Explaining the settlement names of the Sub-Carpathian Volóc district, Ukraine

Abstract

Explaining the settlement names of the Sub-Carpathian Volóc district, Ukraine

This paper presents etymologies of Sub-Carpathian settlement names. The Volóc district is an administrative unit formed in the northern part of the former Bereg county, which today comprises 24 settlements. This region had played an important role for centuries in everyday life in historical Hungary because of the trade route and military road that ran through its territory. In spite of this, it was settled relatively late, in the 16th–17th centuries, because of its geographical conditions. Settlements were organised by experts called kenézs, who populated the villages with Ruthenian and Romanian settlers. Most of the settlement names in the region are of Slavic origin, and because of the fact that villages could only be established in river valleys, many settlements received hydronym-related names. Significant Hungarian populations could not be observed in the region either in the Middle Ages or later, so local name-giving practices, apart from some rare exceptions, were not influenced by the Hungarians.