TOPONYMS WITH THE TREE-NAME-COMPONENT: SOCIOСULTURAL ANALYSIS

Introduction

The paper analyses the social and cultural character of place names with dendronymic components («dendronym» is the term for tree species), which appeared in Anglo-Saxon period to nominate geographical areas exploited and integrated into social and economic relations.

Verbal denotation of the geographical place has cultural value since it institutionalizes the significance of the place in social relationships and in its further development. The tree as an element of natural geographical environment, is integrated in social interaction. The toponym as a place nomination indicates the boundaries between social and natural phenomena, between socially and geographically different areas, between communities. The limitation of area is advocated by the need to control the area, develop and exploit it in economic life, which requires its precise designation. Therefore, the boundary between culture and nature, formed by the tree, is verbalized in the place name with a dendronymic component [6, P. 7]. Consequently, the place name survives for a long time, acquiring the function of the object of cultural heritage and a historical document providing implicit information about changes in landscape and climate, about geographical features of the place, its population, culture and environment.

The toponym is of interest not only to linguistics, but also to a number of related scientific studies researching into territorial development, cultural and economic traditions, transformation of natural areas, and climate change. In the latter case toponyms with dendronymic components provide ample evidence to the earlier climate, nature and vegetation conditions, from social and cultural perspective, toponyms with dendronymic components reflect the world view of the people who inhabited the place at the time of nomination, language and dialect distribution.

Discussion

Dendrotoponyms or toponyms with dendronymic components are place names including tree names, which identify the location of the place as close to trees or woods serving as landmarks for the place, thus making the place stand out. Place nomination relies on the individual features of the object which make the place unique and different from similar ones. As a geographical and spatial landmark, the tree or the wood interacts with man as an element of social and economic life. Consequently, place nomination by means of the tree name identified the community among the others.

The dendrotoponyms are frequently centuries old, thus they reveal the state and the structure of woods in Celtic or Anglo-Saxon period, mostly through the prism of economic and social relationships, as well as the value of each tree species verbalized in the place name. The abundant use of tree names in toponyms bears evidence to the tree growing widely in that area in the past, although sometimes missing in the local ecosystem presently. So, place names with dendronymic components have cultural, social and ethnological value.

We will consider cultural, social and historical factors enabling the use of tree names in British, and their functioning.

Bede the Venerable took interest in the natural and Biblical space, as a result he thoroughly described the geography and topography of the place. In his work «Ecclesiastical History of the English People» Bede describes a monastery in Ireland and researches into the etymology of the place name Dearmach (now Durrow), correlating its first component with the Irish word meaning «oak», and translates the Irish place name into Anglo-Saxon as «oak field» [11, P. 3]. The attempts to understand and interpret the structure and meaning of place names are not rare in other Anglo-Saxon literary works.

Della Hooke, who researched into the value of trees in social history, highlighted their contribution into the formation of British natural and cultural landscape and area mapping in Anglo-Saxon period. The Anglo-Saxon charters provide ample evidence to the function of the tree as the domineering landmark in space and as a tool in the formation of boundaries within the area. According to the statistics based on the charters, the trees referred to in the descending order are thorn, oak, willow, ash, hazel, which were common and widespread at that time and functioned as landmarks for land plots standing out against the vegetation due to their sizes and clustering. Although the charters are classified as documents by the genre, tree names are often accompanied by adjectives highlighting the peculiar features of the trees, like the size, shape, species and others which visually distinguish the tree from the others. In most cases the adjectives function linguistically as epithets, as they describe more vividly and distinctly the landmarks and boundaries of the land plot from the land surveyor’s perspective. Afterward, the names of tree landmarks transformed into place names.

The Soviet linguist O. Akhmanova counted 24 tree species names in English place names, among which the most common ones are ac/oak, beorc/ birc/ birch, alder, ash, willow, apple tree, and plum tree: Greenoak in Yorkshire, Birchington in Kent, Alter in Devonshire, Ash in Derbyshire, Wilby in Norfolk, Apley in Lincolnshire, Plumley in Cheshire [1, P. 36].

Ethnolinguistic research proves that the tree is a common topos in English folklore, for example, the word tree is used ten times more often in English place names than the word «дерево» in Russian toponyms. The terms for tree species serve as epithets to the word tree [4, P. 289]

There are two Old English lexemes for the «tree»: bēam (beam) and treo / treow (tree). The English word tree goes back to the Indo-European root *deru [3, P. 54] (Old English: treo, treow). But the Indo-European root *deru in Celtic languages underwent the shift of meaning, which became narrowed and now means oak. The lexeme tree / treow is used in place names in three facets:

1) as an element of a compound word with a dendronymic component: Appletreewick (æppel+treow+wic) «dwelling or farm by the apple-trees»;

2) as nomination for a tree irrelevant of its species: Treyford (treow+ford) «ford marked by a tree or with a tree-trunk bridge»;

3) to nominate a landmark tree belonging to a person, whose name is used in the toponym: Aymestrey (tree of a man called Æthelmund).

The English lexeme beam goes back to the Germanic root *baumaz «tree», and its meaning in Old English was «living tree». The word beam was used idiomatically as in fȳrenne bȇam (pillar of fire), sigebȇam (tree of victory, cross), bȇama beorthost (brightest tree) [7, P. 187]. The name of an English towns in Oxfordshire contains the components bēam (tree) and tūn (town). It suggests that in pre-Christian times there used to grow a tree, which the inhabitants of the place worshipped. There is a strong opinion that the component beam in place names identifies a place of worship with a tree in the centre or with a tree over a river / stream which functioned as a bridge or crossing: Bempton in Yorkshire, Bladbean in Kent, [7, P. 206]

The name of the oak tree is used in place names of Celtic and Germanic origin. Its indicator in Celtic-related toponymy is Der-: Londonderry, Ballinderry, Dernish, Derrycaw, Derrylane etc. [10, P. 151-153]. These place names prove the high status of the oak as a spatial and social landmark in Celtic culture, as the sacred and religious tree and as a place of prayer. Germanic place names the -oak- component are marked with either Old English form ac: Acomb, Ackton, Acol, Acton, Acon, Acha, Ach [10, P. 3], or with the initial ‘O’: Oake, Oaken, Oakengates, Oakenshaw, Oakford, Oakham, Oakhanger, Oakley, Oakmere, Okeford [10, P. 353]. Simple toponyms with the -oak- component identify the oak as the focal point of the place. Compound toponyms also include a descriptive or localizing adjective [9, P. 196], which describes or highlights a certain tree or a wood. The oak-component is used in 11.9% place names with dendronymic components, which proves the role of the oak as the spatial landmark in social and economic relationship [8, P. 13].

The thorn comes first as a dendronymic component in place names (18.2%). The role of the thorn as a spatial landmark is similar to the one of the oak. Furthermore, as the thorn spreads quickly and grows on agricultural land, thorn bushes perform the function of the boundary between land plots, farms, estates, woods, clearings, and enclosed areas. Consequently, place names with the thorn- component are compound words, in which the thorn is related to the place, mostly a geographical or topographical place or a farm: Thorington and Thornage (thorn-tree enclosure or farmstead), Thornby (farmstead where thorn trees grow), Thorndon (hill where thorn trees grow), Thorncombe (valley where thorn trees grow). These place names are found in a number of counties (Thornham in Suffolk and Norfolk), which proves that the functions of the thorn tree are universal in Anglo-Saxon society.

Like the thorn, the ash functioned as a distinctive feature of an island, a village, a farmstead, a wood, a clearing, an enclosure, and a river bank. Therefore, place names with the ash- component are compound words: Ashby, Ashcombe, Ashfield, Askern, Askham, Askwith, Escrick, Eshott, Eshton etc. The ash-/ ask-/ esc-/ esh- component is used in place names with another component denoting a place.

The dendronym with the meaning «birch» as a place name component is a linguistic marker for a dialect or a language. Birk- dominates in Scotland and Northern England: Birkenhead, Birkhall, Birkdale, Birkby, Birkenshaw, Birkin и Berkhamstead. Birch- place names are found in Southern England: Birchanger, Bircher, Birchover. The Gaelic name Beithe is not rare in the Highlands: Glen an Beithe в Argyll, Loch a Bhealaich Bheithe in Invernes-shire and Beith in Sutherland.

The place names with the dendronymic components willow (Old English welig), elm (Old English: elm), yew (Old English: iw, eow) allude to the significance of the trees in social and economic life of Anglo-Saxon society: Wilby, Wilden, Wilford, Willey, Willington, Willoughby, Elm, Elmbridge, Elmdon, Elmham, Elmley, Elmore, Elmsall, Emsett, Elmstone, Elmton, Yew tree Hill, Yew Tree Heath, Ivegyll, Iden, Ewden, Iwode, Ewe. Roman place names with the component «yew» still survive, like in the toponym York – Eboracum (150 BC.) [5, P. 2], OE: Eoforwic. This place name is a reminder of the yews which used to grow in Yorkshire.

Results

The place names with dendronymic components 1) originated mostly in Anglo-Saxon period and took hold later; 2) are the product of the development of natural environment by man and integration into man’s social and economic relations; 3) acquire cultural and religious value in an ethnic and religious society. 4) The sociocultural principles underlying the formation of place names with dendronymic components are common for Celtic and Germanic traditions; 5) The tree name is used as a place name or becomes part of the compound word with another element, which is an anthroponym, a descriptive adjective, a tree species term, or a «place» term (farmstead, farm, field, clearing, crossing etc.), which identifies the domineering or distinctive position of the tree in the area.

Conclusion

Place names with dendronymic components are vivid lexical components of the world view and constitute a phytonymic cultural code. They encode cultural, social and economic information from previous centuries and thus function as encoded culture bearing signs [2, P. 257].