Place Names
Approaches and Perspectives in Toponymy and Toponomastics

Illustrated with numerous case studies, this book is the first comprehensive overview of the related fields of toponymy and toponomastics.

Francesco Perono Cacciafoco (Author), Francesco Cavallaro (Author)

9781108748247, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 March 2023

280 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.47 kg

'This book brings together ideas that conceptualise the practices of place naming. Grounded in a multidisciplinary fashion – from sociolinguistics to geography – this volume is innovative as it examines place names according to their relations with histories, cultures, and societies in order to understand their historical and linguistic origins as well as the role they play in people's everyday lives.' Remus Cre?an, West University of Timi?oara, Romania

What are place names? From where do they originate? How are they structured? What do they signify? How important are they in our life? This groundbreaking book explores these compelling questions and more by providing a thorough introduction to the assumptions, theories, terminology, and methods in toponymy and toponomastics – the studies of place names, or toponyms. It is the first comprehensive resource on the topic in a single volume, and explores the history and development of toponyms, focusing on the conceptual and methodological issues pertinent to the study of place names around the world. It presents a wide range of examples and case studies illustrating the structure, function, and importance of toponyms from ancient times to the present day. Wide ranging yet accessible, it is an indispensable source of knowledge for students and scholars in linguistics, toponymy and toponomastics, onomastics, etymology, and historical linguistics.

1. Introduction
2. Language change
3. Historical toponomastics
4. Toponymy and the historical-linguistic reconstruction of proto-languages
5. Diachronic toponymy
6. Landscape and toponymy
7. Historical toponomastics and historical geography
8. Synchronic toponymy
9. Place names and society
10. Toponymy and cartography.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Sociolinguistics [CFB]