Formation of the oikonym system in archaic regions of Ukraine (on the example of the settlement names of modern Vinnychchyna and Khmelnychchyna)

Abstract

Abstract: The research of the history of a particular region involves the study of the history of its settlement, which is manifested in the names of settlements. Thus, oikonyms as linguistic phenomenons contain linguistic, as well as historical, geographical and ethnographic information. They can be found out using the help of special onomastic studies. Historical and etymological research of the names of villages, settlements, cities, towns is one of the priority tasks not only of Ukrainian or Slavic, but also of world onomastics in general. The names of settlements provide different periods of history of that time in other regions, accumulate extremely diverse information about the peculiarities of the development of a particular area, namely: the ethnic composition of the first settlers, the specialty of their material and spiritual culture, the characteristic features of topographic objects called by the corresponding oikonyms. Of fundamental importance for the formation of the oikonymicon of a certain region is time and with the help of its settlement. As you know, Podolsk land belongs to the long-developed regions of man. A review of the history of this region shows that the formation of a system of settlement names within the modern Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions, which are the main part of the historical Podillya, dates back to ancient times, at least the ancient Ukrainian period. This is indicated primarily by the specific word-forming structure of local oikonyms and the nature of their creative bases. The ancient settlements of these areas, the names of which were formed on Ukrainian soil, include such, for example, Bershad, Brailiv, Bratslav, Vinnytsia, Kopaihorod, Tyvriv (Vinnytsia region), Velyka Yaromyrka (initially Yaromyrka), Volochysk (initially Volochyshcha), Dobrohoshcha, Zhvanets, Kytaihorod, Medzhybizh, Smotrych (Khmelnytsky region) and other. The article focuses on the peculiarities of the formation of the oikonymykon of Podillya within the modern Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions, analyzes the main structural and derivational types of names of settlements in these regions, found that the characteristic feature of oikonyms of the studied areas is the presence of many names the ancient nature of the settlement of these areas. Keywords: appellation, anthroponym, history of Podillya, oikonym, oikonym system, word-forming model.