ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Ekaterina V. Zakharova
Institute of Language, Literature and History
Karelian Research Centre of the RAS
Petrozavodsk, Russia

On Some Oikonymic Models of the Eastern Lake Onega Region

Voprosy onomastiki (Problems of Onomastics), 2014, Issue 1 (16), pp. 34–49 (in Russian)

Received 20 November 2013

Abstract: The paper analyzes several models of settlement naming present in Eastern Lake Onega region and reflecting different stages of its ethnolinguistic history. The author focuses on oikonyms suffixed with -itsy/-itchi and those containing Balto-Fennic words kontu, kondu, kond ‘peasant household’ and selgä, vuara ‘mountain’. The areal analysis shows that oikonyms in -itsy/-itchi resulted from adaptation of Vepsian and Karelian names and outline the ways of ancient migrations of the Russians from Lake Ladoga region to Svir River and Lake Onega regions (Prisvirye and Obonezhye), Eastern Lake Onega region being a peripheral zone of the area traced by the model in question. The author argues that the few settlement names with the stem Kond- have relatively late origins, most likely Vepsian, though for some toponyms the Karelian origin is not to be ruled out. The low productivity of the selgä oikonymic model and the absence of settlement names with the determinant -vara can be explained by the historical dominance of the naming patterns using the Russian term gora ‘mountain’ which brings this region closer to the territory of the Russian North. The areal, statistic and linguistic analysis of the settlement names of Eastern Lake Onega region testifies to its marginal position as related to the Vepsian territories on the South, as well as the Karelian territories on the West and the Northern Russian lands on the East. This peripheral, marginal position of the region is due to its geographic features, first and foremost, to its association with the transit waterway which was, in the past, the Vodla River.

Key words: Russian language, Balto-Fennic languages, toponymy, models of settlement naming, Eastern Lake Onega region, language contacts

References

Dal, V. I. (1880–1882). Tolkovyi slovar' zhivogo velikorusskogo iazyka [An Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language] (2nd ed.) (Vols. 1–4). Saint Petersburg, Moscow: Izd. knigoprodavtsa-tipografa M. O. Vol'fa.

Itkonen, E., & Kulonen, U.-M. (Eds.). (1992–2000). Suomen sanojen alkuperä. Etymologinen sanakirja [The Origin of Finnish Words. An Etymological Dictionary]. (Vols. 1–3). Helsinki: SKS.

Kabinina, N. V. (2011). Substratnaia toponimiia Arkhangel'skogo Pomor'ia [Substrate Toponymy of Arkhangelsk Pomorye]. Ekaterinburg: Izd-vo Ural. un-ta.

Kalima, J. (1919). Die ostseefinnischen Lehnwörter im Russischen [Balto-Fennic Loans in Russian]. Helsinki: Société Finno-Ougrienne.

Karlova, O. L., & Kuzmin, D. V. (1999). Istoriia poselenii Belomorskoi Karelii v svete dannykh toponimiki [The History of Settlements of the White Sea Karelia in the Light of Toponymic Data]. In I. E. Grishina (Ed.), Narodnoe zodchestvo: Mezhvuzovskii sbornik. K 60-letiiu Petrozavodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Folk Architecture: A Collection of Articles. On the 60th Anniversary of Petrozavodsk State University] (pp. 207–215). Petrozavodsk: PetrGU.

Kulikovskii, G. I. (1898). Slovar' oblastnogo olonetskogo narechiia v ego bytovom i etnograficheskom primenenii [A Dictionary of the Olonets Regional Dialect in Its Everyday and Ethnographic Use]. Saint Petersburg: Tip. Imp. AN.

Kupchinskii, O. A. (1980). Drevneishie slavianskie toponimicheskie tipy i nekotorye voprosy rasseleniia vostochnykh slavian [The Oldest Slavic Toponymic Types and Some Aspects of the Settlement History of Eastern Slavs]. In V. D. Koroliuk, V. V. Aulikh, & Ia. D. Isaevich (Eds.), Slavianskie drevnosti: Etnogenez. Material'naia kul'tura Drevnei Rusi [Slavic Antiquities. Ethnogeny. The Material Culture of Ancient Russia] (pp. 45–72). Kiev: Naukova dumka.

Kuzmin, D. V. (2007). K probleme formirovaniia naseleniia zapadnogo poberezh'ia Belogo moria (po dannym toponimii) [On the Problem of the Population Formation of the White Sea Western Coast]. In I. I. Mullonen (Ed.), Finno-ugorskaia toponimiia v areal'nom aspekte. Materialy nauchnogo simpoziuma [Finno-Ugric Toponymy in the Areal Aspect. Proceedings of a Symposium] (pp. 20–89). Petrozavodsk: KNT s RAN.

Lehtiranta, J. (1989). Yhteissaamelainen sanasto [The Common Sami Vocabulary]. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.

Mamontova, N. N., & Mullonen, I. I. (1991). Pribaltiisko-finskaia geograficheskaia leksika Karelii [Balto-Fennic Geographic Vocabulary of Karelia]. Petrozavodsk: KNTs RAN.

Materialy po istorii Evropeiskogo Severa SSSR [Materials on the History of the European North of the USSR] (1972). In P. A. Kolesnikov, Iu. S. Vasiliev, A. I. Kopanev, V. M. Malkov, & V. B. Pavlov-Sil’vanskii (Eds.), Severnyi arkheograficheskii sbornik [North Archaeographic Collection] (Vol. 2). Vologda: [s. n.].

Matveyev, A. K. (2001). Substratnaia toponimiia Russkogo Severa [Substrate Toponymy of the Russian North] (Vols. 1–3) (Vol. 1). Ekaterinburg: Izd-vo Ural. un-ta.

Mullonen, I. I. (1994). Ocherki vepsskoi toponimii [Essays on Vepsian Toponymy]. Saint Petersburg: Nauka.

Mullonen, I. I. (2001). Istoriia Segozer'ia v geograficheskikh nazvaniiakh [The History of Segozerye in Geographical Names]. In V. P. Orfinskii (Ed.), Derevnia Iukkoguba i ee okruga [Yukkoguba Village and Its Neighborhood] (pp. 11–38). Petrozavodsk: PetrGU.

Mullonen, I. I. (2002). Toponimiia Prisvir'ia: Problemy etnoiazykovogo kontaktirovaniia [The Toponymy of Prisvirye: Problems of Ethnolinguistic Contacts]. Petrozavodsk: PetrGU.

Mullonen, I. I. (2008). Toponimiia Zaonezh'ia: Slovar' s istoriko-kul'turnymi kommentariiami [The Toponymy of Zaonezhye: A Dictionary with Historical and Cultural Comments]. Petrozavodsk: KNT s RAN.

Mullonen, I. I. (2011). Istoricheskie toponimy v kontekste etnokul'turnogo naslediia Karelii [Historical Place Names in the Context of Ethnic and Cultural Heritage of Karelia]. In V. A. Tishkov, et al. (Eds.), IX Kongress etnografov i antropologov Rossii: Tezisy dokladov. Petrozavodsk, 4–8 iiulia 2011 g. [The 9th Congress of Russian Ethnographers and Anthropologists. Abstracts. Petrozavodsk, 4–8.07.2011] (pp. 19–23). Petrozavodsk: KNTs RAN.

Myznikov, S. A. (2003). Russkie govory Obonezh'ia. Areal'no-etimologicheskoe issledovanie leksiki pribaltiisko-finskogo proiskhozhdeniia [The Russian Dialects of Obonezhye. An Areal and Etymological Study of Vocabulary of Balto-Fennic Origin]. Saint Petersburg: Nauka.

Orfinskii, V. P., & Grishina, I. E. (1998). Nekotorye zakonomernosti formirovaniia traditsionnykh system sel'skogo rasseleniia na territorii Karelii [Some Regularities of Formation of Traditional Rural Settlement Systems in Karelia]. In V. P. Orfinskii (Ed.), Narodnoe zodchestvo: Mezhvuzovskii sbornik [Folk Architecture: A Collection of Articles] (pp. 13–37). Petrozavodsk: PetrGU.

Podvysotskii, A. O. (1885). Slovar' oblastnogo arkhangel'skogo narechiia v ego bytovom i etnograficheskom primenenii [A Dictionary of Arkhangelsk Regional Dialect in Its Everyday and Ethnographic Use]. Saint Petersburg: Tip. Imp. AN.

Pokrovskii, M. N. (Ed.). (1930). Pistsovye knigi Obonezhskoi piatiny 1496 i 1563 gg. [Cadastral Books of the Obonezhskaya Pyatina, Years 1496 and 1563]. Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR.

Salo, I. V. (1966). Nekotorye vyvody o pribaltiisko-finskikh i saamskikh zaimstvovaniiakh i ikh osvoenii v severnorusskikh govorakh karel'skogo Belomor'ia [Some Conclusions about the Balto-Fennic and Sami Loans and Their Adaptation in the Northern Russian Dialects of the Karelian White Sea]. Sovetskoe finno-ugrovedenie, 2, 91–98.

Virtaranta, P., Koponen, R., Torikka, M., & Joki, L. (Eds.). (1968–2005). Karjalan kielen sanakirja [A Dictionary of the Karelian Language] (Vols. 1–6). Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.

Zaitseva, M. I., & Mullonen, M. I. (1972). Slovar' vepsskogo iazyka [A Dictionary of the Vepsian Language]. Leningrad: Nauka