Toponymy

Key takeaways

Toponymy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Toponymy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Toponymy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms (names of places, also known as place names and geographical names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. Toponym is the general term for the name of any geographical feature, and the full scope of the term also includes names of all cosmographical features. In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics. Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. A person who studies toponymy is called toponymist.

Etymology The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek: τόπος / tópos 'place' and ὄνομα / onoma 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning 'place name') first appearing in English in 1876 in the context of geographical studies. Since then, toponym has come to replace the term place-name in professional discourse among geographers.

Toponymic typology Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups:

geonyms: names of all geographical features on Earth cosmonyms: names of cosmographical features outside Earth Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order:

agronyms: names of fields and plains choronyms: names of regions or countries dromonyms: names of roads or any other transport routes by land, water, or air drymonyms: names of woods and forests econyms: names of inhabited locations, such as houses, villages, towns, or cities, including: astionyms: names of towns and cities comonyms: names of villages hydronyms: names of various bodies of water, including: helonyms: names of swamps, marshes, and bogs limnonyms: names of lakes and ponds oceanonyms: names of oceans pelagonyms: names of seas potamonyms: names of rivers and streams insulonyms: names of islands metatoponyms: names of places containing recursive elements (e.g., Red River Valley Road) oronyms: names of relief features, such as mountains, hills, and valleys, including: speleonyms: names of caves or some other subterranean features petronyms: names of rock formations; also of climbing routes urbanonyms: names of urban elements (streets, squares, etc.) in settlements, including: agoronyms: names of squares and marketplaces hodonyms: names of streets and roads Various types of cosmographical toponyms (cosmonyms) include:

asteroidonyms: names of asteroids astronyms: names of stars and constellations cometonyms: names of comets meteoronyms: names of meteors planetonyms: names of planets and planetary systems

Toponymic structure Toponyms are often composed of two elements, described as the "generic" and the "specific". The generic identifies the kind of place denoted by the name, while the specific distinguishes the place from others in the same class. In the toponyms Oldham and Newham, for example, the generic is ham (meaning "homestead"), while the specifics are old and new. There are also "simplex" names, which consist of a generic only. English examples include Bath, Chester, and Poole.

History

Probably the first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of specific place names as part of their tales; sometimes place-names served as the basis for their etiological legends. The process of folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, for example, the toponym of Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after Helle, daughter of Athamas, who drowned there as she crossed it with her brother Phrixus on a flying golden ram. The name, however, is probably derived from an older language, such as Pelasgian, which was unknown to those who explained its origin. In his Names on the Globe, George R. Stewart theorizes that Hellespont originally meant something like 'narrow Pontus' or 'entrance to Pontus', Pontus being an ancient name for the region around the Black Sea, and by extension, for the sea itself. Especially in the 19th century, the age of exploration, a lot of toponyms got a different name because of national pride. Thus the famous German cartographer Petermann thought that the naming of newly discovered physical features was one of the privileges of a map editor, especially because he was fed up with forever encountering toponyms such as Victoria, Wellington, Smith, Jones, and so on. He writes: "While constructing the new map to specify the detailed topographical portrayal and after consulting with and authorization of messr. Theodor von Heuglin and count Karl Graf von Waldburg-Zeil I have entered 118 names in the map: partly they are the names derived from celebrities of arctic explorations and discoveries, arctic travellers anyway as well as excellent friends, patrons, and participants of different nationalities in the newest northpolar expeditions, partly eminent German travellers in Africa, Australia, America ...". Toponyms may have different names through time, due to changes and developments in languages, political developments and border adjustments to name but a few. More recently many postcolonial countries revert to their own nomenclature for toponyms that have been named by colonial powers.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Toponymy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Toponymy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Toponymy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Toponymy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Toponymy

In research: Toponymy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Toponymy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Toponymy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Toponymy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Toponymy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Toponymy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Toponymy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Toponymy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Toponymy in simple terms?

Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms (names of places, also known as place names and geographical names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. Toponym is the general term for the name of any geographical feature, and the full scope of the term also include…

Why does Toponymy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Toponymy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Toponymy.