Változásmodellek a településnevek körében

Absztrakt

Models of changes among settlement-names

Research on the names of settlements should concentrate both on the systematic analysis of the names and on the description of the rules of name changes. Due to the fact that place-names as well as common nouns can be perceived as combinations of a signifier (form) and a signified (denotative meaning), their changes have to be described from two aspects. If the denotative meaning of the name changes in such a way that the name-form remains the same, one can speak of a change in denotation (Döbrés 'name of settlement' > Döbrés 'regional name'). During the process of a change in form, the denotative meaning of the name does not alter. Instead, the name-form is exposed to a lexical-morphological (often parallel with a semantic) change (Disznó > Apáti). Regarding changes in form, one can identify regular (predictable) changes, such as adding a post-constituent (Körmöc > Körmöcbánya), ellipsis (Remetefalva > Remete), changing a morpheme (often labelled as 'element') of the name to a name-constituent (Kereki > Kerekegy-ház), changing a name-constituent to a morpheme (Kovácstelke > Kovácsi) leading to a change in the syntactic structure of the name; reduction (Hodosd > Hodos), suffixation (Halász > Halászi), changing a morpheme to another (Nyárágy > Nyárád), changing a name-constituent to another (Mikefalva > Mikefa) resulting in a change of the morphological structure of the name. The loss of etymological transparency (Szentmária > Somorja) and folk etymology (Szentkozmadamján > Szentkozmadombja) are examples of irregular (unpredictable) changes in form. Complex changes involve changing both the denotation and the form of the name. The disappearance of a name (Salamon > Ø), the differentiation of a name (Apáti > Kis- and Nagyapáti), and the integration of names (Szurdok + Bénye > Szurdokbénye) can illustrate this subclass.