Motivation of geographical names in the Karelian legends of the Kestenga area: toponymic aspect
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
Philology
About author:
E. V. Zakharova Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
M. V. Kundozerova Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article is devoted to the analysis of motivation of the toponyms contained in the texts of Karelian legends of the Kestenga area.
Objective: to determine the degree of preservation of the original (primary) motivations for the names of geographical objects in Karelian toponymic legends.
Research materials: texts of Karelian legends recorded by various collectors in the Kestenga area in the XIX–XX centuries and stored in the Audio Record Archives of the Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Results and novelty of the research: for the first time, a corpus of texts of Karelian legends with a toponymic motif has been identified; the material was classified into six groups, according to the main versions of the toponymic motif. A comparison of folk interpretations with the results of toponymic analysis made it possible to identify the preservation of a number of original motivations of geographical names in legends, identify cases of their transformation as a result of rethinking, and offer a scientific justification for the origin of toponyms. It is demonstrated that in all groups of versions
of the toponymic motif there are texts with both the preserved original motivation of toponyms and those acquired in the process of remotivation. The highest percentage of surviving original motivations was identified in groups of legends, the toponymic motif of which is based on the idea of the origin of a toponym from a name / nickname, name of a worship object, landscape features. The vernacular interpretations of the place names based on the ethnic identity of the first-settlers as well as on their social / age / sex status or title often disagree with the results of the toponymic analysis.
Key words: legends, toponymic motif, geographical names, motivation, Karelia, Karelian language, Russian language, Sami language
Acknowledgments: the study was supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation № 22-28-00362 “Creation of an Open Geographic Information System for Toponyms of Karelia (the Case of Republic’s Arctic Zone)”.
For citation: Zakharova E. V., Kundozerova M. V. Motivation of geographical names in the Karelian legends of the Kestenga area: toponymic aspect // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2023; 13 (3/54): 435–444.
M. V. Kundozerova Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article is devoted to the analysis of motivation of the toponyms contained in the texts of Karelian legends of the Kestenga area.
Objective: to determine the degree of preservation of the original (primary) motivations for the names of geographical objects in Karelian toponymic legends.
Research materials: texts of Karelian legends recorded by various collectors in the Kestenga area in the XIX–XX centuries and stored in the Audio Record Archives of the Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Results and novelty of the research: for the first time, a corpus of texts of Karelian legends with a toponymic motif has been identified; the material was classified into six groups, according to the main versions of the toponymic motif. A comparison of folk interpretations with the results of toponymic analysis made it possible to identify the preservation of a number of original motivations of geographical names in legends, identify cases of their transformation as a result of rethinking, and offer a scientific justification for the origin of toponyms. It is demonstrated that in all groups of versions
of the toponymic motif there are texts with both the preserved original motivation of toponyms and those acquired in the process of remotivation. The highest percentage of surviving original motivations was identified in groups of legends, the toponymic motif of which is based on the idea of the origin of a toponym from a name / nickname, name of a worship object, landscape features. The vernacular interpretations of the place names based on the ethnic identity of the first-settlers as well as on their social / age / sex status or title often disagree with the results of the toponymic analysis.
Key words: legends, toponymic motif, geographical names, motivation, Karelia, Karelian language, Russian language, Sami language
Acknowledgments: the study was supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation № 22-28-00362 “Creation of an Open Geographic Information System for Toponyms of Karelia (the Case of Republic’s Arctic Zone)”.
For citation: Zakharova E. V., Kundozerova M. V. Motivation of geographical names in the Karelian legends of the Kestenga area: toponymic aspect // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2023; 13 (3/54): 435–444.
