The Names of the Most Popular Trees in Poland as the Toponymic Basis

Abstract

The paper seeks to provide a linguistic analysis of ca. 950 phonetic-morphologic-lexical types of toponyms based on the names of ten most popular trees in Poland, such as: oak, birch, lime, hornbeam, alder, beech, aspen, pine, ash, and willow. This toponymy has been subjected to a semantic (with a view to the type and kind of designation) and morphological analyses, paying attention to its formal variations (morphological type) and the kind of derivational creation (primary and secondary names). Some difficulties in this analysis have been indicated, resulting from the homonymic and lexical names, and attempts have been made to spot preferences in establishing their semantic type. The overall approach to the material attention has been paid to stratygraphy (chronology) and statistical variation – the ranking of names with a view to their arboreal basis and the degree of the morphological distribution of its derivatives. Thus we have found a decisive primacy of toponymic forms derived from the lexem oak, a reflection of the high rank of its designate in our culture. The research material is based on the 20^th-century List of Official Names of Places in Poland, numbering over 100.000 units. It has become only an occasion to outline the problems of arboreal names and postulate to make its synthesis. The latter will be based on a complete register of toponyms, including micro-toponymy, and taking into account the remaining trees and bushes in the diachronic order.