Place Name Database Research Articles

SOCIOONOMASTIC-SOCIOPRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE PLACE-NAME DATABASE OF FRIGYES PESTY IN NÓGRÁD COUNTY

One of the aims of the Hungarian National Toponym Registry Program is to publish the toponyms of Frigyes Pesty’s database. In the programme, I undertook to describe the corpus of the place-name corpus of Nógrád County. In my study, I present a socioonomastic-sociopragmatic analysis of the Nógrád County material of Frigyes Pesty’s place-name database. This database is an extremely valuable collection from the point of view of onomastics, language history, ethnography, local history, historical geography, etc. It contains a corpus of synchronic place names collected in a relatively short period, which has since become a body of names of historical value. While describing the settlements of Nógrád County, I came across numerous entries of villages whose texts are perfectly suitable for socioonomastic-sociopragmatic studies. My research is therefore socioonomastic: I aim to present the linguistic interference phenomena and the characteristics of the name contactology of the Hungarian and Slovak ethnic groups living together in Nógrád county. As a result of the Hungarian–Slovak bilingual environment and the linguistic interaction, contact phenomena appear in the material of geographical names and personal names. In the boundary descriptions of a municipality, Hungarian and Slovak names of areas fluctuate, and names often appear in both languages. In addition to socioonomastic studies, the material of the place-name directory is also suitable for sociopragmatic studies: there are numerous data on the naming, designation, and addressing of women, so I also deal with this topic in the study.

Discovering extinct water bodies in the landscape of Central Europe using toponymic GIS

Abstract Due to global climate change and anthropogenic pressures on the landscape, one of the current geographical problems is retention of water in agricultural landscapes. One possibility to tackle this issue is the construction of artificial water bodies, which has historical traditions in the form of fishponds in Central European landscapes. Unfortunately, many such water bodies were transformed into arable lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. In this study, the identification and spatial distribution of these extinct water bodies is subject to examination, using place names in a GIS environment. Some 375 place names were selected from the official database of place names in the Czech Republic. This set of names was compared to current maps, as well as to old maps from the Habsburg monarchy from 1783–1880 (1st, 2nd and 3rd Military Survey). The map resources were used to find out if a place name was related to an extinct fishpond, and in which period the pond ceased to exist. Using spatial statistics, the existence of areas with a high concentration of place names referring to extinct ponds is demonstrated. It has also been established that areas linked to fishpond extinction in the same period now face more frequent droughts. Thus, the set of place names can be used to identify not only extinct water bodies, but also to serve as being potentially useful in other analyses using GIS, as well as in the public sphere (reclamation).

Christian toponyms in Czechia, Poland and Slovakia

What story can place names tell about the significance of religion to national and regional societies? This study explores Christian place names in Czechia, Poland and Slovakia, three neighboring countries of Central Europe. Historically, these three nations share predominantly Catholic religious roots. More recently, however, their respective national societies display markedly different attitudes toward religion. Using FamilySearch Places (an online database of place names), the study examines the occurrence and spatial distribution of Christian place names. It considers when these names were initially coined and looks at changes involving Christian place names, since 1900. The research uncovers a number of apparent spatial patterns in Christian toponyms. With few exceptions, the observed name changes were religious to secular in nature.

Place names and landscape character: a case study from Otago Region, New Zealand

Landscape characterisation has become an important tool in the interpretation of the distinctive features, patterns and identity of a region for planning purposes. However, conventional assessment methods that focus upon visual character may overlook some cultural values. This study investigates how toponymy—the analysis of place names—can be undertaken as a contribution to landscape characterisation. The study focus is Otago Region, New Zealand, which has a diverse landscape and a reliable database of place names. The study reported here involves analysis of 696 place names relating to 31 types of landscape feature derived from maps. The majority of names were connected with symbolic historic and cultural associations, mainly people. Biophysical characteristics including landform and hydrological features were also prominent. Names associated with the indigenous culture, Maori, were layered with those from European colonisation. Systematic analysis of place names highlights both presence and displacements of cultural memory and offers potential for an additional rich layer of interpretation in landscape characterisation.

A SPATIAL-TEMPORAL DATA MODEL FOR THE PLACE NAME

Place name,place name database and spatial-temporal data model are described in this paper.A place name spatial-temporal data model is presented for expression of spatial-temporal semantics.The application of the model can realize editing,updating and spatial-temporal querying of the place name database.Current researches on the spatial-temporal data model are mainly focused on polygonal parcels features.The spatial-temporal data model of point features is dealt with in this paper,and the result enriches the theory of the spatial-temporal data modeI.

Baths in Ottoman Hungary

The primary aim of the present paper was to collect all the historical data on baths in Ottoman Hungary. An attempt was made at reconstructing their number and location, and identifying the persons who founded them and the time when they were available for service. The study is followed by a database of place-names arranged in alphabetical order. Each entry contains the relevant sources, the original texts themselves being listed in chronological order and succeeded by a short list of archeological studies. Finally, an analysis and interpretation of the sources are given. Despite the difficulties in assessing the exact number of baths in Ottoman Hungary, a total of approximately 75 can be identified.

Where is Helvellyn? Fuzziness of multi‐scale landscape morphometry

The landscape in which people live is made up of many features, which are named and have importance for cultural reasons. Prominent among these are the naming of upland features such as mountains, but mountains are an enigmatic phenomenon which do not bear precise and repeatable definition. They have a vague spatial extent, and recent research has modelled such classes as spatial fuzzy sets. We take a specifically multi‐resolution approach to the definition of the fuzzy set membership of morphometric classes of landscape. We explore this idea with respect to the identification of culturally recognized landscape features of the English Lake District. Discussion focuses on peaks and passes, and the results show that the landscape elements identified in the analysis correspond to well‐known landmarks included in a place name database for the area, although many more are found in the analysis than are named in the available database. Further analysis shows that a richer interrogation of the landscape can be achieved with Geographical Information Systems when using this method than using standard approaches.

New Ways of Mapping: Using GPS Mapping Software to Plot Place Names and Trails in Igloolik (Nunavut)

The combined use of a GPS receiver and mapping software proved to be a straightforward, flexible, and inexpensive way of mapping and displaying (in digital or paper format) 400 place names and 37 trails used by Inuit of Igloolik, in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. The geographic coordinates of some of the places named had been collected in a previous toponymy project. Experienced hunters suggested the names of additional places, and these coordinates were added on location, using a GPS receiver. The database of place names thus created is now available to the community at the Igloolik Research Centre. The trails (most of them traditional, well-traveled routes used in Igloolik for generations) were mainly mapped while traveling, using the track function of a portable GPS unit. Other trails were drawn by experienced hunters, either on paper maps or electronically using Fugawi mapping software. The methods employed in this project are easy to use, making them helpful to local communities involved in toponymy and other mapping projects. The geographic data obtained with this method can be exported easily into text files for use with GIS software if further manipulation and analysis of the data are required.

Computers in place-name teaching: the English place-name database

A database of English place-names is being developed currently as part of a major research project at the Centre for English Name Studies, University of Nottingham. Although primarily designed as a research tool, the database is also proving useful as a teaching tool. Undergraduate students at the University of Nottingham taking a two-module course on ‘English Place-Names’ are given hands-on experience in using the database and are encouraged to use computerized searching techniques in their own projectwork. Advanced computing skills are not required, but the students learn how to access and retrieve information of various kinds, gaining a better understanding of place-name structures in the process.