Vol. 59 No. 4 (2011)
Research Article

Commemorative Place Names — Their Specificity and Problems

PDF
  • Jaroslav David
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/002777311X13082331190074

Published 2011-12-01

Keywords

  • TOISHANESE/HOISAN-WA,
  • CANTONESE,
  • NAMES,
  • CHINESE AMERICAN HISTORY

Copyright (c) 2011 Maney Publishing

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

This paper focuses on the distinctive features of a particular type of geographical name, referred to as commemorative place names: e.g. Bat´ov, Gottwaldov, Frunze, Leningrad, or Stalingrad. These features are illustrated with primarily Czech toponymic material, presented in comparison to Slovak, Russian, Yugoslav, and Bulgarian place names. Commemorative names display several specific and distinctive features as a consequence of their dependence on political regimes and ideologies. These features include the domination of naming above other onymic functions and the elevation of naming to a symbolic act; instability, manifested in frequent changes and renamings; high ideological value, reflected in the importance of equivalence between the place and its name; and certain difficulties involved in using such place names in everyday communication. These distinctive features could be considered compelling reasons for the establishment of a specific type of geographical name, termed “commemorative place names.”

PDF

References

  1. Azaryahu, Maoz. 1996. “The Power of Commemorative Street Names.” Society and Space 14: 311–330.
  2. Azaryahu, Maoz and Arnon Golan. 2001. “(Re)naming the Landscape: The Formation of the Hebrew Map of Israel 1949–1960.” Journal of Historical Geography 27: 178–195.
  3. Bassin, Mark. 2000a. “‘I object to rain that is cheerless’: Landscape Art and the Stalinist Aesthetic Imagination.” Ecumene 7: 313–336.
  4. Bassin, Mark. 2000b. “Landscape and Identity in Russian and Soviet Art.” Ecumene 7, 249–251.
  5. Bezlaj, Franz. 1983. Osnoven sistem i terminologija na slovenskata onomastika. Skopje: Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite.
  6. Blanar, Vincent. 1996. Teoria vlastného mena. Bratislava: Veda.
  7. Bornemann, John. 2004. Death of the Father. An Anthropology of the End in Political Authority. New York: Berghahn Books.
  8. Brodskij, Josif. 1998. Jeden a pul pokoje. Praha (Prague): Nakladatelstvi Lidové noviny.
  9. Brozovic Roncevic, Dunja. 2003. “Place-Names in Search of Wiped off Identity.” A paper presented on the symposium on onomastics Names, National Identity, Nationalism. Sveuciliste u Zadru, Croatia, 10–12 July 2003.
  10. Brozovic Roncevic, Dunja. 2009. “Croatian Place Names as a Reflection of Regional and National Heritage and Identity.” Wiener Schriften zur Geographie und Kartographie 18: 117–123.
  11. Buczynski, Mieczysiaw. 1997. Pamiqtkowe nazwy miejscowe w jqzykach slowianskich. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skiodowskiej.
  12. Bursa, G.R.F. 1994. “Creating a Political Landscape. The Art of Geographical Name Changing in Bulgaria.” Diplomacy and Statecraft 5: 534–568.
  13. Cornejova, Michaela. 2009. Tvoreni nejstarsich ceskych mistnich jmen. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brnë.
  14. Crimean Tatar Place Names. International Committee for Crimea, Washington. <http://www.iccrimea.org/place/placenames.html> [June 2009].
  15. David, Jaroslav. 2008a. “From Havlickova Borova to Havirov (the Honorific Motive in Czech Toponymy 1948–1955).” Österreichische Namenforschung 36: 15–23.
  16. David, Jaroslav. 2008b. “Jan Zizka z Trocnova a husitska tradice v zemëpisnych jménech sirsiho Havlickobrodska.” Havlickobrodsko 22: 89–99.
  17. David, Jaroslav. 2009. “Soutëz na pojmenovani nového mësta — Havirov.” Acta onomastica 50: 63–79.
  18. David, Jaroslav. 2010a. “Honorifikace jako urcujici rys moderni urbanonymie.” Mnohotvârnost a specificnost onomastiky. IV. ceskâ onomastickâ Conference, 15.-17. zâri 2009, Ostrava. Sbornik pnspévkù. Eds. Jaroslav David, Michaela Cornejova and Milan Harvalik. Ostrava and Praha (Prague): Ostravska univerzita and Ustav pro jazyk cesky AV CR,131–137.
  19. David, Jaroslav. 2010b. “Honorifikacni motiv v toponymii (na prikladu bat’ovskych toponym a toponyma Zlin/ Gottwaldov).” Acta onomastica 51: 429–436.
  20. David, Jaroslav. 2011. Smrdov, Breznéves a Rychlonozkova ulice. Kapitoly z moderni ceské toponymie. Praha (Prague): Academia.
  21. Feldman, David. 2005. “Renaming Cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 3: 649–662.
  22. Flodrova, Milena. 1994. “Urcujici mezniky v historickém vyvoji brnënského nazvoslovi.” Brno — mésto uprostred Evropy. Mezinârodni konference o mésté 2.-4. prosince 1993. Referâty a diskusni prispévky. Ed. Milan Jelinek. Brno: Magistrat mësta Brna,204–207.
  23. Garcic, Jindrich. 2006. “Promëny nazvu aneb ... Zahlad jeho jméno ... vyhlad vzpominky na nëho i na jeho privrzence .... Stabilita a dynamika nazvu olomouckych ulic a namësti jako vypovëd o stalych i mënicich se oznacenich verejnych prostranstvi 1, 2.” Vlastivédny véstnik moravsky 58: 271–283, 352–363.
  24. Gill, Graeme. 2005. “Changing Symbols: The Renovation of Moscow Place Names.” The Russian Review 64: 480–503.
  25. Hajek, Pavel. 2008. Jde pevné kupredu nase zem. Krajina ceskych zemi v obdobi socialismu 1948–1989. Praha (Prague): Mala Skala.
  26. Horsman, Stuart. 2006. “The Politics of Toponyms in the Pamir Mountains.” Area 38: 279–291.
  27. Ilyin, Pavel. 1993. “Renaming of Soviet Cities after Exceptional People: A Historical Perspective on Toponymy.” Post-Soviet Geography 10: 631–660.
  28. “Imya tvoyevo goroda. Materialy ‘kruglovo stola’.” 1989. Vsesoyuznaya nauchno-prakticheskaya konferentsiya “Istoricheskiye nazvaniya — pamyatniki kultury.” Moskva 17.-20.4.1989. Moskva (Moscow): Nauka,130–150.
  29. Kundera, Milan. 1999. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. London: Faber and Faber.
  30. Lutterer, Ivan. 1969. “Chronological Value of Suffixes in the Czech Place-names.” Onoma 14: 55–57.
  31. Lutterer, Ivan and Sramek, Rudolf. 1997. Zemépisnâ jména Cech, Moravy a Slezska. Havlickuv Brod: Tobias.
  32. Macura, Vladimir. 1993. Masarykovy boty a jiné semi(o)fejetony. Praha (Prague): Prazska imaginace.
  33. Macura, Vladimir. 2008. St'astny vék (a jiné studie o socialistické kulture). Praha (Prague): Academia.
  34. Majtan, Milan. 1998. Nâzvy obci na Slovensku (vyvin v rokoch 1773–1997). Bratislava: Veda.
  35. Mokiyenko, Valeriy Mikhailovich, and Tatyana Gennadevna Nikitina. 1998. Tolkoviy slovar yazyka Sovdepii. Saint Petersburg: Folio-press.
  36. Moldokasimtegin, Kiyas. 1996. “Name Changes of Geographical Locations in Kyrgyzstan.” Euroasian Studies 2: 105–118.
  37. Murray, John. 2000. Politics and Place-names: Changing Names in the Late Soviet Period, Birmingham Slavonic Monographs, No. 32. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.
  38. Nekula, Marek. 2008. “Hus — Husova, Zizka — Zizkov ... Toponyma a ideologie.” Jazyk a jeho promény. Prof. Jané Pleskalové k zivotnimu jubileu. Ed. Michaela Cornejova and Pavel Kosek. Brno: Host,178–194.
  39. Peterson, Charles B. 1977. “The Nature of Soviet Place-Names.” Names: A Journal of Onomastics 25: 15–24. Pleskalova, Jana. 1992. Tvoreni pomistnich jmen na Moravé a ve Slezsku. Jinocany: H&H.
  40. Podolskaya, Natalya Vladimirovna. 1978. Slovar ruskoy onomasticheskoy terminologii. Moskva (Moscow): Nauka.
  41. Pospelov, Yevgeniy Mikhail. 1993. Imena gorodov: vchera i segodnya (1917–1992). Moskva (Moscow): Russkiye slovari.
  42. Preisner, Rio. 1997. Bâsné. Praha (Prague): Torst.
  43. Sänger, Johanna. 2006. Heldenkult und Heimatliebe. Straßen- und Ehrennamen im offiziellen Gedächtnis der DDR. Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag.
  44. Saparov, Arseny. 2003. “The Alteration of Place Names and Construction of National Identity in Soviet Armenia.” Cahiers du Monde russe 44: 179–198.
  45. Short, David. 2000. “Slovak Toponyms: Alterations in Time and Alternants in Place.” Onomastické prâce. Svazek 4: Sbornik rozprav k sedmdesâtym narozeninâm univ. Prof. PhDr. Ivana Lutterera,CSc. Ed. Libuse Olivova-Nezbedova, Rudolf Sramek, and Milan Harvalik. Praha (Prague): Ustav pro jazyk cesky AV CR,431–438.
  46. Smilauer, Vladimir. 1960. Osidleni Cech ve svétle mistnich jmen. Praha (Prague): Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenské akademie vëd.
  47. Smilauer, Vladimir, et al. 1973. Zâkladni soustava a terminologie slovanské onomastiky. Zpravodaj Mistopisné komise CSAV 14 (special issue).
  48. Sramek, Rudolf. 1972/1973. “Zum Begriff ‘Modell’ und ‘System’ in der tschechischen Toponymii.” Onoma 27: 55–75.
  49. Sramek, Rudolf. 1999. Üvod do obecné onomastiky. Brno: Masarykova univerzita.
  50. Stëpan, Josef. 1985. “Ke kategorii posesivity a jejimu ztvarnëni v jazycich.” Slovo a slovesnost 46: 20–27. Stewart, George R. 1954. “A Classification of Place Names.” Names: A Journal of Onomastics 2: 1–13.
  51. Tarpley, Fred and Jarvis Christian. 1995. “Street Names as Signposts of World Cultures.” Namenforschung. Names Studies. Les noms propries 2. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Onomastik. Ed. Ernst Eichler, et al. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1481–1499.
  52. Timofeyev, V.P. 1988. “Nazvaniya kolchozov i sovchozov.” Onomastika. Tipologiya. Stratigrafiya. Ed. Alexandra Vasilevna Superanskaya. Moskva (Moscow): Nauka,107–111.
  53. Vyhlaska poverenika vnutra zo dna 11. juna 1948, c. A-311/16-II/3–1948 o zmenach uradnych nazvov miest, obci a osad na Slovensku / Ordinance of the Representative of the Ministry of the Interior of Czechoslovakia for Slovakia on place name changes in Slovakia, 11 June 1948.
  54. Wozniczka, Zygmunt. 2007. “Katowice-Stalinogrod-Katowice.” Dzieje najnowsze 39: 89–109.