from Samara Oleg Rakshin for several years. In his opinion, the origin of the name of the Samara River and the name of the city of Samara is different.
From the history of the First World War: the war with place names

In all the warring countries, there was not only a patriotic upsurge, but also a surge of xenophobia, in each specific country aimed at a specific ethnic group. Xenophobia in those years took different shapes, including such radical ones as pogroms. One of its specific forms is the replacement of toponyms of a certain linguistic origin.
Names of Asian capitals

We continue to get acquainted with the origin of the names of the capitals of the world. On this page we're talking about about the capitals of Asian states, as well as states partially located in Europe or Oceania, but mainly in Asia.
Names of European capitals

Getting to know the city begins with its name. Capital names European countries we should have known since school. But few people know about the origin of these names.

The first chronicle evidence of Moscow is contained in the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1147. Name of the city Moscow inextricably linked with the name of the river of the same name Moscow.

From observations of microtoponymy of the river basin. Ural

At one time, when analyzing the names of geographical objects, “more attention was paid to the name itself, and the geographical term remained in the shadows, despite the well-known genetic connections of toponyms with the term. Geographical term in the fate of a toponym plays an important role: it designates a geographical object.
Unresolved issues of onomastics of the Volga region

The 1st Volga Onomastic Conference clearly showed that today in the Volga region from Gorky to Astrakhan, from Perm to Penza there is not a single region and not a single ASSR that is not covered by onomastic research. Such a large scientific team is capable of tackling large and difficult problems. Now the question is not quantity, but quality.
Kazakh geographical names with formants you and sy

Some original geographical names of Kazakhstan (rarely Kyrgyzstan) exist in two versions: Arkarly And Arkarty, Almaly And Almaty, Arshaly And Arshaty, Buguly And Buguty, Karagaily And Karagayty, ӧlendi And ӧlenti, Tobylgyly And Tobylgyty, Yrgaily And Yrgaity, other toponyms have only one option: Zhideli, Zhosaly, Karganda, Moildy, Mointy, Molali, Sekseuldi, Kulandy, Shiderti.
Hello from America

Recently I was rummaging through my home archives. And among the many postcards with the sights of the former GDR, I found one that had not attracted my attention before. The black and white postcard shows three photographs: a general view of the village, the station and the restaurant hall. And to all this there is an intriguing inscription - Gruß aus Amerika (Greetings from America).


The longest geographical name in the world is in New Zealand. In Russian transcription it has 82 letters. In English, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records, there are 92 letters.
(on my other site)

Tourists become familiar with the geographical names of the area they are visiting already at the stage of preparation for travel - in the process of studying guidebooks, geographical maps, and reports of other travelers. And if you make a list of toponyms on the upcoming route in advance, this can significantly help in completing the route, since often the etymology of toponyms reflects the physical and geographical characteristics of the named objects.
Place names of India (on my other site)

Brief dictionary place names of India.

Oceans, seas, currents, rivers, lakes, islands, mountains, sands, swamps, tracts, countries, cities, villages, streets, farmsteads and all other geographical objects on Earth. The sum of geographical names (toponymy) forms a system or a set of features and characteristics that are naturally repeated in the process of forming toponymy and its modern, relatively stable form. This one in different countries the world is always of different ages and different languages, because reflects the historical conditions of the countries and the languages ​​of the peoples who inhabit and inhabit them. Geographical names are often repeated, forming rows characteristic of a particular era. So, several cities and towns are named Komsomolsk, Pervomaisky, Oktyabrsky, etc. Examples of geographical names that are multilingual, but have almost the same content, are the following names: Russian, Italian Naples, Tajik Novabad, English Newcastle, Turkic Dzhangy-Shaar, etc.

Among Geographical names, the following stand out: Geographical names of rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., forming on the whole the most conservative group with the greatest stability; oronyms - names of mountains, ridges, peaks, hills; oikonyms - names of populated places, etc. However, such a classification is not yet generally accepted. It is not clear, for example, where to classify G. parts of ravines, ravines, sais and other forms of erosional relief - as oronyms or hydronyms, as well as the names of swamps, etc. Microtoponyms are also distinguished, i.e. Geographical names of small objects: lands, tracts, pastures, sinkholes, burnt areas, wells, springs, whirlpools, rapids, etc. This group of Geographical names is diverse in composition; it is united by the limited and narrowly local popularity of such names only among local residents.

The original toponym in some cases is easily revealed, in others it requires significant effort to understand it, and in others, with the modern level of knowledge, the origin of the toponym remains a mystery. Geographical names are basically folk names. They reflect geographical conditions, languages, etc. Therefore, the study of geographical names is great for linguists, geographers, historians, and ethnographers. For the stabilization of geographical names, their principles from language to language are very important. Systematic study of toponymy in the 2nd half of the 20th century. has been developed in many countries around the world. A branch of knowledge studying Geographical names has emerged -

What is a geographical feature: definition and examples

Geography is a science that studies the earth's surface and everything that is on it. And there are a lot of things located there: rivers and lakes, mountains and seas, agricultural lands and rocky canyons, cities and tiny villages... It is these objects that give a unique, inimitable appearance to our planet.

So, what is a geographical actually existing and relatively stable element? earth's surface. All geographical objects are distinguished by their integrity, specific location and have their own boundaries. Moreover, their genesis (origin) can be very diverse.

The science of geography, studying all these objects, first of all, is obliged to answer two main questions:

• Where is the object located?
• What does he look like?

The image of a particular geographical object is very important. In some of them it is formed extremely brightly. For example, when mentioning the Roman Colosseum or the famous Egyptian pyramids A corresponding “picture” immediately appears in your head.

Types of geographical objects

Based on their origin, all geographical objects can be divided into two large groups:

1. Natural (seas, oceans, mountain ranges, lakes, caves, forests, rocks, springs, etc.).
2. Anthropogenic or man-made (countries, cities, villages, industrial enterprises, monasteries, parks, ports, railway stations and so on.).

It is customary to describe any geographical object carefully and in detail, determining its characteristic properties, and also measure its parameters. For example, for mountain peaks their height is determined, for rivers - their length, for airports - passenger turnover, etc.

What is a geographical feature? One more definition can be given - simple, but quite accurate. Geographical objects are everything that can be designated on geographical maps and site plans. How can I do that?

Geographical objects on the map

Various objects on maps and plans are displayed using special symbols. This is a system of specially designed graphic symbols and figures that allows you to give qualitative and quantitative characteristics of certain objects or phenomena.

All cartographic conventional signs are divided into four types:

• large-scale or area (contours of lakes, forests, fields, etc.);
• non-scale or point (power plants, mineral springs, Orthodox churches etc.);
• linear (rivers, canals, highways, borders of territories, etc.);
• explanatory (various verbal and numerical inscriptions).

Relief on geographic maps is depicted using contour lines - thin brown lines connecting points on the earth's surface with the same height. Arrows and special traffic signs indicate various natural or, for example, directions of sea transportation.

Names of geographical objects

Each such object has its own “name”. And, as a rule, it is not random. The name of a geographic feature is usually related to its features, location, or history.

The study of the origin, meaning and development (changes) of geographical names is carried out by separate science- toponymy. This scientific discipline is at the intersection of geography, history and linguistics. The correct name of a geographic feature is extremely important for cartographers.

There are a huge number of types of geographical names: hydronyms (names of rivers and lakes), oikonyms (names of settlements), oronyms (names of landforms), hodonyms (street names), etc.

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 names of geographical objects is studied 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

IN literal translation from Greek, toponym is the “name of a place,” that is, the name of a particular geographical object: 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 this is not just the name of a geographical object, but a historical trace on the map, which has its own history of origin, 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 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:

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:

Man gave names to cities and villages; he named the mountains and rivers, seas and ranges on the planet. Moreover, people came up with names for planets and stars and “baptized” the lifeless lunar landscape. And almost from the time people first began to give names to the rivers and mountains surrounding them, the question arose: why was it named like that? What does this or that name mean? Where did these names come from, why were they called that, what does the word Cupid mean? Or Altai? Or the city of Paris? Or the Ebro River in Spain?

The answer to this question is given by science - toponymy, which studies geographical names, their origin, meaning, correct spelling, studies thousands and hundreds of thousands of names on tens and hundreds various languages peace. Place names are words; albeit with their own characteristics, even if they do not carry such a clear semantic load as ordinary words of the language. And the laws of formation and change of words are studied by linguistics.

But the study of geographical names is as much a “blooded matter” of geographers as it is of linguists. Although the material, the “bricks” of names, are words, these words have a special service, their main purpose is to give a name to a geographical object, be it a mountain, a river, a city. And therefore, with the help of linguistics alone, the problems of toponymy cannot be solved.

Very often both the river and the city on the river have the same name. The linguist cannot determine which name came first: either the city was named after the river, or the river - after the city standing on it. A geographer can answer this question. As a rule, cities and villages receive the names of the rivers on the banks of which they are located, for example, Moscow, Voronezh, Omsk, Tomsk, Ufa, Volgograd. But in Central Asia On the contrary, rivers receive the names of cities: the Amu Darya river is named after the city of Amul; Yarkand-Darya river in the city of Yarkand, etc.

But neither a linguist nor a geographer can explain why the former St. Petersburg became St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, and then Leningrad; then again St. Petersburg, why the area “Lonely Grave” becomes the “Valley of Oil”, why in the Smolensk province there was the village of Siberia, why in the Middle Ages many names of cities and villages were born, formed from the words bridge (Zamosc, Mosty, Pontoise, Bruges, Osnabrück, Alcantara and a number of others), and in our time, when bridges and new cities appear more often than in the Middle Ages, the names of cities with the stem “bridge” do not appear, why was the same river called in different times Ra-Itil and the Volga, why in distant Canada there is a village called Cherry.

These and many other questions of toponymy can be answered not by geography or linguistics, but only by history - the history of society, archaeological excavations, archival materials, chronicles and scribe books.

So, history, geography, linguistics - they are all necessary for toponymy; geographical names cannot be studied without their help. But - only help. Toponymy is independent scientific discipline, it has its own methods, its own object of study. In our century, the most interesting problems, the most fascinating branches of knowledge are born at the intersection of sciences. Cybernetics and the theory of signs, biochemistry and astrophysics, mathematical linguistics and geophysics, psychology and religion... Such complex sciences include the science of geographical names - toponymy - a mixture of geography, history and linguistics.

On the territory of our country they lived, about whom historians spoke. Archaeologists have excavated numerous Scythian burial mounds, thereby confirming the words of ancient scientists. But not only excavations speak about the Scythians. To this day, traces of the Scythians remain in our lives. These traces are place names. Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniester - the names of these rivers go back to the Scythian language and mean “water” and “river”.

Elbe is the name of one of the main German rivers. But the word Elbe is not German, it is a converted Slavic Laba - that’s what the ancient inhabitants of Northern Germany called the river - the Slavs. And in the mountains of the Czech Republic, where this river originates, it is still called by its original and ancient name - Laba.

The name of the capital of France - Paris - suggests that many centuries ago there was a village of the Parisian tribe on this site. The Ebro River in eastern Spain brought to us the ancient name of the entire country - Iberia, formed on behalf of the indigenous inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, the Iberians.

The word Scotland is derived from the Scots tribe. And the name of the tribe literally means “nomads.” The “incomprehensible” names for the Russian tributaries of the Oka - Tsna and Smedva, the tributary of the Volga - Zhukon, the tributary of the Moscow River Lusyanka indicate that the ancestors of modern Lithuanians once lived in these territories. The names of the city of Tomsk and the Tom River go back to the Ket language and confirm the assumption of scientists that the Kets, who now live in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, previously lived in the south of Western Siberia.

Geographical names not only dispassionately tell us about ancient times. Names can also be incriminating. Slave Bank, Slave River, Slave Lake... These names resurrect the terrible past of Africa, which white colonialists turned into a “reserved hunting ground for blacks.” "Rich Landing" - Puerto Rico; "Silver" - Argentina. These names were given by the conquerors - the conquistadors - to the newly discovered lands of the New World... And this is how the Indians had to pay for their wealth native land. In “rich” Costa Rica they make up less than fifteen hundredths of one percent of the population. And on the island of Puerto Rico there is not a single Indian left - already in the 16th century they were inhumanly exterminated by the Spanish colonialists.

New York City Center largest city world, located on Manhattan Island. This word is translated “Where we were deceived,” for the island was acquired for next to nothing by Dutch businessmen from the Iroquois leaders.

Geographical names survive centuries and millennia. They outlive those who first thought of them, outlive the language in which they were expressed. Majestic palaces and temples collapsed, peoples and languages, cities and states disappeared... And only the fragile word, the weightless word remained to live, proving stronger than fortress walls and once powerful empires.

Scientists are collecting this invaluable material bit by bit, carefully analyzing it, looking for traces of the distant past in geographical names. And resurrecting it can sometimes be even more difficult than deciphering the most complex letter: after all, sometimes geographical names do not form a coherent text at all. And yet, researchers are steadily and patiently doing their work, restoring the events and affairs of bygone days using geographical names.

P.S. Ancient chronicles tell: And sometimes, in order to penetrate into the history of some geographical names in the East, especially in its Muslim part, it is even necessary to study the Arabic language, which has long been international language of the whole East (as English is now international for the whole world). But don’t be afraid of the difficulties associated with studying it, because there is an excellent school oriental languages shid.com.ua, come in and explore.