Notes on the current discussion concerning the (first) name of the first historical ruler of the Piast state

After presenting the history of the problem, the present author focuses on three main underdiscussed or unsolved issues: (1) can Old Russian and Old Czech spellings sug­gesting a voiced spirant be reasonably explained away as secondary? (2) can a (near-) homonymous and potentially motivating appellative be found in the Polish or Slavic lexical traditions? (3) and why was the prince named in such way? The answer to the first question is negative, while the second one cannot for the moment be answered with certainty and needs further scrutiny. The author concludes that the name was *Mьžьka (as previously supposed by Fenikowski, Bańkowski, Mańczak, Sucharski and Witczak) and originated probably as a protective name aiming at preventing the child from ominous vision problems

HISTORISCHE QUELLENFORSCHUNG UND PHILOLOGISCH-LINGUISTISCHE ANALYSE BEI TOPONOMASTISCHEN UNTERSUCHUNGEN (EINE POLEMIK MIT E. KOWALCZYK)T*P )

HISTORISCHE QUELLENFORSCHUNGUND PHILOLOGISCH-LINGUISTISCHE ANALYSEBEI TOPONOMASTISCHEN UNTERSUCHUNGEN(EINE POLEMIK MIT E. KOWALCZYK)T*P

OLD PRUSSIAN 〈Stroyſles〉 (E 582) ‘FLAT FISH’ – – A VESTIGE OF INDO-EUROPEAN *strō- ‘TO SPREAD’?

OLD PRUSSIAN 〈Stroyſles〉 (E 582) ‘FLAT FISH’ –– A VESTIGE OF INDO-EUROPEAN *strō- ‘TO SPREAD’

Historische Quellenforschung und philologisch-linguistische Analyse bei toponomastischen Untersuchungen (eine Polemik mit E. Kowalczyk)

HISTORISCHE QUELLENFORSCHUNGUND PHILOLOGISCH-LINGUISTISCHE ANALYSEBEI TOPONOMASTISCHEN UNTERSUCHUNGEN(EINE POLEMIK MIT E. KOWALCZYK)T*P

Toboła – SZCZĘŚLIWIE ROZWIĄZANY (?) PROBLEM (NIE TYLKO) POLSKIEJ TOPONOMASTYKI / Toboła – srečna razrešitev (ne le) za poljsko toponomastiko?

The basic thesis of this article is the necessity of reconstructing at least the northern Slavic topographic term *tobolà, which is preserved as a common noun only in Rus. dial. tobolka ‘a round field or meadow with natural boundaries’ (central Russia), but it is richly represented in Polish toponymy (with more than one hundred name groups), northwest Belarus, and western Ukraine. The origin of this lexeme is unclear and does not appear to be related to the well-known *tobol‑ ‘bundle, bag’, which can be ascribed the initial meaning ‘something that dangles’.Osnovna teza članka je nujnost rekonstrukcije vsaj severnoslovanskega topografskega termina *tobolà, apelativno ohranjenega samo v narečno rus. tobolka ‘z naravnimi mejami zamejen okrogli kos polja ali travnika’ (osrednja Rusija), vendar bogato zastopanega v toponimiji Poljske (več ko 100 imenskih gnezd), severozahodne Belorusije in zahodne Ukrajine. Izvor tega izraza je nejasen, ni videti soroden dobro znanemu *tobol‑ ‘cula, torba’, ki se mu pripisuje prvotni pomen ‘nekaj, kar binglja’

Supposed vestiges of the Ptolemaic hydronym Τουροῦντоς in the modern toponymy of the middle Western Dvina drainage basin

Artykuł analizuje przesłanki toponomastyczne skłaniające niektórych, głównie rosyjskich historyków i entuzjastów do dopatrywania się śladów ptolemejskiego hydronimu Τουροῦντоς (łac. Turuntus), nazwy identyfikowanego niekiedy z Zachodnią Dźwiną wschodniego dopływu Bałtyku, w nowożytnym nazewnictwie geograficznym basenu średniej Dźwiny. W materiale tym niewątpliwymi faktami nazewniczymi są nazwy wsi i jezior Tarantovo, brus. Tarantova (z wariantami Turunt- i Turant-?), Tarantovka, występujące dziś lub w przeszłości (poświadczenia datują się od XVI w.) w co najmniej sześciu odległych od siebie miejscach dzisiejszych obwodów witebskiego i pskowskiego (ich lokalizację i identyfikację udało się obecnie doprecyzować). Na gruncie współczesnej toponomastyki, nieskłonnej abstrahować od korespondencji samogłoskowych, struktury nazwotwórczej, otoczenia etymologicznego, produktywności i kontekstu geograficznego, sama zbieżność szkieletu spółgłoskowego rdzenia dalece nie wystarcza do podtrzymania poglądu o związku genetycznym tych nazw z przekazem starożytnym. Postać toponimów wskazuje na ich pochodzenie od wschodniosłowiańskiego antroponimu Tarant(a), którego historia i geneza wymaga jeszcze dalszych badań. Samo Τουροῦντоς występuje w kontekście nasuwającym zasadnicze wątpliwości co do jego realności (niewiarygodnie określone ujście, sąsiedztwo makrohydronimów podobnie jak ono błędnie zlokalizowanych i niekontynuowanych w dobie w pełni historycznej).The present paper discusses toponymic premises which prompt some, primarily Russian historians and enthusiasts, to recognize vestiges of a river name Τουροῦντоς (Lat. Turuntus), the Ptolemaic denomination of an eastern tributary of the Baltic Sea, sometimes identified with the Western Dvina, in the contemporary toponymy of the middle drainage basin of the latter river. Among these, incontestable onomastic facts are the oikonyms and hydronyms Tarantovo, Byelorussian Tarantova (including variants in Turunt- and Turant-?), Tarantovka, occurring at present or in the past (their attestations known to us date from the mid-16th century) in at least six mutually distant areas of the neighboring Vitebsk (Byelorussia) and Pskov (Russia) Regions (their localization and identification have now been successfully pinned down). On the basis of modern toponomastics, which is increasingly unwilling to disregard vocalic correspondences, naming structure, etymological environment, structure productivity or geographical context, an identity of the consonantal skeleton alone is largely insufficient to postulate a genetic link between these East Slavic place names and the antique form. Their structure suggests that they may have derived from a person’s name Tarant(a), whose origin and history in that area must become a subject of further research. As far as Τουροῦντоς itself is concerned, it occurs in a context which raises fundamental doubts about its real character (the coordinates of the estuary were determined incorrectly, the context consists solely of other macrohydronyms which similarly were localized wrongly and did not continue into the fully historical period)

"... a vado in Pruthenico Singurbrast et in Polonico Sgers nominato ..."

The paper is devoted to the origin of a set of supposedly related Polish place names pointing to a Slavic proto-form *žьgъrʹь. Its main results can be summarized as follows: — The supposed topographic appellative is preserved in four to seven Polish, place or terrain names in Central and Northern Poland. Its precise meaning and etymology is not quite clear. — Nevertheless, it cannot be excluded that a derivative of this rare word was preserved in Montenegro as žàgrica ʽslope’, the exact proto-form of which, however, cannot be established with certainty for the moment. The Slovak place name Žehra could be related as well. — An etymology is considered which attaches *žьgъrʹь < *giguri̯a- to the reduplicated root contained, e.g., in Old Indic jígāti. — The name of a ford on the Orzyc river (northeastern Poland), attested in the middle 14th century as Old Prussian Zingurbrast and Old Polish Żgierz should be considered rather as an originally Slavic (Proto- or Old Polish) toponym