Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia

The article examines the substrate hydronymy of the middle Oka and the Dnieper regions (ending in -va, -da, etc.) that is typically attributed to the West-Baltic toponymic stratum and associated with the language of the Moschinskaya archaeological culture and the related archaeological sites. The au...

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Main Author: Pavel A. Gusenkov
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta 2021-07-01
Series:Вопросы ономастики
Subjects:
Online Access:http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2021.18.2.019.pdf
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author Pavel A. Gusenkov
author_facet Pavel A. Gusenkov
author_sort Pavel A. Gusenkov
collection DOAJ
description The article examines the substrate hydronymy of the middle Oka and the Dnieper regions (ending in -va, -da, etc.) that is typically attributed to the West-Baltic toponymic stratum and associated with the language of the Moschinskaya archaeological culture and the related archaeological sites. The author analyzed its spatial distribution in the East European Plain. The study has found that: 1) the spread of names of waterbodies ending in -va correlates with the distribution scheme of substrate Baltic hydronymy in general and the monuments of the Dnieper-Dvina, Yukhnovskaya, and Late Dyakovo cultures of the Early Iron Age; 2) the spread of hydronyms with zh/z sound variation (including as a distinctive feature) correlates with the Krivich and Radimich culture areas, and the range of Russian dialects with lisping pronunciation which makes no difference between sibilants and hushing sounds; 3) Baltic hydronymy ending in -da is not attested in the area of the Moschinskaya culture and related archaeological sites; 4) among the names with the root ape-/upe- found in the same cultural milieu, only those containing Eastern Baltic variant are verifiable; 5) the hypothesis for East Baltic origination of the names with the root stab- is not inferior to the West Baltic; 6) there are no sufficient grounds for tracing some river names to the Prussian words pannean and sug since most of these hydronyms refer to a later period while the others have more plausible explanations; 7) for some hydronyms (Zerna, Opochinka, Ponya, Sezhikovka, etc.) the substrate origin is not confirmed. Based on the above observations, the hypothesis for the presence of a West-Baltic layer of hydronymy in the middle Oka region and the consequent assumption of the West-Baltic origin of the Moshinskaya culture were disputed.
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spelling doaj.art-98f2bd35fdd34bf18c7daa55f7da3b2e2022-12-21T20:03:16ZrusIzdatelstvo Uralskogo UniversitetaВопросы ономастики1994-24001994-24512021-07-01182678710.15826/vopr_onom.2021.18.2.019Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central RussiaPavel A. Gusenkov0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5770-4816Moscow Institute of Physics and TechnologyThe article examines the substrate hydronymy of the middle Oka and the Dnieper regions (ending in -va, -da, etc.) that is typically attributed to the West-Baltic toponymic stratum and associated with the language of the Moschinskaya archaeological culture and the related archaeological sites. The author analyzed its spatial distribution in the East European Plain. The study has found that: 1) the spread of names of waterbodies ending in -va correlates with the distribution scheme of substrate Baltic hydronymy in general and the monuments of the Dnieper-Dvina, Yukhnovskaya, and Late Dyakovo cultures of the Early Iron Age; 2) the spread of hydronyms with zh/z sound variation (including as a distinctive feature) correlates with the Krivich and Radimich culture areas, and the range of Russian dialects with lisping pronunciation which makes no difference between sibilants and hushing sounds; 3) Baltic hydronymy ending in -da is not attested in the area of the Moschinskaya culture and related archaeological sites; 4) among the names with the root ape-/upe- found in the same cultural milieu, only those containing Eastern Baltic variant are verifiable; 5) the hypothesis for East Baltic origination of the names with the root stab- is not inferior to the West Baltic; 6) there are no sufficient grounds for tracing some river names to the Prussian words pannean and sug since most of these hydronyms refer to a later period while the others have more plausible explanations; 7) for some hydronyms (Zerna, Opochinka, Ponya, Sezhikovka, etc.) the substrate origin is not confirmed. Based on the above observations, the hypothesis for the presence of a West-Baltic layer of hydronymy in the middle Oka region and the consequent assumption of the West-Baltic origin of the Moshinskaya culture were disputed.http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2021.18.2.019.pdfsubstrate hydronymybaltsslavsthe oka river basinmoschinskaya archaeological culturetoponymic areatoponymic stratigraphy
spellingShingle Pavel A. Gusenkov
Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia
Вопросы ономастики
substrate hydronymy
balts
slavs
the oka river basin
moschinskaya archaeological culture
toponymic area
toponymic stratigraphy
title Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia
title_full Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia
title_fullStr Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia
title_short Revisiting the “West-Baltic” Type Hydronymy in Central Russia
title_sort revisiting the west baltic type hydronymy in central russia
topic substrate hydronymy
balts
slavs
the oka river basin
moschinskaya archaeological culture
toponymic area
toponymic stratigraphy
url http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2021.18.2.019.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT pavelagusenkov revisitingthewestbaltictypehydronymyincentralrussia