ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Alexander Vladislavovich Dmitriev
Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University; Institute for Linguistic Studies of the RAS, St Petersburg, Russia

THE SUFFIX -shchina IN THE CONTACT TOPONYMY OF INGRIA IN THE 17th CENTURY: A STRUCTURAL-SEMANTIC AND AREAL ANALYSIS

For citation
Dmitriev, A. V. (2026). The Suffix -shchina in the Contact Toponymy of Ingria in the 17th Century: A Structural-Semantic and Areal Analysis. Voprosy onomastiki, 23(2), 63–104. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2026.23.2.022

Received on 24 August 2025
Accepted on 20 December 2025

Abstract: The article presents a comprehensive study of the formant -shchina in the toponymic system of historical Ingria, based on Russian and Swedish cadastral documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. The source base comprises cadastral books of the western districts of the Vodskaya Pyatina, S. Kepsu’s  fundamental study Inkerin pogostat on the Oreshek district, and materials from the Ockupationsarkivet från Novgorod collection; a total of 247 toponymic units were analyzed. The study argues that the suffix -shchina originated relatively late as a Muscovite toponymic innovation and spread widely across the Novgorodian lands during the 17th century. A detailed analysis of chronological dynamics reveals a marked increase in the productivity of this model during the period of Swedish rule, reflecting the administrative and political transformations of the region. Considerable attention is devoted to the anthroponymic bases of -shchina toponymy, which fall into three main groups: patronymic calendar names (120 units), non-calendar Russian and Turkic anthroponyms (92 units), and Finnic personal names (35 units). This stratification makes it possible to identify the mechanisms through which archaic naming traditions were preserved in geographical nomenclature and demonstrates the fundamental heterogeneity of the medieval Russian anthroponymic system. Special attention is given to Russian–Finnic language contact, manifested in the morphological adaptation of Finnic anthroponyms. The analysis of toponymic chains reveals complex suffixal variation and processes of cross-linguistic synthesis in naming practices. An analysis of doublet toponymy using the markers kallas, eller, and heeter provides insight into the evolution of documentary traditions in a multi-ethnic region. Cartographic mapping of 81 toponyms using maps by A. Andersin and A. Schonbeek confirms the maximum concentration of the formant -shchina in the northern parishes of Ingria. The methodological contribution of the study lies in integrating linguistic, historical, and cartographic approaches to the analysis of contact toponymy.

Keywords: toponymy; formant -shchina; Ingria; Russian-Finnic language contacts; cadastral books; anthroponymic stratification; administrative markers; doublet nomination; toponymic mapping; medieval Rus’

Acknowledgements
The publication was prepared with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 25-28-03323 Lexicographic Reconstruction of the Toponymic Landscape of Western Ingermanland (2026–2027).

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