Onomastica

Professor Władysław Miodunka (1945–2024)

2025-01-09T09:17:17+00:00

Studies in onomastics and the new humanities

2025-01-09T09:17:43+00:00

The article discusses the possibilities of expanding the scope of onomastics research through the establishment of a new humanities framework. This framework involves opposing the scientific specialization limited to a single distinct discipline or sub-discipline; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scientific research; holistic approaches that enable a new perspective on phenomena related to culture, history, literature, and art; reliance on modern research tools such as big data analysis, artificial intelligence, and computer programming; and the application of science in practice, aiming to use discoveries and conclusions to solve real social and cultural problems. The concept of aligning onomastics with the new humanities is based on Ryszard Nycz's proposal, which distinguishes digital humanities, engaged humanities, cognitive humanities, posthumanities, and artistic humanities within the new humanities. In each of these domains, possibilities for researching proper names are identified. The observations lead to the conclusion that: 1. Conclusions from research on proper names are not only important for science as an abstract construct but also for practice. 2. Onomastics should be treated primarily as a sub-discipline of linguistics and more broadly as part of the humanities, providing knowledge about culture. 3. In addition to describing and interpreting language and communication-related phenomena, onomastics should strive to formulate diagnostic and prospective conclusions highlighting current human and world issues, as well as raising awareness about them”. 4. It is essential to nurture and deepen the methodological openness of onomastics to other sub-disciplines, disciplines, and fields of science, focusing on the question rather than the tools to be used to provide answers. 5. Onomastic reflection within the various domains of the new humanities sometimes confirms their intersection, thus highlighting complementarity and the opportunity for a holistic approach to a given problem.

Polish urban toponymy as a banal canon of culture

2025-01-09T09:17:59+00:00

The paper presents an interpretation of urban toponymy, understood as a whole, as an emanation of the Polish cultural canon. In sociological terms, the canon of culture is a collection of topoi and characters of special significance to a given collectivity. As such, it constitutes a kind of collective memory and “common knowledge” that should be known to all participants in a given cultural community. Representations of this canon are school programs, cultural texts, anniversaries and other vehicles of memory — including commemorative naming. In this paper, the commemorative names of streets and squares will be interpreted as an emanation of the Polish cultural canon in banalized form — similarly to Billig's concept of banal nationalism. Urban names, because of their fixation in space, are reified carriers of values and memory and, by being practiced in everyday communication, they are naturalized and function as banal “reminders.” Banality of this kind paradoxically constitutes their strength. Values perpetuated in this way become elements of everyday social practices, and thus penetrate to the level of behavior without the need for forcible introduction and perpetuation — thus strengthening the national canon of culture.

Complementarity of onomastic and sociolinguistic research of the linguistic landscape

2025-01-09T09:18:25+00:00

The paper is devoted to the mutual complementarity of onomastic and sociolinguistic research of the linguistic landscape in Slovakia. The paper focuses on the analysis of anthroponyms as part of memorial plaques, official boards of local government, as well as advertising billboards and banners. A large part of onomastics has been focusing on research of urbanonymy, mainly anthroponymic dedi- cation titles and their naming process after 1989, as well as on company names — logonyms. Unlike onomastics, sociolinguistics focuses also on visual and semiotic aspects of logonyms. Anthroponyms represent a part of graduation tableaux, which enter the linguistic landscape before the graduation exams. Up to the present day, the study of gravestones as an area of the linguistic landscape has been only narrowly explored. In a bilingual environment, they pose a very colorful sample not only from a diachronic but also from a synchronic perspective. Besides onomastic research, expanded research on the linguistic landscape not only enables the analysis of the formal structure of proper names but also family relationships of the deceased expressed through certain formal signs found on gravestones.

Personal names in Polish in relation to gender

2025-01-09T09:18:39+00:00

In Polish, there is an established pattern of assigning distincly men’s and women’s personal names. The linguistic form of many names contains a grammatical marker of gender that identifies it as either a man’s or a woman’s name. Socially accepted ways of coding gender-related information are grounded in cognitively entrenched schemas, thanks to which the speaker distinguishes and categorizes names. A schema is linked with the linguistic form of a name, associated with a given gender. Taking into account morphological (inflectional) features of personal names, one can identify, in this anthroponymic class, more or less prototypical names (with respect to the category of gender). The more prototypical ones are those in which gender is clearly coded in a systemic manner (on the basis of primary schemas), i.e. when the masculine gender is marked by zero ending and a stem with a final consonant, while the feminine gender by the ending -a. In usage, however, there are also names in which this kind of correlation is violated, and which can be used as either men’s or women’s names. From this perspective, the study considers units in which the reference of gender is extended and some (especially modern, less traditional) names belong to the unisex category. The pressure from social convention and cultural patterns renders those names rather limited in circulation, with speakers obtaining information from other languages (foreign naming patterns) and increasingly from the media, especially the Internet. Naming practices in Poland are changing; for example, an increase in the use of unisex names can be observed. However, because those names do not identify gender, it can be assumed that their status in Polish will continue to be marginal. A separate issue that merits further research is the dynamics of names and naming that result from recognizing various gender (self-)identities.

Research on the perception of birth names in society — names in rural areas and cities

2025-01-09T09:19:11+00:00

To answer the question of whether given names are perceived by the general public as typical for specific areas, namely rural and urban areas, we conducted two studies based on different methodological approaches. The first was carried out in 2022, while the second took place in 2023. Based on the gathered data, we believe that the respondents’ place of residence and the different structure of the questionnaire played a crucial role in the perception of names. Through our research, we also believe that the perception of names is influenced by unconscious and automated perceptions or prejudices deeply ingrained in language users, often without their awareness of their impact.

Linguistic-cultural image of parts of the human body (the hand, the leg and their elements) preserved in German and Polish surnames

2025-01-09T09:19:26+00:00

The subject of this article is the linguistic-cultural image of external parts of the human body demonstrated in the light of selected Polish and German surnames taken from anthroponymic lexicons. The linguistic image of the human body results from the various and unrepeatable experiences of a given linguistic community and constitutes an exceptional image. Through its analysis, it is possible to discover the psychosocial mechanisms reflecting the manner of perception and conceptualisation of somatic units such as: hand and leg embraced in a broader conceptual framework of the entire human body. The collection of preserved surnames imparts, on the one hand, knowledge at the level of colloquial language: description of the human body and its parts provides information on its dimensions, shape and colour; on the other hand, it indicates its metaphorical use, creating a model of nomination of a person on the basis of characteristic features of appearance or the connotations invoked by their appellative meaning in the receiver’s awareness, further influencing the expressive value of this type of surname. A contrastive analysis has indicated a similar manner of creation of the mentioned personal names in Polish and German, which results from the same perception of people through their external appearance subject to evaluation.

They perceive you just like they hear you: A certain type of collective nicknames in local dialects of south-eastern Poland

2025-01-09T09:19:51+00:00

The article is dedicated to neighbourhood nicknames motivated by linguistic features characteristic of the dialect of those who are nicknamed. The nicknames constitute approximately 8% of all the nicknames of the inhabitants of neighbouring villages in the area of Subcarpathia (Podkarpacie) and eastern Małopolska (Kurdyła et al. 2015). They actually do not yet include nicknames which only document the dialectal vocabulary but have a non-linguistic motivation (e.g. Krztełki ‛short people’, Paryjorze ‛those who live in the ravine’, Tyrkole ‛the inhabitants speak a lot and they do this fast; they are talkative’). The proper collection consists of anthroponyms derived from (a) lexemes typical of the dialect, which are relatively few in number and mainly formed from characteristic addressative forms, while stigmatising certain social attitudes attributed to neighbours (Blacisie/Bracisie, Słodkie Bracia, Wujkowie). The collection also includes (b) nicknames derived from features of pronunciation, i.e. those which mock, e.g. “mazurzenie” (speaking with the Mazuria accent) (Węze), pronouncing o as e (Chłorebki), pronouncing ił, ył as oł, uł (Buły, Toboły), pronouncing the bilabial ω or u which is not syllable-formative instead of v (Hałczoki, Łolanie). These are anthroponyms peculiar to the areas of the internal dialect borderland, which, in the area studied, can have a threefold nature: a) two adjacent dialect areas, b) small linguistic islands, c) one larger linguistic island; in addition, some nicknames are testimony to a former d) ethnic borderland. At the same time, the nicknames of a community indicating its distinctiveness (not only linguistic) have a universal nature.

Proper names as “cultural lexemes” in Polish inner borderlands

2025-01-09T09:20:06+00:00

The subject of the article includes proper names (first names, surnames, names of places and regions, chrematonyms) of Wallachian or Lemko origin which occur in so-called Polish inner borderlands in local dialects (and in general Polish language) and which function as “borderland cultural lexemes”. The borderlands in question include the territories located in the Low Beskid Mountains(especially the area of the town of Dukla) which are inhabited (now or only since 1940s) by Polish and Lemko people. The cultural lexemes that occur in this region are linguistic links that not only determine the cultural separateness of the area, but, most of all, the creation of the sense of community of borderland people who, irrespective of their nation, are able to understand the local world of meanings and values due to those lexemes.

Jews and the memory of them in the contemporary toponymy of Poland (a reconnaissance)

2025-01-09T09:21:29+00:00

The subject of this article are Polish contemporary geographical names originated from the ethnonym Żyd ‛Jew’ and other lexemes related to Jewish culture. The material was excerpted from the “National Register of Geographical Names” (PRNG) and compared with data concerning history of these places. The analysis of several hundred toponyms derived from certain lexemes — “alleged carriers of memory of the Jews”, showed that not all of them are related to the elements of Jewish culture. Undoubtedly, the carriers of the memory of Jews are numerous geographical names derived from the ethnonym Żyd, the adjective żydowski ‛Jewish’ and, less numerous appellatives: bóżnica ‛synagogue’, kirkut, okopisko ‛Jewish cementary’, rabin ‛rabbi’, and the choronym Palestyna. They are testimony to Jewish settlement, property rights, tragic events during World War II, and document places of prayer, refuge and burial places. These toponyms are the subject of the permanent, recorded collective memory of Poles.

Modeling of axiologically marked meanings of toponyms and their derivatives in Ukrainian linguistic culture: manifestation of the macroextralingual factor ‘war’

2025-01-09T09:21:49+00:00

The paper presents the changes taking place in the Ukrainian linguistic culture under the influence of an extralinguistic macrofactor, related to “Russian world” propaganda and the hybrid Russia‑Ukraine war, including the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
The research under consideration focuses on the transformation taking place in the Ukrainian toponymic language worldview in the sphere of the national language culture. The authors in particular discuss renaming Ukrainian toponyms that arose under Russian ideological influence in the Soviet period, presenting Russian-language nominations, distorting the national linguistic consciousness as well as the functioning of quasi‑toponyms, called pseudo-republics, which appeared as a result of Ukraine’ territories having been occupied by Russian troops.
Also focused on in the paper are the issues of Russian’ modeling of offensive paraphrases for nominating the choronym Ukraine, and the Ukrainian language opposition verbalization, which is designed to create axiologically-marked horonym Russia paraphrases, in particular, spelling it with a lowercase letter that aims at manifesting the axiological-orthographic norm expressing contempt, irony, etc. Modeling of new pragmatics within Ukrainian astionyms, which is connected, on the one hand, with the occupation consequences, Russian aggression (these are victim cities), and on the other hand — hero cities glorification that have acquired the status of the invincible: pragmatic meanings are modeled on the secondary nomination basis, metaphorization, language game techniques, the precedent phenomenon, associative reactions and reflections. Each connoted nomination has a transparent internal form that can be deciphered, presenting mainly generalizing and evaluative meaning, new symbols, images, pragmatic ambiguity. The toponym is considered as a clearly axiological marker of the environment.
Relying upon the research results one can trace the great word-forming potential of toponyms, as they become productive creative bases for toponymic formations. The paper expands the linguoaxiology theory, in particular evaluation grammar, since it is about creating the models of axiological-grammatical meanings. The presented material complements the creative onomastics theory and practice, in particular creative toponymy, as well as political toponymy.
The Russia-Ukraine war has caused a new burst of Ukrainians’ linguistic creativity regarding word-forming and pragmatic metamorphoses in the toponyms system manifesting the opposition native, own — foreign, strange, hostile. The analyzed material can be used for compiling dictionaries of connotative toponyms.

The phenomenon of naming squares in Poland

2025-01-09T09:22:13+00:00

Although garden squares have existed in Polish cities for a long time, it was not until this century that they began to be given proper names. In August 2023 there were nearly one and a half thousand such named objects in Poland, while in November 2024 their number exceeds 1550 and is steadily increasing. The banks of names waiting to be used, kept by local authorities, are ever increasing as well. Observing this process of nomination constitutes a kind of natural social experiment, in which an urban name is largely freed from the pragmatic function traditionally ascribed to it so far and from the limitations that this function entails, such as length, ease of articulation, consistency with the semantic nest, or unambiguity in the postal address function. The subject of the article is a synchronic analysis of all the names of garden squares of Poland, classified according to their location and by semantic categories. The text answers the questions of whether there are cities or voivodeships where garden squares are more popular and what motivational tendencies for their nomination prevail. The social perception of their creation and the controversies and disputes that sometimes accompany their name-giving process are also discussed, using selected examples. The authors consider what social needs are met in the creation of garden square names, and what the future and subsequent consequences of this new naming fashion may be.

The role of bodies of water in settlement names referring to the natural environment

2025-01-09T09:22:33+00:00

In this essay I examine the relationship of settlement names to bodies of water and places associated with water. I highlight the role of water and hydronyms in the formation of the settlement name type and the form in which they are present in early Old Hungarian settlement names. The vast majority of the settlement names only have a single constituent: metonymy, name-giving without a formant occurs in 85% of the names (e.g. Ér < ér ‛brook’, Tapolca < hydronym Tapolca, etc.), while 6% of the names were created from a common noun related to water or from a hydronym with a topoformant (e.g. Árki < árok ‛trench’ + -i suffix etc.). The two-constituent names also account for a small proportion of the names of the settlements at only 9% (e.g. Szamosfalva ‛village/next to the River Szamos’, Túrpásztó ‛settlement called Pásztó/located next to the Túr River’ etc.). I also discuss the relationship between settlement names and hydronyms recorded in an identical form. I collect those points of reference and criteria which, with due care, can be used to identify the direction of metonymy successfully (e.g. etymological and name typological arguments, the size of the body of water etc.). I also highlight that the hydronym > settlement name direction mostly accepted in publications on Hungarian historical onomastics cannot be generalized but instead each case has to be examined separately in terms of the name formation process.

The names of the tram cars in Poland - back to the topic

2025-01-09T09:22:55+00:00

The paper is devoted to the names of the tram cars in Poland. The author takes up the topic a decade after previous research. Naming trams has become a popular custom in many Polish cities. The material extracted during field research was subjected to onomastic analysis, including linguistic, cultural and functional analysis. The work uses methods used when researching other domains, especially the names of trains and railway connections. The analyzed material is compared to the names of city squares and streets. The result of the research is the conclusion that the most popular system of naming trams in Poland is naming after the important person, transferring the name and surname of a famous person to the name of the tram. In cities where other systems were tried, the custom of giving names did not catch on. A special situation can be observed in the Upper Silesian conurbation.

Championship names in Ukrainian football discourse

2025-01-09T09:23:17+00:00

Віталій The article analyzes championship names (championatonyms) as a type of chrononyms. With the help of various methods (structural, descriptive, comparative-typological, contextual and quantitative), the peculiarities of the using of championship names in Ukrainian football discourse were traced. Proper names are grouped according to the hierarchy of football leagues - from the highest to amateur ones. In the names of the first-ranked championships, groups containing components with the seme `first’, conveyed by various lexemes and the number 1, are distinguished. A smaller number of proper names with components super-, elite-, pro- and championatonyms formed from the first letters of country names are represented. It has been observed that the championatonyms have a political connotation, for example, the championship names of the former French colonies in Africa are called Ligue 1 (as well as the French championship), and the championship names of some post-Soviet countries retain the adjective higher. It is proven that commercial championships can change their name depending on the sponsor of the competition. It has been observed that the names of the second-ranked championships are usually formed by combining the ordinal numbers first, second with the nouns of the league, division, or by adding the second letter of the alphabet to the name of the first-ranked championship. It was found that the number of nominations of the third and lower championships is comparatively smaller. This is due to the amateur status of competitions in many countries and, accordingly, weak fan interest in them outside the regional communities. These onyms, formed according to traditional patterns, contain numeral or noun components indicating the respective level or regional status of the competition. Individual championship names function as borrowings that have acquired or are acquiring grammatical features of the Ukrainian language.

Non-commercial names of private objects as a type of utilitarian chrematonyms

2025-01-09T09:23:58+00:00

The recent decades of research on chrematonymy abounded in material studies and discussions concerning the boundaries and categorial features of this class of names. Researchers discussed their functions, textual meanings, and various ways of ordering and categorising them. The proposition of Artur Gałkowski, who distinguished three groups among utilitarian chrematonyms: ideational, social and marketing chrematonyms, gained recognition. Research has shown, however, that some utilitarian chrematonyms do not fit into any of the groups mentioned above. This gives rise to the postulate of extending the category with a new class containing the names given to single (private) functional objects. These names are not commercial, absent from marketing (and not market-oriented), they are highly individualised and emotional. The article characterises these names and attempts to delineate the scope of the proposed class. It also aims to indicate its categorical features and establish the cultural conditions for the emergence of such names. The proposal is enriched by an exemplification of the names of vehicles, toys, musical instruments as well as household appliances and computers.

A comparative analysis of functions served by characters’ proper names in Terry Pratchett’s “The Fifth Elephant” and its Polish translation

2025-01-09T09:24:14+00:00

This study is devoted to the issue of the functions served by characters’ proper names in novels and their translations. The works of art chosen for analysis are Terry Pratchett’s “The Fifth Elephant” and the Polish translation of this book entitled “Piąty Elefant”. The main thesis of this article is that some characteronyms no longer serve the onymic functions in the translation which they perform in the original. Moreover, some proper names receive additional functions in the translation that they do not serve in the original. The author’s aim is to compare the functions served by characteronyms in the two books and identify which functions are preserved in the translation, which are lost, and which are added as well as to determine the reasons why some onyms lose their functions. The method chosen to conduct the research is the theory of two acts in which the functions of characteronyms are recognized and defined on the basis of the naming act and the act of using a name in the novel. Thus, they are divided into two groups of functions: permanent and momentary. The examination showed that both onymic sets serve twelve permanent and eleven momentary functions, so no function is entirely lost in the translation. Nevertheless, four permanent and four momentary functions are partly lost in the translation.

Proper names in film translation: “Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?” in Polish

2025-01-09T09:24:28+00:00

The paper aims to describe and evaluate the handling of proper names in Za jakie grzechy, dobry Boże?, the Polish version of one of the French highest-grossing movies Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu? by Philippe de Chauveron, 2014. The English title of this comedy was Serial (Bad) Weddings. The study material was chosen because of the variety of functions performed by proper names, especially the use of anthroponyms as invectives in order to produce a comic effect. Nine techniques for dealing with proper names have been identified: translation, transfer, explanation, replacement by an established equivalent in the target language, replacement by a functional equivalent, replacement by another proper name, replacement by a common name, use of two or more techniques, omission. A two-part evaluation of the translator’ conduct has been applied: followed by the determination of whether he used the correct technique, determination whether he applied it correctly. The proposed critical method takes into account the complex nature of proper names (its phonic and graphic form, meaning, style, function, relation to the bearer) as well as the polysemiotic nature of the film. It was concluded that the Polish translator Piotr Zielinski, author of the voiceover version, succeeded in conveying the meaning, function and style of proper names.

Ethnonomastic terms from the perspective of Slovak onomastics

2025-01-09T09:24:42+00:00

The article deals with the onomastic term ethnonym, its definition, place (position) in the system of onomastic terminology, Slovak domestic equivalents of this term, and some of the used and mainlyproposed hyponymic terms, which are related to various criteria for classifying ethnonyms. Different views on the status of ethnonyms and inhabitant names (appellative or proprial) also cause an orthographic problem in connection with the writing of capital initial letters. In Slovak, they are considered proper names and are therefore written with a capital initial letter. However, the language practice is unstable, especially in the case of so-called unofficial ethnonyms, nickname ethnonyms, which some language users, as well as linguists, may perceive as pejorative ethnic slurs and write them with a lower case initial letter. The aim of this article is to contribute to the demand for the unification and harmonization of onomastic terminology and to the clarification of the rules of Slovak orthography in the field of capitalization in this kind of onymy.

Internet dictionary of Polish surnames - history, future, public perception

2025-01-01T02:53:20+00:00

The article outlines the most important goals and objectives of the “Internet dictionary of surnames in Poland” (ISNP), emphasizing its role in disseminating surname knowledge. It delineates the components comprising the structure of the entry article and presents plans to expand the anthroponomasticon by incorporating additional surnames based on their diminishing frequency of use. However, attention was paid primarily to the public reception of the dictionary, presenting statistical insights into user activity, discussing the issues raised in correspondence (e-mails) directed to the author’s team, as well as the significant media interest in the dictionary of surnames.

Studying microtoponymy in Belarus: the main achievements of the last 60 years

2025-01-09T09:25:52+00:00

The article presents an assessment of the work done by Belarusian researchers for almost 60 years in the field of microtoponymy studies. This analysis was made possible by the creation of an electronic bibliography on Belarusian microtoponymy at Jakub Kolas Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Due to the lack of such publication database previously, researching the names of small geographical objects in the country was complicated. Until recently this process had been disorganized, but today there are grounds and opportunities to rectify such situation.
An important feature of the electronic bibliography on Belarusian microtoponymy is the availability to select fields as “Region” and “District”, which can be used to sort the publications. This option makes it possible to assess what has been done in certain regions of Belarus in particular. In other words, this publication database can be used to identify the locations where names of small geographical objects have not been collected and/or have not been researched.
Moreover, the electronic bibliography on Belarusian microtoponymy revealed that for almost 60 years only four candidate dissertations and only two monographs have been devoted to local microtoponyms in the country. However, the low attractiveness of microtoponyms as an object of research in Belarus is partially rectified by a number of comprehensive dissertations and monographs where the names of small geographical objects are analyzed along with oikonyms and/or hydronyms.

The use of proper names in meteorology

2025-01-09T09:26:06+00:00

The article sums up the current use of proper names in meteorology, which has received relatively
little attention thus far despite tracing its history back to the end of the 19th century. A strictly regulated
and systematic naming of tropical storms has a long tradition since the middle of the 20th century.
The naming of extratropical winter storms, primarily American and European ones is much
more recent. The paper contains an attempt to analyse the names of European storms. The naming
of these meteorological phenomena is characterized by (a) the use of first names, originally female,
now alternately female and male, and (b) the use of pre-established, usually alphabetical lists of the
names that are gradually assigned to storms. In conclusion, several considerations are given about
the possible future development of the use of proper names in meteorology and the naming of the
phenomena connected with weather.

Review of the monograph by Robert Słabczyński “Mikrotoponimia Beskidu Niskiego”

2025-01-01T02:53:22+00:00

Review of the monograph by Michał Łuczyński “Bogowie dawnych Słowian. Studium onomastyczne”

2025-01-09T09:26:24+00:00

Remarks to Zbigniew Babik's review “Nowy etap badań nad toponimią słowacką (uwagi po lekturze książki Ivety Valentovej ‘Lexika slovenských terénnych názvov. Koncepcia lexikografického spracovania’)”

2025-01-09T09:26:50+00:00

23rd International and Nationwide Conference on Onomastics (Opole, 19–21 October 2023)

2025-01-02T13:06:58+00:00