Place name changes in Zoboralja, on the basis of toponyms from Menyhe and Zsére in Slovakia

Abstract

Place name changes in Zoboralja, on the basis of toponyms from Menyhe and Zsére in Slovakia

Place names, including microtoponyms – similarly to other linguistic signs – can perform different changes as a result of external (non linguistic) or internal (linguistic) reasons. These changes might affect the form as well as the meaning of place names; furthermore, in Hungarian inhabited regions beyond the present borders of Hungary, place names frequently disappear because of the intense assimilation. This paper compares the historical place names from the second half of the 19th century to those used today in two neighbouring settlements of Zoboralja, which belong to two significantly different regions. The place names have changed in different ways as a result of the different situation and divergent development of the villages. In the isolated Menyhe, 32% of place names have remained unchanged. In Zsére, 34% of historical place names have disappeared or have been substituted by different names. Because of its situation, the latter settlement is more exposed to changes initiated by external factors; as a result, old name forms are less frequently preserved. Place names in both settlements are affected by internal, intralinguistic changes: the plural marker -k establishes many place names; morphologic reduction in the place names of Zsére indicates linguistic efficiency; changes of the syntactic structure can only be observed in Zsére.