NAKHCHIVAN ETHNOTOPONYMS IN RUSSIAN SOURCES OF THE 19TH CENTURY - THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

Toponyms, especially oikonyms, are closely related to the ethnic composition of the population of a particular territory. Because, they are the product of the thinking of the people who created them. In most cases, you can determine the geography of the distribution of different peoples by place names. Azerbaijan and its inseparable part Nakhchivan is one of the ancient settlements of the Turkic tribes. Therefore, the toponymic layer of these territories retains the characteristics of the lexical, semantic system of the Turkic language. As part of the Nakhchivan toponyms, one can find elements that belong to the ancient Turkic language. At the same time, a large number of oikonyms contain the names of ancient Turkic tribes, which played a big role in the formation of the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijani people. The task of this article is to study the Nakhchivan toponyms in Russian written monuments of the XIX - early XX centuries associated with the Turkic tribes by means of semantic methods - comparison and analysis of the component. Note that Russian local lore sources provide rich material for studying the toponyms of a given territory. Due to historical conditions some of Nakhchivan villages have disappeared, some of them are in Armenia now and some of their names have been changed. Thanks to Russian sources, we can have a complete picture of these villages. An analysis of the toponymic material shows that some of the Nakhchivan toponyms are associated with such large Turkic tribes as kangarli, oguz, bulgars and other different offshoots of the Turkic tribes.