Original scientific paper
Toponyms of Grabovci type in the river Krka valley
Živko Bjelanović
Abstract
The model upon which the toponyms of Grabovci (plural) in North
Dalmatia were formed seems to be a considerably old one. The model is, however, still alive and productive in forming family nicknames. The toponyms of Pokrčje (the River Krka Valley) belonging to this formation type are dealt with by the author by means of providing description of their constutuent parts. According to the formation analysis, the toponyms may be said to be bipartite or composed of two parts. The formation stem has been derived by adding the suffix –ovci (if it ends in a non-palatal consonant, e.g. Brätiškōvci, Grábōvci, Piràmatōvci, Sùknōvci and Šìritōvci), or –evci (Ivòšēvci, Láđēvci and Mïljēvci, if it ends in a palatal. A morphemic analysis similarly shows these toponyms to be bipartite (composed of two parts), their grammatical segment (i.e. the suffi x –ovci/-evci) being trimorphemic,
since it obviosly contains the morphemes –i, -c < -ac, and –o/-ev.
It is on the basis of the above analysis that the author comes to the conclusion that the lexical part of the toponym of the Grábōvci type cointains an anthroponym, presumably a personal name, while the segment –ovci/-evci seems to comprise the following semantic components: plural, members, and belonging. These topnyms seem to have been originally used to designate human communities in the
pre-Ottoman times, notably the ones of Vlachs due to the fact that these nomads, in search of better pastures, are known to have moved across the mountain ridges of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, having eventually
arrived in Croatia, mostly in North Dalmatia, as can be abundantly corroborated by the relevant historiographic literature. The part originally designating a human community has, in the course of time, changed to denote its residential locality, also affecting changes in the semantic contents of the toponyms ending in –ovci/-evci. Hence the toponyms such as Grabovci and family nicknames, e.g. Dadeškovci, both ending in the suffi xes –ovci/-evci, and both frequently occurring
in the area of Pokrčje, are clearly seen as belonging to the same formation model, but to different kinds of onomastic signs.
Keywords
Pokrčje (the River Krka Valley); toponym; formation model; formation analysis; morphemic analysis; Vlach community; family nickname
Hrčak ID:
112447
URI
Publication date:
14.5.2010.
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