Folia onomastica Croatica, No. 5, 1996.
Original scientific paper
Sacral toponymy from the period of late antiquity to the preromance era
Petar Šimunović
Abstract
The author attributes some yet unknown toponyms to the type of sacral toponyms formed with sanctus + the name of the saint. He also explains some holiday names such as Sudajma in Split and SutvTja at the island of Lošinj. He specifically emphasizes following facts:
1. Toponyms of this type are related to titulars of the late antique churches from the 5th and 6th centuries, which is important for acknowledging the continuity of antiquity even after the Croatian colonization of these territories.
2. Some toponyms show the substitional changes that are much older than the last confirmations of vocalic nasals in Croatian. The phonetic changes such as: a > 6 (Stombrata), -tsj- > -č- (Stobreč), u > i> (Sudajma) occurred by the end of 8th century.
3. The distribution of toponyms formed with sut-/st- attested at the territories of Roman cities, particularly around Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik, not only shows the existence of linguistic symbiosis, but also the biological and economic merging of Romance urban population with the Croats living around towns. The forms of those toponyms point to the penetration of Croats into Romance cities and their early evangelization in those territories.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
158656
URI
Publication date:
25.5.1996.
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