To the Etymology of Names in And(om)- in the Toponyms of the European North of Russia

Abstract

The paper discusses a number of issues related to the origin of the stem And(om) that occurs in substrate toponyms of the European North of Russia, e.g. Andozero, Andoma, Andomozero, Andoba (historical Andoma), etc. The first section dives into the history of studying this element, covering the existing etymologies, their benefits and limitations. In the second section, the author sets out her own hypothesis, according to which, at least the toponyms featuring the extended stem Andom- can be consistently interpreted as a combination of the attribute An- ~ Saam. ænȃ ‘big’ and the determinant -dom ‘mountain, settlement,’ now found very locally on a small territory between Central and Northern Russia. Unlike previous explanations, this one assumes the stem should be split into An- and -dom components, and not into And- and -om, as suggested earlier. The author notes that the determinant -dom has not been distinguished before because of the homonymous toponymic final -dom(a), formed as a combination of the final consonant of the stem -d with the formant -om(a). Accordingly, it is assumed that the range of the determinant -dom should be wider than the identified small zone, reaching out further to the north where it overlaps with toponyms with the stem Andom-. The hypothesis is substantiated by some statistical data, as well as information about the physical and geographical characteristics of a number of places named with toponyms in Andom-: Andoma mountain in the Vologda region, a group of Andoma lakes at the base of the mountain range on the Kola Peninsula, Andoma river in the Kostroma region and three rivers Andanga : *Andom(n)ga in the basin of the river Yug having characteristically high and steep sections of the coast.