ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПЕРЕИМЕНОВАНИЯ ОЗЁР И ПРУДОВ КАЛИНИНГРАДСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

Introduction

Between 1940s-1950s all geographical names of former North-Eastern Prussia which was annexed by the Soviet Union were replaced by the new government with Russian toponyms. A large-scale campaign was launched in order to rename not only settlements but also natural objects including lakes and ponds.

According to the data as of the end of December 2019 provided on Istok NGO website [1] there are 3750 lakes with the total area of 63 square kilometers on the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region. However, the official document of the regional natural objects renaming [4] includes only 108 pairs of corresponding geographical names organized on “initial North-Eastern Prussia toponym – new Kaliningrad toponym” basis with 37 pairs representing the names of local ponds.

A mere opportunity of limnonyms (a term used in onomastics with the reference to lake and pond names) to change is considered by scientists to be quite controversial as it seems to contradict some long-standing and internationally observed traditions of preserving cultural patterns in the field of toponymy in general and hydronymy in particular. This is mainly due to the fact that the names of water bodies have long been considered stable because of their vital importance as a source of non-verbal conditions of living reconstruction for local ethnic communities [3, P. 388].

Nevertheless, several official documents such as the Regional Executive Committee of Soviets of People’s Deputies Decree on renaming natural objects and source maps including the map of the Kaliningrad region, the map of Eastern Prussia before Nazi renaming of 1938 (which was the one the whole Kaliningrad renaming campaign was based on) and the map of Eastern Prussia after 1938 give the insight into the renaming of linonyms conducted by the Soviet authorities. However, it is important to emphasize that due to the lack of extra linguistic information about the course of renaming particularly in this field of toponymy some conclusions may be considered hypothetic.

Results

As it was revealed in the process of this research, it is important to start the analysis of any toponymic renaming with the comparison of archival records with the source maps as the former contains abundant mistakes and discrepancies of all kinds, which in their turn become relevant for the research.

Firstly, taking into consideration some pairs of limnonyms from the above mentioned Decree, it could be concluded that only one place name out of each pair can be found on regional maps. For 6 pairs of those only Russian name is given (for example, limnonyms Paringis, Warnascheln-Teich, Seehausener See apeear to be missing on German maps despite the fact that there are graphical images of these lakes). On the contrary, 19 pairs of renaimed objects preserve only German names on the maps while corresponding Russian limnonyms Lukavoe, Dlinnoe or Buda are missing. That is why we have to deal with strangely sounding names of the ponds such as Ozero Protochnoye pond/flowing Lake pond and Ozero Podgornoye pond/Undermountain lake pond that cannot be found on Russian map. Sometimes it is possible to prove the existence of a documented limnonyms by means of relevant texts analysis (see Melnichniy pond/Windmill pond in Sovetsk or Ragnitskoye lake/Ragnit lake[1] in Neman). In some other cases, a nearby settlement name that has the same root serves as a proof (a presumed Chekhovskiy pond/Chekhov pond is not far from the small town of Chekhovo).

Secondly, both elements of 10 pairs of limnonyms mentioned in the document are missing, for example Waldteich à Lesnoye lake/Forest lake, Waldteich à Lineviy pond/Tench pond. However, one of these pairs Kosskeimscher Teich à Krasnoyarskiy pond cannot be excluded from the research material as its German element can be indirectly localized close to Kosskeim small town near Friedland.

Thirdly, according to the results of comparative analysis of German and Russian maps more limnonyms can be added to the list given in the Decree because Soviet maps contain some geographical names that were not mentioned in official records. It goes without saying that we cannot take into consideration the renaming of Karpovskoye lake/Carp lake, Kamenka 1^st lake/the First Stove lake or Kamenka 2^nd /the Second Stove lake as even the images of these lakes are missing on German maps. However, both elements of the pair Schwanensee à Lebed’ Lake/Swan lake (as they both can be seen in the maps of the Curonian spit) and Bawien-See à Nikitinskoye lake (they can be registered in the corresponding maps to the south of Gerdauen-Zheleznodorozhniy). Concerning German limnonyms that were not officially renamed (for example, limnonym Mühlenteich  can be found almost in every town of North-Eastern Prussia and in Sovetsk it even occurs twice) it is worth mentioning that their equivalents are not observed on Soviet maps. Consequently, they cannot be added to the official list of renamed limnonyms.

In the fourth place, there are numerous mistakes in the Regional Executive Committee of Soviets of People’s Deputies Decree. Five Russian geographical names were misspelled (Lake Vjuni instead of lake Vijun, Ribnoe pond instead of Ribnij pond Plavny lake instead of Plavni lake etc.) alongside with twenty-four German limnonyms. What confuses the issue even more is the fact that the officials responsible for this record tried to transcribe German place names with the letters of Russian alphabet (Lyanger-taikh instead of Langer-taikh, Milen-taikh instead of Myulen-taikh etc). Carelessness in the course of renaming campaign combined with some obvious difficulties faced while reading some illegible place names given the lack of language competence resulted into serious spelling mistakes and distortions such as Pogrebsh instead of Pakrebsch-Teich, Sklitorsh instead of Selitories-Teich or Nelunge instead of Nemonje-Teich. Due to the above mentioned reasons a compound limnonym Eichenfelder See/Oakfield lake was turned into Eichenwalder See/Oakwood lake as ist second part was changed thus the change of semantic meaning can be observed.

 In the fifth place, despite the statements made by officials regarding the use of pre-Nazi source maps in the process of renaming it becomes clear that in reality Nazi maps were used in 15 cases. It was revealed while observing pre-Nazi maps in which some limnonyms are not found (for example, Ponitter See, Spohr-See, Groβ-Bären-Teich ). Another finding that also contributes to the same idea is that German name of Domashnee lake/House lake belonging to the documented pair Seehausener See à Domashnee lake cannot be found on any German map, instead a small town nearby is registered (Schorschnehlen on pre-Nazi maps, Seehausen on Nazi map). Thus, the choice of a Nazi place name as an initial reference name cannot be justified here.

Finally, some absolutely identical entries can be observed in the Decree which could be regarded as a technical error made its authors: Blinder Teich à Slepoy pond/ Blind pond and Doben-Teich à Zaton lake/Backwater lake (lake Zaton pond).

Thus, before the analysis of limnonym renaming started all repetitions and pairs in which both elements are not registered in the maps were excluded. However, those pairs which existence could be proved with the help of source maps were added. All in all, research material includes 99 pairs of limnonyms 6 of which are lake names and 30 pond names.

In order to conduct the research it is necessary to define the semantic classes of the original toponyms in the first place. According to the quantitative analysis, the following groups of limnonyms turned out to be most common:

- limnonyms connected with territory-bound place names (41 cases): Wiekauer Teich, Didwischker See, Kiautener See. It is absoulutely clear to any onomastician that a certain degree of inaccuracy cannot be avoided in this case as settlements are normally named after nearby rivers and lakes. However, unlike original place naming the process of renaming initiated by the Soviet officials was characterized by different incentives, which means that names of settlements were more relevant for them. In addition, only three toponyms belonging to this semantic group have German origin and their inner form is considered in the course of renaming. Other toponyms are of the Baltic origin which made it hard for the organizers of renaming campaign, who were not competent enough both in linguistics and Old Prussian, to take into account their semantic meaning while choosing new place names;

- limnonyms which base words cannot be defined (11 cases): Selitories-Teich, Liktisher-zee (graphic image of the word is not defined as German toponym was not found on the map);

- fauna naming limnonyms (9 cases): Karpfen-Teich (= carp pond), Schwanensee (= swan lake);

- limnonyms naming nearby construction facilities (7 cases): Damm-Teich (= pond with a dyke), Mühlen-Teich (= windmill pond);

- limnonyms defining water quality (6 cases): Toller See (literarily: lake with rough wild water), Fauler See (= decayed lake);

- limnonyms denoting their own physical features (also 6 cases): Langer Teich (= long pond), Enger Teich (= narrow pond);

- linmonyms which semantic meaning is connected with their geographical position in a broad sense (5 cases): Padeim-Teich (= “under the river” from Old Prussian), Oberteich (= upper pond);

- flora naming limnonyms (5 cases): Waldteich (=forest pond), Waldsee (=forest lake).

When these classes were compared with the most common classes of new limnonyms first six classes turned out to be the same although they have a different order. The first place belongs to fauna naming limnonyms (19 cases): Konskoye lake (Horse lake), Gusinoye lake (Goose lake). Then follow:

- limnonyms denoting their own physical features (16 cases): Dlinnoye lake (Long lake), Zelyoniy pond (Green pond);

- flora naming limnonyms (12 cases): Dubovskoye lake (Oak lake), Kamyshi lake (Bulrush lake);

- limnonyms defining water quality (8 cases): Burnoye lake (Rough lake), Tikhiy pond (Calm pond);

- limnonyms connected with place names (7 cases). Not all of them are located nearby (like Plavni lake/Reed bed lake or Chekhovskiy pond/Chekhov pond). Unlike original limnonyms of the corresponding semantic group some Russian limnonyms are connected with quite distant areas of the Soviet Union (e.g. Borodinskoye lake or Krasnoyarskiy pond which refer to Soviet-Russian place names Borodino and Krasnoyarsk);

- linmonyms which semantic meaning is connected with their geographical position in a broad sense (6 cases): Verkhniy pond/Upper pond, Verkhneie Ozero pond/Upper lake.

In addition to the above mentioned semantic classes new classes of renamed

place names were discovered:

- limnonyms with evaluative connotation (6 cases). Most of them are positive (Velikij pond/the Great pond, Divnoye lake/Marvelous lake) and only one is negative (Lukavoye lake/Sly lake);

- limnonyms connected with other types of hydronyms (6 cases): Vikovskoye lake (named after the river Vika), Tylzha lake (named after the river Tylzha).

It is worth mentioning that despite common believe in abundance of memorial toponyms in the Kaliningrad region, only three ideologically-bound Soviet limnonyms were found: Pugachevskiy pound (named after Pugachev, an ideologically aligned national hero), Soldatskiy pond/Soldier pond (all associations with the Great Patriotic war in the semantic meaning of regional toponyms are commonly believed to be ideioligically-bound) and Russkiy pond/Russian pond (a new territorial allegiance of former Prussian land is fixed by this limnonym).

Another important consideration should be made regarding inconsistent and unmotivated repetition of new names used by the officials responsible for the process of renaming. This tendency can be clearly observed among limnonyms which can be observed more than once, for example, Verkhniy pond/Upper pond (3 times),  Utinoye lake/Duck lake (2 times), Bolshoye lake/Big lake (2 times), Lesnoye lake/Forest lake (2 times), Rybnoye lake/Fish lake (2 times) and Kamischi lake/Bulrush lake (2 times).

However, it would be fair to say that original German limnonyms were also repeated. Apart from the above mentioned ponds Mühlenteich found in the map of North-Eastern Prussia, four ponds Mühlenteich, two ponds Oberteich, two ponds Fauler Teich and two ponds Waldteic were observed in the Regional Executive Committee of Soviets of People’s Deputies Decree. Consequently, it becomes obvious that the situation related to unreasonable repetition of limnonyms has not become worse during the Soviet period.

At the final stage of our research into the process of toponymic renaming some conclusions are made regarding the degree of correspondence of original and new geographical names. Thus, the presentage of limnonyms which preserved semantic meaning or sounding of the original place name (which amounts to 41,4% of all analysed material) turns out to be higher than in any other toponymic group that has been studied so far (39% in the group of oronyms that denote different land forms and 25% in the group of drynonims that denote woodland). According to the types of correspondence of original and new toponyms developed by M. Langenfeld [2] with a view to define the renamed objects in the Kaliningrad region, the following hierarchy can be presented:

1. translation (22 cases): Langer See (= long lake) à Dlinnoye lake/Long lake, Waldsee (= forest lake) à Lesnoye lake/Forest lake.

Cases of partial translation when only one element of a compound limnonym was translated were also included in this group (6 cases): Klein Budugnis (the first element is German “small”, the second is “watchpost” that supposedly comes from Prussian) à Maloye Olenye Lake/Small deer lake. Additionally, there was one case of false translation: Seehausener See à Domashnee lake/House lake. The original toponym literary means “a lake near Seehausener settlement” and sounds similar to German Seehaus (=a house near a lake). However, onomasticians define the component -hausen within the structure of place names of Prussian origin as “small village.”

2. thematic correlation. If the fact that the original and the new limnonym belong to the same semantic class can be considered as a type of correspondence, 6 cases can be mentioned. For example, Bambe-Teich (a roundish pond from Old Prusssian) belonging to the class of limnonyms denoting their own physical features à Yazikovoe lake/Tongue lake (this name probably emphasizes that the shape of the pond is similar to a human tongue);

3. allusion (5 cases). This type of correspondence implies that the original place name (normally of the Baltic origin) formally resembles a common Russian word but their semantic meaning is not taken into consideration: Worienen-See à Voronye lake/Crow lake, Neu Luböner Teich à Lubyanoye lake/Bast lake;

4.  borrowing (3 cases). It could be classical (Marinowo-See à Marinovo lake) or assimilated, i.e. the one characterized by the adjustment to the principles of word formation existing in the language of new limnonyms (Wystiter-See à Vischtinetskoye lake);

5. metonymic correlation (2 cases). When a lake which name correlates with the name of a settlement is being renamed, its new name correlates with a new name of the same settlement: Bawien-See (named after a small town of Bawien) à Nikitinskoye lake (named after a small town of Nikitino, former Bawien);

6. associative name (2 cases). This type of correspondence is based on translation, but a direct equivalent of the word is not used. Instead a word with a similar semantic meaning is chosen: Oberteich (=upper or high pond) à Glavniy pond/Main pond.

The results of this research provide a perfect opportunity to contribute to the above stated types as a new type of indirect metonymic correspondence can be introduced. It was observed only in one case: Mühlen-Teich (= windmill pond) à Ragnitskoye lake. In this case neither semantic meaning nor the form of original toponym was considered in the course of renaming, but according to some sources it is situated at the territory of Neman, which was called Ragnit before its renaming. Thus this renaming cannot be considered absolutely uncorrelated.

Other limnonyms of the Kaliningrad region were renamed independently, i.e. regardless of original place names, for example, Nassawer See (= a lake near Nassaver) à Ribnoye lake/Fish lake, Mühlenteich (another “windmill pond”) à Pugachevskiy pond/Pugachev pond.

To finalize the analysis of the renaming campaign of regional lakes and ponds it is necessary to comment on the origin of German limnonyms which alongside with other toponymic classes of the region cannot be considered homogeneous. The list of original geographic place names includes:

- one limnomym of Indo-European origin (Marinowo-See). Its formal resemblance to Russian lexical items predetermined the result of renaming;

- 56 Baltic (Old Prussian and Lithuanian) limnonyms. There is a certain difficulty in their adequate definition because most of them were renamed independently.

- 34 German geographical names. The fact that original and new linmonyms do not match can be logically explained only in some cases (e.g. in the pair Pilzen-Teich (=mushroom pond) à Gagara pond/Diver pond the original limnonym was illegible and looked like a meaningless name Pilksen-Taikh which was officially recorded in the end). Taking into consideration 12 cases of independently renamed lakes and ponds that had their original German names it is important to state that the Soviet officials’ decision to rename them irrespective of the inner form of the original German limnonyms was unjustified. 

Conclusion

Overall, the research into the results of post-war renaming of lakes and ponds in the Kaliningrad region was quite challenging due to unmethodical and chaotic approach to the choice of new place names alongside with numerous mistakes made in the process of renaming. However, this process turned out to be more consistent and coherent than it is generally accepted.