NAZEWNICTWO MIEJSKIE – ŚWIADEK EPOKI I CENNY ZABYTEK

• Authors: Kwiryna Handke

Title variants

EN

TOWN NAMES AS WITNESSES OF EPOCHS AND A VALUABLE HISTORICAL MONUMENT

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Among the assorted systems of information and configurations of inner city space, especially regarding the indication and marking of objects, the most universally applied is a system of names whose origin dates back to antiquity. The development of town names in European cities goes back to the Middle Ages. From the very beginning, it reflected the natural topography of the terrain (e.g. Górna – Upper Street, Na Skarpie – Escarpment Street, Nadrzeczna – River Bank Street), development created by man (e.g. Kościelna – Church Street, Ratuszowa – Town Hall Street, Zamkowa – Castle Street), settlement (e.g. Holenderska – Dutch Street or Żydowska Street – Jewish Street in Warsaw, Szewska – Cobbler Street, Piekarska – Baker Street) and the organisation of the townspeople’s life (Rajców – Councillors Street, Kanonia – Canon Street, and Targowa – Market Square Street). City names are characteristic, on the one hand, for certain universal features (the basic two-partite structure of the name, the main meaning types) and, on the other hand, specific properties (the lexical inventory, word-creating types, functioning in given social-linguistic conditions), restricted from the ethnic, regional or local point of view. The names of town objects, especially those which are motivated, i.e. which reflect the features of the described object (its topographic location, e.g. Na Rozdrożu – Crossroads Square, relation to other objects, e.g. Nad Wisłą – On the Vistula Street, appearance, e.g. Wąska – Narrow Street, character, e.g. Poprawa – Improvement Street, or function, e.g. Targowa – Market Square Street) constitute important testimony of the past. They are evidence of the times in which they had been created and an image of the towns of yore – the original topographic space and the successive undertakings of the local communities. Town names, preserved in their original form, retain the history of municipal social space. Finally, town names are invaluable as a nonmaterial monument of national culture; it would be a good thing if this truth could prevail in social consciousness.

Keywords

PL

nazewnictwo miejskie; system nazewnictwa polskich miast; nazwy topograficzne; uniwersalizm nazewnictwa

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 2004
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 115-126

Dates

published

2004

Contributors

author

Kwiryna Handke

• prof. dr hab., jest pracownikiem dydaktyczno-naukowym w Instytucie Slawistyki PAN. W jej dorobku znajduje się kilkaset publikacji naukowych, głównie z takich dziedzin, jak: terytorialne i socjalne odmiany języka (w tym dialekty Pomorza, regionalna polszczyzna Pomorza i dawnych Kresów wschodnich oraz język familijny i język kobiet), leksykologia i leksykografia, język pisarzy (Orzeszkowej, Kraszewskiego, Żeromskiego), nazewnictwo miejskie.

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247