Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/https://dx.doi.org/10.21857/m8vqrt3vz9

From Mamutica (Mamooth) to Papagajke (Parrots), from Trešnjevačka ljepotica (Trešnjevka Beauty) to Prostitutka (Prostitute) - unofficial proper names of Zagreb apartment

Joža Horvat ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu Filozofski fakultet Odsjek za kroatistiku

Abstract

The paper describes the unofficial proper names of Zagreb apartment
buildings. About a hundred proper names were collected through field research
(surveying) among the people of Zagreb, and it was determined that some
examples are well known, while the familiarity of some examples is limited (only
part of the residents of the neighborhood where the building is located are using
them for orientation). The corpus contains both homonymous examples (different
buildings in different neighborhoods are named with proper names of the
same expression; e.g. Devtka in Zapruđe, Siget and Špansko) and synonymous
examples (the same building/complex is named with different proper names, e.g.
Plve zgrde, Plavce, Rdionke). In the central part of the paper, we first classify
the corpus according to etiology - we interpret how the extra-linguistic reality
conditioned the emergence of the collected proper names, that is, we establish
the most common (most popular) types of naming associations. Following are
classifications accompanied by analysis according to the criteria of pre-proper
name semantics, structure and word formation. Etiological analysis showed
that the motives behind the naming of most apartment buildings are mostly
transparent. The attribution of proper names is determined by numerous factors,
and the most common among them is the appearance of the building, primarily 121
color, structure/configuration, dimensions, compositional specificity and specific
detail in the external appearance. Proper names that reflect the relationship
(spatial or dimensional) to another named apartment building, as well as those that
are formed according to the designation (house number) or that reflect to whom
(members of which professional group) apartments in the so-named buildings
were allocated, are also abundantly documented. Through semantic-motivational
analysis, we established the abundance of directly motivated names –
such are, for example, those whose constituents refer to the type of referent,
those that are marked in some way with a number, those whose constituents
are adjectives that refer to color, some other feature of appearance, architects,
professional groups to which the apartments in the so-named buildings were
allocated, etc. Among the indirectly motivated names, the most numerous are
those motivated by the animal names, names related to people, plant names, names
of means of transport, names of objects from everyday use, brands proper names,
etc. All unofficial proper names of apartment buildings in Zagreb are of Croatian
linguistic origin, but a smaller part of them originated from loanwords from the
German language or from European languages in general, which is expected due
to the recentness of certain realities (and words that refer to them) and cultural
impact. In the whole corpus, there is approximately twice as many one-word
proper names as multi-word proper names. The formation analysis showed that
almost 3/4 of the examples were created by onymization, and approximately 1/9
by transonymization. Among the examples created by other word formation
processes, the most numerous are those created by proper name suffixation and
univerbational ellipsis with parallel conversion, while other word-formation processes, the most numerous are those created by proper name suffixation and
univerbational ellipsis with parallel conversion, while other word-formation
processes are barely proven. Comparing the features of the unofficial proper
names of apartment buildings with the features of other, so far better-researched
proper name categories, we concluded that the fundamental feature of the proper
names of apartment buildings is naming (identification and differentiation) in
space, which makes them function as place names, i.e. toponyms (as evidenced
by the possibility of marking named referents on toponomastic maps), while
the fact that they are the names of anthropogenic referents connects them with
chrematonyms. Etiological analysis has shown numerous similarities between
unofficial proper names of apartment buildings and personal nicknames, zoonyms
and toponyms.
Since the proper names of apartment buildings have not been researched
or described in Croatian onomastics, the research methodology and presented
results will be a model for future research, will contribute to the knowledge
of Croatian urbanonymy, as well as enable the comparison of this corpus with
other related ones (Croatian and/or foreign) corpora. Attached to the paper is an
alphabetical list of transcribed proper names with relevant information about the
named apartment buildings and maps where they were marked.

Keywords

Zagreb; proper names of apartment buildings; oikodomonyms; urbanonyms; unofficial proper names; etiological analysis; motivational analysis; word-formation analysis

Hrčak ID:

324899

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/324899

Publication date:

22.12.2024.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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