Abstract
Emerged from the preoccupations to research the process of population evolution in historical Moldavia, the present study proposes an analysis of the spatial distribution and geographic relevance of the hydronyms in this region. For this purpose, 2040 watercourses, identified in various cartographic sources, were inventoried. They were given additional information on the origin of their names and meanings. The paper uses the etymological explanations taken from the consulted bibliography and the categories of geographical relevance related to the elements of the natural or anthropic framework. Beyond the limits imposed by the inherent documentary gaps or controversies in explaining the etymology and the meaning of some names, the results obtained by analysing the statistical distribution of the retained categories represented the support of some typological classifications at the level of the 32 main hydrographic basins. The conclusions drawn show the existence of strong connections with the spread of some (present or past) ethnic groups, as well as with the features of the natural environment or induced by specific socio-economic relations.
Highlights
The study of hydronyms can be extremely useful in the analysis of the process of population evolution of a territory
The presented results confirm the importance of the geographic study of hydronyms, in line with the proposed objective: the analysis of the spatial distribution of hydronyms in correlation with their origin and significance from a natural or human-geographic perspective
East induces a first division of the historical Moldavian space: the mountainous and sub mountainous areas stand out through the interpenetration of Slavic and Transylvanian influences, with a prevalence of the natural significance of the denominations of watercourses, while the steppe area of Budjak comes forward due to the persistence of Turkic influences, more diffuse in the rest, and to the great significance of meanings of anthropic origin
Summary
The study of hydronyms can be extremely useful in the analysis of the process of population evolution of a territory. Clues on the stratification of the denominations given by the communities that succeed each other within a certain space and the context that produces certain meanings, often correlated with elements of the natural and social environment, can support the development of working hypotheses or validate conclusions resulting from the investigation of various bibliographic sources. Developed at the European level in the extensive work of such authors as Топоров & Трубачев (1962), dealing with the eastern Baltic Sea regions or Krahe (1964), the study of hydronyms generated controversy over the origin of the names of the most important watercourses in Europe, considered to derive from an ancient Pre-Indo-European, Vasconic or Semitic layer in Western Europe according to Vennemann (2003). Current analytical means based on mathematical methods (such as the logarithmic calculation) using Swadesh lists have led to bold conclusions such as those provided by Peust (2015, p. 214), according to whom 87% of the European rivers longer than 250 km have names that are at least 2000 years old, and
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