Toponymic Research and Scientific Collaborations: in Search of a Common Language

Abstract

The subject of the study is the interdisciplinary terminology of toponymy. The purpose of the work is to define and describe new terms that can be used in toponymic and multi-scientific research on toponymy conducted by linguists, geographers and historians. The glossary of terms is formed by sampling them from the latest toponymic works and analyzing their semantics in the original scientific field of use (geography, archeology), and then in toponymy. Particular attention is paid to terms that have a commonly used scientific vocabulary as a reference word (river, degradation, stairs), since it is these terms that are understandable to representatives of different scientific fields, and therefore have the greatest potential for entering the current terminological base of toponymy. The result of the work is a description of the terms of geography, archeology, toponymy itself, linguistics of other directions – a total of 14 terms; situations in which they can be used, and toponyms illustrating a particular situation. The acquired knowledge can be applied in interdisciplinary toponymic research and should contribute to the development of a common language of toponymy, understandable to both linguists and representatives of other sciences studying geographical names, which is the novelty of the findings. It is established that some of the terms toponymy borrows from other scientific directions without changes, with the original semantics, actively including in the scientific description and analysis (small, medium, large rivers). The part transforms by adding new meanings or adapting to the demands of toponymy (natural landscape (in geography) – toponymic landscape, chronostratigraphy (in archaeology) – toponymic stratigraphy). The article discusses new terms of other sciences that seem convenient for analyzing specific toponymic processes: degradation of water bodies, littonym, lot (terms of hydrology and oceanology), as well as well-known but rarely used terms of toponymy itself.