Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10315/2901

Names in Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic Contact
Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences
August 17-22, 2008, York University, Toronto, Canada

Edited by
Wolfgang Ahrens, York University
Sheila Embleton, York University
André Lapierre, University of Ottawa

with the assistance of
Grant Smith, Eastern Washington University
Maria Figueredo, York University

Published by
York University, Toronto, Canada
2009

ISBN 978-1-55014-521-2

Table of Contents

Foreword / Avant propos / Vorwort

Maria Giovanna Arcamone, President of ICOS
Greetings

Sheila Embleton, Vice-President of ICOS and Co-Organizer of ICOS XXIII
Opening Remarks

Papers given at ICOS XXIII, but not included in this volume

Plenary Lectures

Koopman, Adrian, South Africa
Southern African Onomastic Research

Lapierre, André, Canada
A Mari usque ad Mare: Reflections on Canadian toponymy – Réflexions sur la toponymie du Canada

Peplinski, Lynn, Canada
Not an Empty Wasteland: Place Names in Canada’s North

Session Papers

Accolla, Dario, Italie
Contacts médiatiques et migrations onomastiques à Catane (Italie)

Agertz, Jan, Sweden
Name Change as a Consequence of Monastic Ownership

Ahrens, Wolfgang, Canada
Naming of Minivan Taxis Used for Public Transportation in the Caribbean

Ainiala, Terhi, Finland
Place Names in the Construction of Social Identities: The Uses of Names of Helsinki

Alas, Marit, Estonia
Change of Cultural and Natural Names in Pöide Parish (Saaremaa, Estonia)

Aldrin, Emilia, Sweden
The Choice of First Names as a Social Resource and Act of Identity among Multilingual Families in Contemporary Sweden

Baldetti, Ettore, Italie
Un document inédit sur l'anthroponymie des Marches en 1312

Balodis, Pauls, Latvia
Personal Names of Livonian Origin in Latvia: Past and Present

Barry, Herbert III, USA
First Names of Fictional Characters in Novels by Charlotte Bronte

Beaulieu, Marc-Alexandre, Canada
Traduction multilingue de toponymes en botanique

Becker, Lidia, Germany
Names of Jews in Medieval Navarre (13th-14th Centuries)

Bramwell, Ellen S., Scotland
Names in Multi-Cultural Scotland

Brouwer, Leendert, Netherlands
Why Many Dutch Surnames Look So Archaic: The Exceptional Orthographic Position of Names

Brylla, Eva, Sweden
Female Names and Male Names. Equality between the Sexes

Casanova, Emili, España
Toponimia Valenciana de la Edad Media, entre el mundo árabe, catalán y aragonés: pautas para interpretarla

Cižmárová, Libuše, Czech Republic
Interactive Digital Version of the Dictionary of Moravian and Silesian Anoikonyms (Minor Place Names)

Clark, Ian D., Australia
Multiple Aboriginal Place Names in Western Victoria, Australia

Coates, Richard, United Kingdom
A Natural History of Proper Naming in the Context of Emerging Mass Production: The Case of British Railway Locomotives before 1846

Coates, Richard, United Kingdom
A Glimpse through a Dirty Window into an Unlit House: Names of Some North-West European Islands

Coskun, Altay, Deutschland
Interkulturelle Ortsnamen in Zentralasien und galatische Geschichte

Czopek-Kopciuch, Barbara, Polen
Vornamen von polnischen Immigranten im Ruhrgebiet

Dechief, Diane, Canada
Forms and Norms: Theorizing Immigration-Influenced Name Changes in Canada

Dehlin, Lennart, Sweden
The Presentation of Saami Place-Names on Swedish Maps during 100 Years

Dell'Aira, Alessandro, Italy / Brazil
St. Benedict of San Fratello (Messina, Sicily): An Afro-Sicilian Hagionyn on Three Continents

De Stefani, Elwys, Schweiz
Ortsnamen und Ortsbeschreibung im Gespräch und deren Relevanz für die soziale Strukturierung einer alpinen Gemeinschaft

Dimitrova-Todorova, Liljana, Bulgarien
Die Toponyme in einer bulgarischen Bilingualismus-Situation

Dräger, Kathrin, and Schmuck, Mirjam, Germany
The German Surname Atlas Project - Computer Based Surname Geography

Duchaj, Karen, and Ntihirageza, Jeanine, USA
Survival by Loss of Identity: The Power of Names among Burundian Refugees in Tanzania

Entzenberg, Sonja, Sweden
By Another Name: The Use of Pseudonyms by Writers in Sweden from 1870 to 1890

Eskelinen, Riikka, Finland
Functions of Usage of Urban Place Names

Falk, Michael, Canada
On the Name of the Weekly Day of Rest

Farkas, Tamás, Hungary
Surnames of Foreign Origin in a Language Contact Situation. The Reasons and Ways of their Changes and their Influence on the Surname Stock in Hungary

Farkas, Tamás, Hungary
Jewish Surname Changes in Hungary (19th-20th Century)

Felecan, Daiana, and Felecan, Oliviu, Roumanie
La satire politique post-communiste illustrée par les sobriquets des politiciens roumains

Felecan, Nicolae, Roumanie
Les prénoms et leurs formes flexionnelles dans le dialecte de Maramures

Felecan, Oliviu, Romania
Romanian-Ukrainian Connections in the Anthroponymy of the Northwestern Part of Romania

Fetzer, This Michel, Schweiz
Nachbenennungsnamen im Berner Namengut

Foster, Benjamin, USA
Empire and Names: The Case of Nagorno Karabakh

Fridell, Staffan, Sweden
Old English ‘meresteall’ and Old Swedish ‘*marstall’. A Northwest Germanic Compound and Place Name Element?

Gendron, Stéphane, France
Microtoponymie endogène et exogène: un example de transmission orale au sud de Chamborand (Creuse, France)

Germain, Jean, Belgique
Faut-il avoir peur des exonymes … dans son propre pays? Le cas ‘surréaliste’ de la Belgique

Gyorffy, Erzsébet, Hungary
Old Hungarian River Names in the Multilingual Carpathian Basin

Hagåsen, Lennart, Sweden
Restrictions on Alliteration and Rhyme in the Swedish System of Personal Names in the Light of Old Germanic Parallels

Hamidovic, David, France
Do Qumran Inscriptions Show Hellenization of Qumran Residents?

Harvalík, Milan, Czech Republic
Czech Toponyms of Foreign Origin as Witnesses of Multicultural Contacts in Central Europe

Hausner, Isolde, Österreich
FamOs - Österreichische Familiennamen Online

Helander, Kaisa Rautio, Norway
Renaming Indigenous Toponymy in Official Use in the Light of Contact Onomastic Theories

Helleland, Botolv, Norway
Place Names as Identity Markers

Hough, Carole Ann, Scotland
'Find the lady': The Term lady in English and Scottish Place-Names

Hussar, Annika, Estonia
Changes in Naming Patterns in 19th Century Estonia. Discarding the Names of Parents and Godparents

Imomova, Bakhtigul, Belgique / Ouzbékistan, et Begmatov, Ernst, Ouzbékistan
La formation des prénoms ouzbeks

Joalaid, Marje, Estonia
Balto-Finnic Personal Name Suffixes

Jochum-Godglück, Christa, Deutschland
” Onomastik und Akkulturation” Einblicke in das Saarbrücker Forschungsprojekt

Jordan, Peter, Austria
Use of Place Names on Road Signposts. Examples of Practice in Central Europe

Kagami, Akikatsu, Japan
Changes and Traces of Ainu Place Names in Contact with Japanese

Kathrein, Yvonne, Österreich
” HiMAT - History of Mining Activities in the Tyrol and Adjacent Areas”: ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsprojekt mit onomastischer Beteiligung

Kerfoot, Helen, Canada
Some Challenges of Names Recognition: The Ontario Geographic Names Board, Canada, 2000-2007

Kuhn, Julia, Österreich
” nostro fratello Umberto”. Die Nomination zwischen Anthroponym und Klassifikation-eine kritisch-diskursanalytische Untersuchung zur printmedialen Repräsentation von Umberto Agnelli als Führungspersönlichkeit am Beispiel des italienischen Mediendiskurses

Kully, Rolf Max, Schweiz
Gutmann und Bonhomme: Ein durchsichtiger, aber schwer zu deutender Name

Kvašyte, Regina, Lithuania
Proper Names in the Lithuanian Translation of Yann Martel's ‘Life of Pi’

Laîné, Stéphane, France
Modifications phonétiques et morphologiques affectant les toponymes et les anthroponymes d'origine scandinave lors de leur introduction en français

Lawson, Edwin, USA, and Zavyalova, Zineida, Russia
The Cultural and Language Effects of the Influence of Russian on West Siberian Tatar Names

Le Guillou, Claire, France
Essai d'onomastique sandienne

Leibring, Katharina, Sweden
‘Zwartje’, ‘Flight of Delight’ and ‘Chikai’: Borrowed Names for Animals in Sweden

Leino, Antti, Finland
Multilingual Names on the Finnish Basic Map

Léonard, Carol, Canada
Toponymie et contrepoids aux effets de paysage linguistique en situation de contact des langues

López Franco, Yolanda Guillermina, Mexique
La prénomination à Tlalnepantla de Baz, État de México, au Mexique, tout au long du XXe siècle

Mamazhakypova, Anara Zhumanazarovna, Russia / Kyrgystan
Kyrgyz Personal Names as Units of Cultural Code

Matthews, Philip W., New Zealand
Patterns in the Names of Maori Representative Sportsmen in New Zealand, 1884-2007

Matthews, Philip W., McKee, Rachel L., and McKee, David, New Zealand
Signed Languages, Linguistic Rights and the Standardization of Geographical Names

Molchanova, Olga, Poland
The Correlation between Part and Whole in Altai River Names (South Siberia)

Munteanu, Eugen, Österreich
Das choronymische Mikrosystem des Rumänischen. Eine historische Darstellung

Nash, Joshua, Australia
The Toponymy of Norfolk Island, South Pacific: The Microcosm of Nepean Island

Neethling, Bertie, South Africa
Lifestyle, Worldview and Identity: Names on Customized Vehicle Registration Plates

Nilsson, Leif, Sweden
Standardization of Swedish Place-Names Yesterday and Today

Nyström, Staffan, Sweden
Urban Name Environments in a Multicultural Perspective

Ormeling, Ferjan, Netherlands
European Names in a 17th Century Atlas of the Dutch East India Company

Päll, Peeter, Estonia
Historical Multilingualism of Street Names in Estonia

Parfenova, Nina, and Savinykh, Valentina, Russia
Human Evaluation in Russian Appellative Anthroponymy (on Zauralye Archival Sources of the 16th-19th Centuries)

Pepin, Nicolas, Switzerland
Proper Names in Second Language Classroom Interaction. An Initial Investigation into the Use of First Names in Instruction Sequences

Piemonti, Anita, Italy
The Destiny in the Name

Puzey, Guy, Scotland
Opportunity or Threat? The Role of Minority Toponyms in the Linguistic Landscape

Reck, Anne-Kathrin, United Kingdom
Pointy Helmets and Buckteeth: Naming in Sign Language - an Exploration

Reinsma, Riemer, Netherlands
New Names for Municipalities Merging from Two or More Villages or Towns

Rodríguez, Gabriele, Alemania
Los extranjeros y sus nombres en Alemania. Tendencias en el proceso de elección de los nombres entre familias extranjeras, binacionales o con un trasfondo migratorio en Alemania

Ryman, Lennart, Sweden
Designations of Origin in 15th Century Stockholm

Særheim, Inge, Norway
Street Names and Identity. Official Naming in a European Capital of Culture

Saura Rami, José Antonio, España
La toponimia como reserva lingüística de un espacio recesivo: El Alto Aragón (España)

Schneider, Thomas Franz, Schweiz
‘Munie’, ‘Maurie’, ‘Mort'. Neue Fundstücke aus der romanisch-germanischen Sprachmischzone in der westlichen Schweiz

Schorr, Andreas, Germany
Greek Personal Names in Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul: A Brief Survey

Silina-Pinke, Renate, Lettland
Rufnamen in Riga im 15. Jahrhundert

Šipková, Milena, Czech Republic
Dictionary of Moravian and Silesian Anoikonyms: A New Project of Czech Linguistics

Smith, Grant, USA
Ethnic, Class, and Occupational Identities in Shakespeare's Names

Štepán, Pavel, Czech Republic
Oppositions in Toponymy

Sundström, Agneta, Sweden
‘Rodskarl’, ‘Trynta’ and ‘Spænneklo’. Bynames in the Town Court Record Book of Arboga from a Name-Semantic Point of View

Tan, Peter K W, Singapore
Building Names in Singapore: Multilingualism of a Different Kind

Tempan, Paul, Northern Ireland
Towards a Chronology of Topographical Elements in Irish Place-Names: Some Strategies for Establishing Relative Chronology

Thériault, Marie Aurélie, Canada
Rencontre linguistique et sociale en microtoponymie

Thunderbird, Shannon, Canada
Wisdom of the Ages: From Houses to Monsters, the Naming Practices of the Coast Tsimshian Nation

Tomás Arias, Xavier, y Saura Rami, José Antonio, España
La onomástica familiar sefardí como testimonio de algunos elementos léxicos aragoneses

Tort i Donada, Joan, Spain
Agrarian Landscapes and the Toponymy in Mediterranean Europe. Catalonia as a Case Study

Tóth, Valéria, Hungary
Settlement Name Strata in the Multilingual Carpathian Basin

Tuzlokova, Victoria, Oman
Proper Names in Education: Global Tendencies and Local Traditions

Van Langendonck, Willy, and Van de Velde, Mark L. O., Belgium
The Functions of (In)definiteness with Proper Names

Vikstrand, Per, Sweden
Pre-Christian Sacral Personal Names in Scandinavia during the Proto-Scandinavian Period

Vincze, László, Ungarn
Probleme der deutschen Straßennamenchronologie und -typologie im Zeitabschnitt von 862 bis 1711 auf dem von Madjaren besiedelten Gebiet des Karpatenbeckens

Vuolteenaho, Jani, and Ainiala, Terhi, Finland
Slang Toponyms in Early Twentieth Century Helsinki

Wahlberg, Mats, Sweden
’Landskrona’, ‘Sibirien’ and ‘Jeriko’. Borrowed Place Names in Sweden down the Ages

Walsh, Michael, Australia
Political Issues in Australian Aboriginal Toponymies

Weyers, Christian, Germany
Basque Traces in the Toponymy of Newfoundland and Various Coasts of Atlantic Canada

Wirth, Aude, France
Noms de famille composés ou composites? L'exemple de la Lorraine romane

Wolodtschenko, Alexander, Deutschland
Atlasregister: Struktur, Systematik und Namensammlung (am Beispiel des Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland)

Wright, Saundra, USA
Forms of Address in the College Classroom

Zilg, Antje, Deutschland
WULEVÙ würstel? Eine Darstellung produktgruppenspezifischer Aspekte italienischer Markennamen des Lebensmittelmarktes

Zschieschang, Christian, Deutschland
Ortsnamen, Siedlungslandschaften und Ethnien in der nordböhmischen Elbtallandschaft

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 121

Open Access
Papers given at ICOS XXIII, but not included in this volume
(York University, 2009)
Open Access
Opening Remarks
(York University, 2009) Embleton, Sheila
Open Access
Greetings
(York University, 2009) Arcamone, Maria Giovanna
Open Access
Foreword / Avant propos / Vorwort
(York University, 2009) Ahrens, Wolfgang; Embleton, Sheila; Lapierre, André
Open Access
Urban Name Environments in a Multicultural Perspective
(York University, 2009) Nyström, Staffan
What is a multicultural name environment? What names in a town or city are multicultural, and what reasons for and perspectives on name-giving are multicultural? How can an official name-giver best contribute to the positive development of our multicultural society? These questions are interesting, but turn out to be more difficult to address than we might initially imagine, a point which this paper attempts to develop. Officially adopted urban names in Sweden today are strikingly Swedish in character. But alongside these official names there exists an unofficial group of names that is now gradually changing, showing great innovativeness, and flexibly adapting to our multicultural society, i.e., names of shops, hairdressing salons, places of entertainment, restaurants, etc. At the same time, there is a cultural influence that is growing increasingly strong in such unofficial names and in the language of Sweden’s towns, namely that of the Anglo-American world. So far, official urban names have escaped this Anglicization. But English is pushing at the door, and only time will tell what its impacts will be.
Open Access
Ortsnamen, Siedlungslandschaften und Ethnien in der nordböhmischen Elbtallandschaft
(York University, 2009) Zschieschang, Christian
Frühgeschichtliche Siedlungsareale lehnen sich häufig an den Lauf größerer oder kleinerer Flüsse an. Dies gilt auch für eine Reihe von Landschaften des Früh- und Hochmittelalters, die sich entlang der Elbe, nördlich und südlich der deutsch-tschechischen Grenze, aneinanderreihen. Durch ihre Lage an einem der großen mitteleuropäischen Flüsse spielte diese Region für überregionale Austauschprozesse eine zentrale Rolle. Dadurch hinterließen intensive, jahrhundertelange sprachliche und kulturelle Kontakte in vielfacher Hinsicht ihre Spuren. Wie in anderen Siedlungslandschaften der Germania Slavica lässt sich hier die Ausdehnung der Siedlungsareale nicht nur durch archäologische Funde, sondern auch durch bestimmte slawische Namentypen deutlich erkennen. Zusätzlich werden in schriftlichen Quellen des Hochmittelalters bestimmte Namen überliefert, die diese Entitäten bezeichnen. Für das Verständnis der historischen Prozesse stellt sich die Frage, worum es sich bei diesen Einheiten handelte – um ethnische Gruppen, „Stämme“, Verwaltungseinheiten oder Landschaften? Vor dem Hintergrund aktueller Forschungen in der Mediävistik und der Archäologie sind bisherige Ansichten hierzu zu hinterfragen und neue Gesichtspunkte vorzuschlagen.
Open Access
WULEVÙ würstel? Eine Darstellung produktgruppenspezifischer Aspekte italienischer Markennamen des Lebensmittelmarktes
(York University, 2009) Zilg, Antje
Für die linguistische Forschung gelten Markennamen aufgrund ihres ausgeprägten Praxisbezugs und der Vielfalt des verwendeten sprachlichen Materials als wesentliche Bereicherung. Unter allen Namenarten stellen Bezeichnungen für Produkte den wohl am stärksten expandierenden Bereich dar. Die Notwendigkeit, für immer neue Produkte Namen zu finden, hat einen sprachlichen Notstand geschaffen, der Kreativität erfordert. Die Bildungsprinzipien und -tendenzen italienischer Markennamen des Lebensmittelmarktes sind anhand von 950 Markennamen beschrieben worden, die in einer Feldforschung in italienischen Lebensmittelmärkten zusammengetragen worden sind. Im Vordergrund der Analyse stehen graphische, lautliche, morphologische, semantische, lexikalische sowie stilistische Charakteristika italienischer Markennamen. Auch kulturelle Aspekte werden berücksichtigt. Die Analyse mündet in eine Typologie der Markennamen, die Bildungsmodelle für die Kreation zukünftiger Namen enthält. Bei der Untersuchung der Markennamen eröffnet sich noch ein weites Forschungsfeld. So soll nun eine Antwort geliefert werden auf die Frage, ob bestimmte Formen, z. B. bestimmte Fremdsprachen, oder Inhalte produktgruppenspezifisch verwendet werden. Dass in diesem Bereich gewisse Regelmäßigkeiten bestehen, beweist die Tatsache, dass das Adjektiv "fresco" in der italienischen Markennamengebung überwiegend zur Bezeichnung von Käse eingesetzt wird: FRESCOCOLLE, FRESCONEVE, I GHIOTTOFRESCHI. Zur Bezeichnung von Gebäck, wiederum, wird vielfach lexikalisches Material aus dem Bereich der Zärtlichkeit eingesetzt: ABBRACCI, COCCOLE, DOLCEZZE DI CAMPO, TENEREZZE.
Open Access
Forms of Address in the College Classroom
(York University, 2009) Wright, Saundra K.
Forms of address are a critical component of language. They can be used to set the tone of a communicative exchange and index social status. Many languages encode these linguistic forms directly into their grammar; however, in English these politeness distinctions are expressed lexically through word choice as speakers must select amongst various forms of a name (e.g., first/last name) and/or title (e.g., Mr., Mrs., Dr.) when addressing a communicative partner. We are currently seeing changes in speakers’ selections of address forms in American English. This is particularly true in academic settings where most students – and many professors – are now addressed by their first names. In this paper, I look more closely at address forms in the college classroom, looking specifically at what address forms college students are most likely to use and why. My findings suggest that while informal address may be becoming more common in the classroom, the selection of address forms is still far from predictable. Students’ selections of address forms vary according to the particular mode of communication, the degrees of familiarity between the instructor and student, the personality of the instructor, and the type of course being taught.
Open Access
Atlasregister: Struktur, Systematik und Namensammlung (am Beispiel des Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
(York University, 2009) Wolodtschenko, Alexander
In diesem Beitrag wird versucht, einige semiotische Besonderheiten des Registersbandes des (NAD) zu zeigen. Dabei werden Inhaltsverzeichnis bezogene Informationen sowie informations-semiotische Module des Atlasregisters analysiert, ontologisch strukturiert und als Namensammlungen (Verzeichnisse von Landschafts-, Karten-, Abbildungs-, Beitrags- und Autorennamen) betrachtet.
Open Access
Noms de famille composés ou composites? L’exemple de la Lorraine romane
(York University, 2009) Wirth-Jaillard, Aude
Dans son , Albert Dauzat consacre quelques dizaines de lignes aux noms de famille composés. Or, la confrontation de cette description avec une sélection de surnoms et de noms de famille de la Lorraine romane montre que l’appellation "noms de famille composés" ne rend pas suffisamment compte de la diversité des formations ainsi catégorisées: s’appuyant sur le seul critère morphologique, celle-ci ne prend absolument pas en considération la genèse de ces noms. Parmi ces derniers, certains sont en effet le résultat d’un processus de composition en anthroponymie qui s’est déroulé en au moins deux étapes; pour cette raison, les anthroponymes de ce type peuvent être plus avantageusement qualifiés de "composites". Après avoir défini les surnoms et noms de famille appartenant à cette catégorie, l’article s’attache à en dresser une typologie et à en définir les principales caractéristiques ainsi que l’origine.
Open Access
Basque Traces in the Toponymy of Newfoundland and Various Coasts of Atlantic Canada
(York University, 2009) Weyers, Christian
Whereas the first and undoubtedly most important toponymic stratum of the island of Newfoundland and adjacent waters is Portuguese, the presence of Basques from the 1530s to the late 17th century on the South and West coasts of Newfoundland, the islands of Cape Breton, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and on the left bank of the Saint Lawrence River had relatively little impact on the geographical nomenclature. Documentation is rare and not readily accessible, and the omnipresence of French during this period was not at all favorable to the development of appellations given by French and Spanish Basques. Many names are now extinct, others have been Frenchified and Anglicized ('Port au Port', 'Port au Choix', 'Ingornachoix'). The most complete repertory of Basque names (although many of them are mixed or hybrid appellations) is to be found in Pierre Detcheverry’s edition of the rutter of Martín de Hoyarçabal (Bayonne 1677). In contrast, his map of 1689 and that of Denis de Rotis (1676) offer only a relatively small number. An accurate comparison of maps and charts from the 16th and 17th century until today will show to what extent Basque names – including those of minor geographical features – have stayed, been altered or vanished completely. Other categories, e.g., the commemorative names ('Lac de ~' and 'Anse de l’Échafaud du Basque', 'Basque Island', etc.) and name transfers of places of origin with reference to the Basque Country ('Amuitx', 'Plasencia') – some of them hypothetical ('Cape Breton') – will also be discussed in this paper.
Open Access
Political Issues in Australian Aboriginal Toponymies
(York University, 2009) Walsh, Michael
Briefly we consider some of the political issues that arise in relation to Australian Aboriginal place names. First, we look at Aboriginal place names in Land Claim and Native Title cases through which there has been a tremendous expansion in Indigenous place names documentation. However that documentation may contain significant inaccuracies and in any case is too often inaccessible. Second, we briefly examine the process of dual naming with a focus on the state of New South Wales. Among the issues that arise in this arena are: the potential for disputes within and among Aboriginal groups; the choice of spelling for the place name; a public misunderstanding of the nature of Aboriginal placenames.
Open Access
"Landskrona", "Sibirien" and "Jeriko": Borrowed Place Names in Sweden down the Ages
(York University, 2009) Wahlberg, Mats
Since the Middle Ages, a succession of names has been added to the place nomenclature of Sweden that have been borrowed, ready-made, from other countries. In many cases, these names have the form native to Swedish, e.g., 'Kina' (China) and 'Sibirien' (Siberia). Names borrowed in something closer to their original form have often been reshaped linguistically, once they have been incorporated into the Swedish placename stock. Borrowed names may sometimes be examples of ‘pure name transfer’, the principal reason for their adoption being the prestige and glory associated with their original bearers. Others may have become attached to the site in question as a result of their secondary associations, e.g., 'Kina' for a yellow house or 'Sibirien' to refer to fields that are remote, exposed to frost or difficult to cultivate. Medieval examples of loan names of German origin are the town names 'Landskrona' and 'Falkenberg' and the common settlement name 'Rosendal' (Ger. 'Rosenthal'). In the 18th century some French and Italian names were introduced. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many smallholdings on large estates were named after foreign places associated with Sweden’s many wars, e.g., 'Lützen' and 'Narva'. A special group of name borrowings consists of Biblical names, e.g., 'Betlehem' and 'Jerusalem'.
Open Access
Slang Toponyms in Early Twentieth Century Helsinki
(York University, 2009) Vuolteenaho, Jani; Ainiala, Terhi
In this article, we analyse spatial slang coinages by boys and young men from Sörnäinen, a bilingual working-class neighbourhood in early twentieth century Helsinki (1900–1939). During this period, Helsinki slang developed into a unique slang spoken among the working class of both Finnish and Swedish language backgrounds in their densely occupied quarters. In their childhood, male juveniles of Sörnäinen used many place-referring slang words in both appellative (classifying) and proprial (identifying) functions. When the same males got older and began to move more widely in different kinds of social settings across Helsinki, the use of these kinds of double-functional nouns decreased in favour of slang names derived from the city’s official nomenclature. The primary research material of the article covers a set of interviews made between the 1920s and the 1980s.
Open Access
Probleme der deutschen Straßennamenchronologie und -typologie im Zeitabschnitt von 862 bis 1711 auf dem von Madjaren besiedelten Gebiet des Karpatenbeckens
(York University, 2009) Vincze, László
Im Karpatenbecken hat sich das selbständige finnisch–ugrische Siedlungsnamensystem zwischen 985 und 1055 herausgebildet. Die endgültige Ausbildung des mittelalterlichen Städtewesens auf dem ganzen Gebiet des ehemaligen Ungarn hat vom XII. bis zum XVI. Jahrhundert gedauert. Während des fünfhundertjährigen Bestehens des mittelalterlichen ungarischen Königreichs (von 1000 bis 1526) haben sich Siedler mit deutscher Muttersprache aus verschiedenen Richtungen und Gründen auf dem Land der Madjaren in stattlicher Zahl niedergelassen. Gegen Ende des XIII. Jahrhunderts erscheinen sporadisch in den mittelalterlichen ungarischen Städten die ersten ungarischen, in der zweiten Hälfte des XIV. Jahrhunderts die ersten deutschsprachigen Straßennamen und sie haben am Ende des XVI. Jahrhunderts allgemein Verbreitung gefunden. Anhand konkreter Beispiele versuchen wir in diesem Aufsatz das Namensystem von zwei Zeitabschnitten (von 1242 bis 1500 und von 1501 bis 1711) miteinander zu vergleichen und auf die Veränderung der charakteristischen Namentypen im Laufe der Jahrhunderte hinzuweisen.
Open Access
Pre-Christian Sacral Personal Names in Scandinavia during the Proto-Scandinavian Period
(York University, 2009) Vikstrand, Per
This paper deals with personal names from the Proto-Scandinavian period that refer to religious concepts such as gods or holiness. Such names fall into four categories. The first one contains '*ansuz' (as; heathen god) and the second one '*albiz' (elf). The third is made up of names cognate to the adjective '*hailaga-' (holy), and the fourth of names cognate to another adjective, '*wīha-' (holy). Finally, it is argued that names of individual gods do not occur in Proto-Scandinavian personal names, although they do become very popular during the Viking Age.
Open Access
The Functions of (In)definiteness Markers with Proper Names
(York University, 2009) Van Langendonck, Willy; Van de Velde, Mark
Crosslinguistically, we observe various onymic functions of the definite article that hardly occur in appellatives (common nouns). Since names are inherently definite, languages can ‘play’ with the redundant overt definite articles accompanying unmodified names. They might be absent; they may be generalized to all proprial classes; they may have a classificatory function where articulated names alternate with articleless names. Thus, in Western European languages, we have an anthropocentric hierarchy ranging from highly animate, i.e., human or humanized (settlement or country) names, with a ‘zero’ article ('John', 'Mary'; 'London', 'England'), to inanimate names, often accompanied by an overt article ('the Thames', 'the Highlands'). Typically, when regions become genuine states, they lose their overt article: '(the) Ukraine'. In such languages, a possible ‘de-humanizing’ use can spill over to personal names, as in certain Flemish dialects, where the forename 'de Jan' (the John) is an augmentative variant of 'Jan', just as 'de Limburg' is an augmentative variant of the province name 'Limburg'. If such a use becomes more frequent, as in German forenames ('der Johann'), the augmentative force is reduced to mere familiarity. This familiarity may manifest itself as a positive connotation, as in Italian 'il Petrarca', 'la Callas'. Special forms can occur, as in Catalan 'en Joan' (the John). Even the indefinite article may adopt an emotive use in personal names ("A devastated Claes entered the court-room"). Additional crosslinguistic data will be provided.
Open Access
Proper Names in Education: Global Tendencies and Local Traditions
(York University, 2009) Tuzlukova, Victoria
Within the higher education field proper names can be confusing as identifying them and tracing their occurences is quite a difficult task. Not only is their history quite unclear. They occur and function in our conceptual lives in different ways (Reyes, M. et al. 1993). They update dynamically due to all the changes that evolve in society (Crystal 1986; 1987). Thus their variability inevitably leads to ambiguity and hinders their use in understanding the cultural and social contexts of other languages. This paper presents the results of the research of historical, cultural, communicative, semantic and structural aspects of various types of English proper names in higher education which are considered as constituents of lexical and semantic fields. The author analyzes their structural, semantic, and cultural features, and stresses the complexity of their nature. Peculiarities at the structural and semantic levels, including the number, meaning and the character of the relationships of their generic and specific (topographical, anthropological, social and cultural, etc.) components are described. Stressed are the peculiarities revealed in the connotative component of their meanings, conventional and emotional attitudes. They are viewed as a reflection of global and local social, cultural and linguistic tendencies as well as natural association of language and local identity (Steedly 1996) of the names of higher educational institutions. In this respect, suggestions are made regarding the comparative and cross-cultural study of proper names in higher education.
Open Access
Settlement Name Strata in the Multilingual Carpathian Basin
(York University, 2009) Tóth, Valéria
When entering the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century, the Hungarians found a decisively Slavic population on the territory, so toponyms were formed based on the already existing toponymic system. Hungarian toponymic research has been able to reconstruct toponyms from the period prior to the Hungarian conquest only very scarcely and ambiguously – as opposed to the names of larger rivers, which show strong continuity, going back to very early times. The toponyms of the Carpathian Basin, in connection with the formation of the settlement structures of Hungarians, can almost exclusively be documented from the period after the Hungarian conquest. However, the Carpathian Basin became a “meeting point of the peoples” in the centuries after the conquest in 896 and as such, numerous nations and languages could be found here: Slavic peoples and Germans settled in larger blocks, while smaller groups of Turkish nations, such as Cumans and Besenyős, and some Romance peoples (Walloons, Romanians) also contributed to the ethnic and linguistic diversity in the area. The layering of different peoples and languages influenced toponyms too, which also allows us to investigate language contacts of the time. This is the main concern of my paper, with special focus on the question of how these phenomena can be connected to issues of language prestige in the Middle Ages.
Open Access
Agrarian Landscapes and the Toponymy of Mediterranean Europe. Catalonia as a Case Study
(York University, 2009) Tort i Donada, Joan
In the countries of the European Mediterranean region (and, specifically, in the territories in which the Romance languages are spoken today), a significant part of the historical toponymy has close links with the rural world and its agrarian activities. This is no chance happening as the first extensive agrarian colonization of these countries was carried out under the Roman Empire. It was also under the rule of this Empire that the pagus was created and became widespread: a legal (and not just a linguistic) concept that referred to the land which was to be farmed and cultivated. And the vestiges of this concept remain visible today in features such as the landscape and the toponymy. In this paper, we wish to present the results of our examination of the links between the agrarian landscape and its toponymy at various points of the Iberian Peninsula. In so doing, we focus our study on a series of present-day place names in Catalonia, Aragon and Valencia. We analyse the features that these names have in common and the differences that they present. And, finally, we explain the general correlations that can be observed between these toponyms and certain landscape types or patterns.