CHESTNUT-MOTIVATED NON-SETTLEMENT NAMES IN BOHEMIA

Abstract

The paper contributes to the research of toponyms with tree elements by presenting findings of formal, lexical-semantic and motivational analysis of 231 anoikonyms from the area of Bohemia which include the Czech appellative kaštan ʻchestnutʼ or its derivatives (the nouns kaštánek, kaštanka, kaštanovka, kaštanice, and the adjectives kaštanový, kaštánkový). The research has revealed that the vast majority of the anoikonyms relate to the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), while only two names are motivated by thesweet chestnut (Castanea sativa). This reflects the occurrence of these two tree-species in Czechia: while the horse chestnut is widely spread in the whole of the country, sweet chestnut is rather rare, being planted only in parks and gardens in warmer regions. Most of the names are prepositional phrases which include a preposition and the common noun kaštan and indicate the localization of the object (mostly a field or another piece of land) in the vicinity of chestnut trees: a solitary tree, a group of trees, an orchard or a chestnut-tree lined road. A large number of names contain the diminutive kaštánek ʻsmall chestnutʼ. We assume that these names mostly do not relate to small trees. The use of a diminutive in the name usually reflects the name giver´s emotional relationship towards a particular chestnut tree rather than the tree´s size. It is a well-known fact that anoikonyms reflect the history and culture of a particular country or a region. In the instance of chestnut-related anoikonyms, this can be illustrated by names reflecting the old Czech tradition to plant certain tree-species near Christian wayside shrines (small chapels, crosses, statues, etc.).