Scientific journal
International Journal of Experimental Education
ISSN 2618–7159
ИФ РИНЦ = 0,425

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We study formation, development, scientific and folk interpretatations of original and borrowed topographical onyms in diachrony. Place-name is a universal phenomenon in Indo-European languages. Linguistic creativeness as manifestation of speaker individuality is reflected in hybrid formings. Creative transformations of toponyms appear at definite levels of linguistic analysis: morphonological, lexical, semantic and structural.

In the British Place-names the following morphological processes take place:

hybridization, e.g.:

Silverstone ← Sewulf’s + ton; Yelverton ← Ellaۥs+ ford + ton; Glamorgan ← glan + more + geni; Godmanchester ← Lat.Godmund+cestre;

reduction:

Fotheringhay ← forth + here + ing + eg; Grantchester ← Grant + set; GlenAffric←glen+а+the+break;

doublication:

Torpenhow Hill ← tor + pen + how + Hill;

adaptation:

Conisbrough; Glastonbury; Gold’s + pie (E) ← by (ON ).

Such modifications as stone → ton, borough → burg, chester → set cause the loss of primary meaning and appearance of naive folk interpretation of the new form, e.g. Brownsea Island → Brunkeseye, where the final component E eye ← OE ieg. Folk interpretation of Brownsee is considered: brown + sea.

In the Russian Place-names the following morphological processes take place:

reduction: Semivragi, Prechistenka, Sukhodol, Sivtsev Vrajek, Kholmogory, Kitai-gorod, Spas-zaulki, Zamoskvorechie, Novgorod;

adaptation: Pinega, Onega, Ladoga, Vetluga, Sviyaga, Volga, Vichegda, Vologda, Nerekhta;

rotation: final component ga/da (means water) is observed in the North while in the centre of Russia va/ma: Neva, Sosva, Narva, Proshva, Kama, Chukhloma, Kostroma, Bogulma, Yakhloma;

hybridization: Belozero, Churozero, Ustozero, Orenburg, Omsk, Tomsk.

According to the typological investigations of the languages it is noted that morphological and lexical dynamics is characteristic for the Russian onyms while structural changes prevail in the English onyms. Semantical transformations (conversions) are observed in the system of onyms as well, where secondary nomination units are products of cognitive dynamics.

Though the description of Place-names in Germanic written sources appeared 600 years earlier than in Slovenic, there are common features in both languages. Comparative analysis of Indo-European roots shows that changes in toponymic patterns are mainly caused by the morphological dynamics. Many old Place-names have undergone some degree of reduction in the long period since they were first coined. Place-names form very large and diverse groups of onyms, representing description of some topographical objects either natural or man-made, which were then transferred to the settlement, probably at a very early date, e.g.

Bourton-in-the-Water; Bourton-upon-Trent; Bourton-in-the-Hill; Black Bourton; Burton Constable; Clayton-le Moors; Clayton-le-Dale; Clayton-le-Wools;

object quality: Bradwell-on-Sea, Belcoo; Cromarty; Hugh Town; Kyle of Lochalsh; Langholm; Huntington; Leeds Castle; Gidea Park; Chidwell;

historical occasions: Brentwood (burnt wood); Fotheringhay (forth + here + ing + hay); Barnstaple, Dunstaple (staple); Brittas Bay (briotas); Beaconsfield, Dunkery Beacon, Brecon Beacons.

The names for rivers and streams, springs and lakes, fords and roads, marshes and moots, hills and valleys, woods and clearings, and various other landscape features are also the names of inhabited places: Sherborne, Fulbrook, Bakewell, Tranmere, Oxford, Breamore, Stodmarsh, Swindon, Goodwood, Bromsgrove, Bexley, and Hatfield – all have second elements that denote topographical features.

The Glossaries provide a selection of the meanings found for some of these topographical elements and give an idea of the great range and variety of this vocabulary. From the structural point of view, most English Place-names are compounds, that is they consist of two elements, the first of which usually qualifies the second. The first element in such compounds may be a noun, an adjective, a river-name, a personal name, or a tribal name. Typical examples of compound Place-names formed during the Old English period are:

Daventry, Coventry, Oswestry (Dafaۥs tree, Cofaۥs tree), dar/der: Derwent, Daren’t, Dart, Darly, Darvel (celtic: deruenta → dar/der); beith (Gaelic: beither → E birch): Dalbeattie; ash: Knotty Ash, Bramhall, Bramton, Bromley, Bromsgrove, Bromyard; Juniper Green, Creydon, Beeston, Farnham, Glastonbury.

However some Place-Names consist of one element only, at least to begin with: examples include names like Combe (’the valley’), Hale, Lea, Stoke, Stowe, Thorpe, Worth, and Wyke.

Less common are names consisting of three elements such as Claverton (’burdock ford farmstead’), Redmarley, Woodmansterne, and Wotherton; in most of these the third element has probably been added later to an already existing compound.

So comparative analysis of Russian and British onyms from the structural point of view shows linguistic creativeness of speech patterns. The creativeness is manifested in such morphological processes as reduction, doublication, hybridization and adaptation. Universal models characteristic for both languages are shown.

The work was submitted to the International Scientific Conference «Modern sociology and education», London, October, 19-26, 2013, came to the editorial office оn 19.09.2013.