Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter

Charters written in Latin containing vernacular toponyms represent important sources in the early history of European toponymic system. Besides authentic and original charters, there are numerous forged charters and charters that can be read only in later copies. The umbrella term used for such docu...

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Main Author: Melinda Szőke
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta 2023-04-01
Series:Вопросы ономастики
Subjects:
Online Access:http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2023-volume-20-issue-1-2
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author Melinda Szőke
author_facet Melinda Szőke
author_sort Melinda Szőke
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description Charters written in Latin containing vernacular toponyms represent important sources in the early history of European toponymic system. Besides authentic and original charters, there are numerous forged charters and charters that can be read only in later copies. The umbrella term used for such documents is charters with an uncertain chronological status. From the perspective of historical toponomastics and linguistics, we may suppose the existence of multiple chronological layers in such documents. The author uses the example of the Pécsvárad Abbey Charter to introduce a method for distinguishing these layers using the charter’s toponymic data and the methods of historical toponomastics. Primarily, it takes to identify possible chronological periods that can be reflected in the studied charter, followed by the subsequent linguistic analysis of the language forms attested in the document with a special focus on place names as the key elements of the charter’s content. The author emphasises two techniques of analysing toponymic materials of charters that can help clarify the chronological attribution of specific forms: the comparative analysis of the Latin naming constructions largely used in Hungarian medieval charters and displaying a distinct statistical pattern in their evolution, and the method of toponym reconstruction which consists in establishing the possible evolution of the toponym based on a variety of linguistic, historical and geographical data and language laws. The first method helps isolate parts of the text that can relate to a specific chronological layer, while the application of the second leads to outlining the relative chronology of the toponym change and thus to attributing its form attested in the charter to a particular period of time. Although the analysis relies on one single Hungarian charter, it has wider-ranging consequences and may be applied to other Latin medieval sources that include toponymic units in other “vulgar” languages.
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spelling doaj.art-2fd75a4109354197ae880f447f0a14d52023-04-27T10:32:35ZrusIzdatelstvo Uralskogo UniversitetaВопросы ономастики1994-24001994-24512023-04-01201435510.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.1.003Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding CharterMelinda Szőke0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2726-4973University of DebrecenCharters written in Latin containing vernacular toponyms represent important sources in the early history of European toponymic system. Besides authentic and original charters, there are numerous forged charters and charters that can be read only in later copies. The umbrella term used for such documents is charters with an uncertain chronological status. From the perspective of historical toponomastics and linguistics, we may suppose the existence of multiple chronological layers in such documents. The author uses the example of the Pécsvárad Abbey Charter to introduce a method for distinguishing these layers using the charter’s toponymic data and the methods of historical toponomastics. Primarily, it takes to identify possible chronological periods that can be reflected in the studied charter, followed by the subsequent linguistic analysis of the language forms attested in the document with a special focus on place names as the key elements of the charter’s content. The author emphasises two techniques of analysing toponymic materials of charters that can help clarify the chronological attribution of specific forms: the comparative analysis of the Latin naming constructions largely used in Hungarian medieval charters and displaying a distinct statistical pattern in their evolution, and the method of toponym reconstruction which consists in establishing the possible evolution of the toponym based on a variety of linguistic, historical and geographical data and language laws. The first method helps isolate parts of the text that can relate to a specific chronological layer, while the application of the second leads to outlining the relative chronology of the toponym change and thus to attributing its form attested in the charter to a particular period of time. Although the analysis relies on one single Hungarian charter, it has wider-ranging consequences and may be applied to other Latin medieval sources that include toponymic units in other “vulgar” languages.http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2023-volume-20-issue-1-2charters with an uncertain chronological statushistorical toponomasticslatin naming constructionsmedieval hungarymethod of toponymic reconstructiontoponyms
spellingShingle Melinda Szőke
Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter
Вопросы ономастики
charters with an uncertain chronological status
historical toponomastics
latin naming constructions
medieval hungary
method of toponymic reconstruction
toponyms
title Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter
title_full Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter
title_fullStr Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter
title_full_unstemmed Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter
title_short Historical Toponomastics and the Study of Medieval Hungarian Forged Chartres: Chronological Layers of the Pécsvárad Abbey Founding Charter
title_sort historical toponomastics and the study of medieval hungarian forged chartres chronological layers of the pecsvarad abbey founding charter
topic charters with an uncertain chronological status
historical toponomastics
latin naming constructions
medieval hungary
method of toponymic reconstruction
toponyms
url http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2023-volume-20-issue-1-2
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