Original scientific paper

»This City Is Also Called…« – On Antonomasias for Toponyms

Ana Grgić ; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Davor Nikolić orcid.org/0000-0003-4962-7798 ; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

Abstract

The paper discusses formation and use of antonomasias for toponyms (names of cities, countries, regions and other geographical entities). All antonomasias for toponyms aim to capture the essence of their entities and to establish them as prototypes. The hierarchy of topoi or loci communes, as proposed by Ch. Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, is used as a theoretical approach in order to determine the criteria governing the creation of antonomasias. Secondary antonomasias, whereby a toponym is used metaphorically to refer to a new entity, is also discussed. The authors propose a classification according to the extralinguistic motivation by dividing antonomasias for toponyms into three main groups. The first one is all those antonomasias which are motivated by natural reality; it is possible to distinguish the antonomasias that are based on the location of a topographic object (referring to cardinal points, the nearby oronym or hydronym) or a natural phenomenon (uniqueness or abundance of an entity). The second group is comprised of antonomasias motivated by sociocultural phenomena, and the third group consists of antonomasias motivated by anthroponyms which represent the exceptional individual who is closely connected with the toponym. The overall conclusion is that the same principle employed in the original naming of topographical objects applies to antonomasias for toponyms. In certain cases a toponym and its antonomasia follow the identical onomastic pattern.

Keywords

antonomasia; anthroponym; cultural memory; metaphor; metonymy

Hrčak ID:

140864

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/140864

Publication date:

7.7.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 3.333 *