Characteristics of exonym use in selected European languages

This article discusses linguistic and geographical aspects of the frequency of exonym use in selected European languages. In addition to true exonyms, exographs and exophones are presented. Frequency is discussed by individual languages and, within these, by appertaining countries and the semantic types of adapted foreign geographical names. In addition, certain typical concepts of exonym use are presented with an emphasis on how they are written

Slovenian exonyms in North America

The number of Slovenian exonyms around the world decreases with distance from Slovenia. This applies less so to North America, where their density is twice as high as in South and Central America.Based on a comparative analysis of geographical names from all important world atlases in Slovenian, we prepared two spreadsheets of Slovenian exonyms. The extensive spreadsheet has 5,038 names and the concise spreadsheet has 3,819 names. Each exonym has thirty-five thematic fields.In North America, marine hydronyms (21.1%) are the most numerous semantic type of exonyms, and completely translated names (77.9%) are the most numerous Slovenianized type of exonyms. Among the original languages of exonyms, English completely prevails (97.1%).The most commonly used Slovenian exonyms from North America in Slovenian texts are Dolina smrti ‘Death Valley’, Veliki kanjon ‘Grand Canyon’, Niagarski slapovi ‘Niagara Falls’, Skalno gorovje ‘Rocky Mountains’, and Aleuti ‘Aleutian Islands’

Slovenian geographical names

This work discusses Slovenian geographical names: endonyms in Slovenia and in border areas inhabited by Slovenians in neighboring countries, and Slovenian exonyms used in Slovenian to describe geographical features outside the Slovenian settlement area. First, it gives a historical overview of dealing with geographical names in Slovenia and especially emphasizes their scholarly and cartographic significance. Then it presents macrotoponyms and microtoponyms, especially geographical names in Slovenian normative guides, names of countries, and foreign exonyms for Slovenian endonyms. All of this is connected with the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) and the Slovenian Government Commission for the Standardization of Geographical Names. The former body handles geographical names globally and the latter nationally

Bay of Piran or Bay of Savudrija? An example of problematic treatment of geographical names

The established geographical name Bay of Piran refers to the largest bay in the Gulf of Trieste at the extreme north end of the Adriatic Sea. After the collapse of Yugoslavia and the emergence of independent countries demarcated along the borders of the former Yugoslav republics, the previously undemarcated body of water between Slovenia and Croatia became the focus of a border dispute between the two countries.One of the basic principles of proper treatment of geographical names is not to change established and widely used names. The name ‘Bay of Piran’ (Sln. Piranski zaliv, Cro. Piranski zaljev) is derived from the Italian name Vallone di Pirano ‘Bay of Piran’, which replaced the Italian name Valle di Sicciole ‘Bay of Sečovlje’ (as well as Ital. Valle di Siciole, Sln. Sečoveljski zaliv) a century and half ago. This in turn was established towards the end of the 18th century, replacing the Italian name Largon ‘Broad’ or Golfo Largone ‘Broad Bay’. Since 2000 there have been Croatian attempts to establish the completely new name ‘Bay of Savudrija’ (Cro. Savudrijska vala, Sln. Savudrijski zaliv)

Semantic Demarcation of the Concepts of Endonym and Exonym

This article discusses the delicate relationships when demarcating the concepts of endonym and exonym. In addition to problems connected with the study of transnational names (i.e., names of geographical features extending across the territory of several countries), there are also problems in ethnically mixed areas. These are examined in greater detail in the case of place names in Slovenia and neighboring countries. On the one hand, this raises the question of the nature of endonyms on the territory of Slovenia in the languages of officially recognized minorities and their respective linguistic communities, and their relationship to exonyms in the languages of neighboring countries. On the other hand, it also raises the issue of Slovenian exonyms for place names in neighboring countries and their relationship to the nature of Slovenian endonyms on their territories. At a certain point, these dimensions intertwine, and it is there that the demarcation between the concepts of endonym and exonym is most difficult and problematic

Podomačena tuja zemljepisna imena v slovenskih atlasih sveta

This study presents various aspects of the use of adapted exonyms (i.e., foreign geographical names) in Slovenian. The cartographic use of these names rests on a long tradition dating back nearly a century and a half. This study presents the issues related to the use of adapted exonyms in all major Slovenian world atlases, including the Veliki splošni leksikon (Large General Encyclopedia) and the dictionary section of the latest Slovenski pravopis (Slovenian Normative Guide). Adapted exonyms are treated based on their regional affiliation and semantic type and, for names in the four most prominent atlases, the typology of Slovenianized exonyms has been redesigned and studied with regard to level and type of adaptation. The use of adapted exonyms in the individual sources treated is critically discussed, enabling an onomastic understanding of their actual value and reliability. The collected material is a basis for the greatly needed standardization of adapted exonyms, as recommended by the resolutions of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. These resolutions consistently demand that individual UN member states limit the use of exonyms, which to some degree contradicts the principle of linguistic autonomy.Knjiga prikazuje rabo podomačenih tujih zemljepisnih imen oziroma eksonimov v pomembnejših slovenskih atlasih sveta, Velikem splošnem leksikonu in najnovejšem Slovenskem pravopisu. Kartografska raba teh imen ima s Cigaletovim Atlantom (Matica Slovenska 1869–1877) skoraj stoletje in pol dolgo tradicijo. Zbrana imena so obdelana glede na njihovo regionalno pripadnost in pomenske tipe. Za imena v štirih najbolj reprezentativnih atlasih je bila izvedena tipologija glede na stopnjo in vrsto podomačevanja. Raba podomačenih tujih zemljepisnih imen v obdelanih virih je kritično osvetljena, tako da je z vidika imenoslovja mogoče razbrati njihovo dejansko vrednost in zanesljivost. V praksi je prepuščena boljšim ali slabšim poznavalcem. V zadnjem času se je precej poenotila, kar bi lahko olajšalo prizadevanja za njihovo standardizacijo

Slovenska imena držav

This volume (‘Slovenian Country Names’) offers a detailed analysis of naming all independent countries and non-self-govering territories. Alongside the Slovenian short and full names of individual political territorial units, the genitive, locative, and adjectival forms of the short names, native short and full forms transliterated into the Roman alphabet (if applicable) or English and French official short and full names of individual territorial political communities, it also contains coded labels, an etymological explanation of the names, notes if needed, any alternative names, archaic names, or nicknames, and demonyms.The volume is organized into three sections. The first is a theoretical and methodological discussion of exonyms, and it also presents the reasons for selected name forms for independent countries and dependent territories. Certain names whose usage is not uniform are presented in greater detail. The second part, in tabular format, is a detailed presentation of the names of 198 independent countries and fifty-one major non-self-govering territories with a high degree of autonomy for which corresponding political decisions could lead to their independence at any time. The third section is cartographic and presents territorial political units on colored maps with borders. The volume will contribute to more correct and more uniform use of country names, and it will be a useful aid for both individuals and institutions dealing with this issue.Monografija razčlenjuje poimenovanje vseh neodvisnih držav in glavnih odvisnih ozemelj. Poleg slovenskih kratkih in polnih imen, rodilnika in mestnika kratkih imen ter njihove pridevniške oblike, po potrebi latiniziranih originalnih ali izvirnih uradnih kratkih in polnih imen ter angleških in francoskih uradnih kratkih in polnih imen posameznih ozemeljskih političnih skupnosti vsebuje še njihove kodne oznake, etimološko razlago izvora imena, morebitne opombe, morebitno alternativno in staro ime ter vzdevek, pa tudi imena njihovih prebivalcev.Sestavljajo jo trije deli. V prvem so teoretsko-metodološka razmišljanja o eksonimih, podrobno pa so predstavljene tudi utemeljitve izbranih imenskih oblik neodvisnih držav in odvisnih ozemelj. Posebej temeljito so predstavljena nekatera imena, katerih raba je neenotna. V drugem, tabelaričnem delu so podrobno predstavljeni imenski vidiki 198 neodvisnih držav in 51 najpomembnejših odvisnih ozemelj z visoko stopnjo avtonomije, ki si lahko z ustreznimi političnimi odločitvami zagotovijo neodvisnost. V tretjem, kartografskem delu so obravnavane ozemeljske politične enote prikazane na barvnih zemljevidih z vrisanimi razmejitvami

Ivan Gams – terminologist, encyclopedist, biographer, and more

In the second half of the twentieth century, Slovenian geography was characterized by gradual specialization and orientation of individuals into increasingly narrower areas of scholarly interest. Academy member Ivan Gams was no exception, focusing his research and teaching on karst studies. Throughout his work he preserved an exceptional research breadth, which is reflected in the wide variety of his contributions in all areas of physical geography; in addition, he also excelled as a regional geographer. His contributions in other areas of geography, which were by no means small, tend to pale in comparison. These reflect his constantly restless and critical research spirit, with which he helped shape Slovenia’s social developments in the recent past. Outside physical geography, Gams was primarily involved in studying geographical terms and names

Pogledi na podomačevanje tujih zemljepisnih imen

A geographical name or toponym is a proper name that by definition firmly and unquestionably identifies and individualizes a specific geographical phenomenon or topographical object. All geographical names in the world and in every language are divided into endonyms and exonyms.An “endonym” is the name of a geographical feature in one of the languages occurring in the area where the feature is situated. An “exonym” is a name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language has official status and differs in form from the name used in the official language or languages of the area where the geographical feature is situated.The use of geographical names can be politically sensitive, and for this reason this issue has long been the subject of international discussion. To strengthen the role of international professional associations in this field, in 1959 the United Nations established the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), which directs international activities in the field of geographical names.Knjiga strnjeno podaja teoretski okvir preučevanja podomačenih tujih zemljepisnih imen oziroma eksonimov. Izčrpno predstavi terminološke in vsebinske zagate, življenjske cikle in dejavnike rabe podomačenih tujih zemljepisnih imen, pravopisna pravila o njihovi rabi, mednarodna priporočila za njihovo ustrezno rabo in načine njihovega zapisovanja na zemljevidih. Predstavi še eksonimizacijo, pomensko prevajanje, transkripcijo in transliteracijo. Sistematično prikaže tudi standardizacijska telesa OZN in Komisijo za standardizacijo zemljepisnih imen Vlade Republike Slovenije. Ta s prekinitvami deluje že od leta 1986. Ko je bila Slovenija leta 1992 sprejeta v OZN, se je obvezala, da bo spoštovala tudi vse resolucije o zemljepisnih imenih