1 UNITED NATIONS GROUP of EXPERTS on GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES Working Group on Exonyms, Prague, September 24–26, 2003 TYPES of EXONY

UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES Working Group on Exonyms, Prague, September 24–26, 2003

TYPES OF EXONYMS IN SLOVENE LANGUAGE

Drago Kladnik, M. Sc., Anton Melik Geographical Institute of Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Gosposka 13, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

Geographical names - the regional, water, relief, local site, administrative, and place names - are unique spiritual, cultural, social, historical, linguistic, and political indicators. From them it is possible to recognize many of natural, social, and character features of the past and present of particular inhabited or uninhabited areas on our planet. One of their essential characteristics is linguistic variations, which are often not limited just to the variety of words used but are also written in different scripts. Therefore a mute and silent landscape opens itself in many respects better to the person who can comprehend not only the language of natural characteristics but also penetrate the depths of original nomenclature. The issue of exonyms also reflects the relationship of a particular nation to world events, and language development aspects (Kladnik, 1999).

On one hand, the use of exonyms (and Slovene endonyms in bordering countries) became increasingly common due to the unimagined expansion of information technology, while on the other, a trend toward consistently writing such names in their original form or at best in a transliterated form is becoming stronger. With this the long heritage of the Slovene language, which has a rich tradition in the use of numerous names, would be neglected.

Treatment of exonyms in Slovenian orthography

One of the main rules of Slovenian orthography (Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2001) is, that one word foreign geographical names officially written in Roman script as a rule retain original form (for instance Massachusetts, Cagliari, Köln). In spite of all that following names are naturalized: - names of sovereign states, as well as many federal states and important, big landscapes (for instance Poljska for Polska, Japonska for Nippon, Škotska for Scotland, Kalifornija for California, Frizija for Friesland, Provansa for Provence, Kašmir for Kashmīr), - names of continents, some well known islands and peninsulas (for instance Afrika for Africa, Antarktika for Antarctica, Korzika for Corse, Havaji for Hawaii, Peloponez for Pelopónnisos, Jukatan for Yucatán), - names of oceans, seas, important rivers and some bigger lakes (for instance Pacifik for Pacific Ocean, Baltik for Baltic Sea1, Bospor for Karadeniz Boğazi, Donava for Danube, Misisipi for Mississippi, Amazonka for Rio Amazonas or Solimóes, Titikaka for Lago Titicaca), - names of big mountain chains, important mountains and peaks (for instance Pireneji for Pyrenees, Himalaja for Himalayas, Kilimandžaro for Kilimanjaro, Anapurna for Annapurna, Daulagiri for Dhaulāgiri), - names of some well known towns (for instance Pariz for Paris, Lizbona for Lisboa, Krakov for Kraków, Edinburg for Edinburgh, Jeruzalem for Jerusalem, Džakarta for Jerusalem).

Orthography doesn't mention deserts (for instance Sahara for Şahrā', Atakama for Atacama, Karakum for Karakumy). Further it recomends that foreign one word geographical names on principle are not translated (two of some rare exeptions are Nizozemska from Nederland and Bodensko jezero from Bodensee), instead of some foreign names we have our own endonyms (for instance Dunaj for Wien, Carigrad for İstanbul, Benetke for Venezia, Reka for Rijeka; in this group also the name of state Nemčija for Deutchland can be included), located mainly in neighbouring countries.

1 all multilingual geographical names are writen in English language

1 According to Orthography multiple word foreign geographical names are mostly translated as a whole, if they are consisted of originally common components, otherwise only those parts of names which are common are translated. This group is consisted of: - names of sovereign states (for instance Združene države Amerike for United States of America, Srednjeafriška republika for Centrafrique, Nova Zelandija for New Zealand), - names of some federal units and landscapes (for instance Spodnja Avstrija for Nieder Österreich, Novi južni Wales for New South Wales, Daljni vzhod for Far East), - names of parts of mainland (for instance Nova Gvineja for New Guinea, Kanarski otoki for Islas Canarias, Božični otok for Christhmas Island, Sveta Helena for Saint Helena, Iberski polotok for Península Ibérica, Rt dobrega upanja for Cape of Good Hope), - hydronyms (for instance Atlantski ocean for Atlantic Ocean, Vzhodnokitajsko morje for East China Sea, Beringovo morje for Bering Sea, Gvinejski zaliv for Gulf of Guinea, Rokavski preliv for English Channel, Otrantska vrata for Strait of Otranto, Hormoška ožina for Strait of Hormuz, Ženevsko jezero for Lac Lemán, Veliko medvedje jezero for Great Bear Lake, Reka svetega Lovrenca for St. Lawrence River, Rumena reka for Hoang He, Železna vrata for Porţille de Fier, Viktorijini slapovi for Victoria Falls, Sueški prekop for Suez Canal), - names of landscape forms - mountains, valleys, flatlands, lowlands, deserts (for instance Skalno gorovje for Rocky Mountains, Vrh zmage for pyk Pobedy, Golanska planota for Golan Heights, Etiopsko višavje for Ethiopian Plateau, Zahodnosibirsko nižavje for Zapadnosibirskaja ravnina, Libijska puščava for Aş Şahrā' al Lībīyah, Veliki vzhodni Erg for Grand Erg Oriental), - names of some towns (Frankfurt na Majni for Frankfurt am Main, Dunajsko Novo mesto for Wiener Neustadt, Severni Kartum for Al Khurţūm Bahrī).

In some multiple word geographical names common components are not translated (for instance New York, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Ciudad de México).

In the Slovene language there is a kind of discrepancy between Orthography rules and recommendations of UNGEGN experts about the use of exonyms (Texts of Resolutions on the Subjects of Exonyms). Any normalizing and standardizing often means narrowing, sharpening, and violating the old rules, which is perceived as the dark side of the matter rather than as an ordering and systemizing that should help with the technical side of writing and speaking and thus benefit the language. Exonyms cover a broad spectrum and can be divided into those that are completely foreign and those that are completely naturalized, of course with variations in between. In naturalizing geographical names, it is difficult to establish valid rules that will cover every possibility. Here it is necessary to consider: - the function and role of international world atlases, - the function of domestic school atlases, - the function of scientific discussions and papers, and - the function of the everyday media and popular press, where the rules applied are the most relaxed.

Developmental aspects of exonym usage

Inspite of relatively long and numerous tradition which is much more than hundred years old, the Slovenian corps of exonyms is not coordinated. Their usage is not uniformed, with quite a lot of distinctions. It is strongly influenced by different "experts" who do not have enough knowledge about this topics. They don't know the meaning of exomyms, neither the tradition of their use neither the grammatical rules. Among different types of exonyms only state names are officially standardised (Perko, 1996). The nomenclature of world maps and atlases is also directed by their adaptors to commercial use which are gathered within bigger publishing houses. Their efforts are usually limited by expectation of market success of the project. Principles of naturalizing geographical names are more than by different approaches defined by different kinds of atlases (general atlases, school atlases, road atlases, navigable atlases). Naturalizing of exonyms is much more widespread in everyday usage where the role of literature and journalism is of special importance. In last decade with globalisation, computerisation, and spreading of modern information technology tendencies for use of endonyms are getting stronger what influence on reach tradition of Slovene language.

2 In naturalizing foreign geographical names there are some significant phases depend upon different relations of Slovene language to political, economical and cultural reality in the world. From the beginning panslavonic tendencies are clearly visible. In that period (second half of 19th century) numerous geographical names on ethnic mixed territories and their vicinity as a rule were written in one of slavonic languages; among them special important was a role of Czech, Slovak and Polish language. Later the influence of germanisation became more important and after World war I. the role of Serbian language and through it indirectly Russian language gained importance. Before the World war II. and during the war influence of Italian language increased. After the war the influence of English language became predominant, which is specially emphasized in the period of information globalisation.

As a consequence there are some exonyms whose usage in past was widespread, but nowadays they are almost totaly forgotten and they remain as a part of historical linguistic heritage (for instance Inomost for Innsbruck, Solnograd for Salzburg, Monakovo for München, Turin for Torino, Novi York for New York). On the other hand there are exonyms which in practice are not used any more but they are still stated as examples in Slovenian orthography (for instance Čigago for Chicago, Filadelfija for Philadelphia, Sisek for Sisak). Here there are also exonyms with two different naturalizing forms where older forms from 19th and first decades of 20th century were almost totally changed by newer forms (for instance Rona instead of older Rodan for Rhône, Firence instead of older Florenca for Firenze). Interesting is the case of Danish capital København which now it is mainly written in original form, but not a long time ago exonym Kopenhagen was commonly in use, which was brought forward as a German exonym. Here there are also geographical names from nonslavonic states on the territory of former Soviet Union which as a slavonic nation Slovenes still use in Russian or russified form (for instance Taškent for Toškent, Ašhabad for Ašgabat, Kišinjev for Chişinău, Kijev for Kyjiv).

In analysis only exonyms written in different scripts are elaborated, but differences can be also observed in the pronunciation. There is pretty numerous group of foreign geographical names which are written wholly in the original form, however there are differences Slovene pronunciation. This difference can be perceived in nominative and is still more emphasized in declension.

List of exonyms in Slovene language on the Internet

From an elaboration of Imenik tujih zemljepisnih imen v slovenskem jeziku (List of Foreign Geographical Names in Slovene Language, 1999), in which complete list of foreign geographical names (with about 5000 names, including variants) is gathered on the basis of indexes in six recent world atlases (Orožen Adamič, 1997), of which particulary three are of great importance (1, 1997; 2, 1991; 11, 1992), on the Internet (http://www.sigov.si/kszi/ang/exonyms.pdf) only shortened and cleaned version (with about 3000 names) is available. It contains only those exonyms and some endonyms from neighbouring countries, whose usage is obligatory or at least recommended. In the list there is on the left slovene form of exonym, followed by original name, original language, name class and name type.

The results of this elaboration must be treated as a working version therefore additional appreciation needs to be done, first of all an exhaustive grammatical survey. For better results the origin of numerous geographical names should be studied thoroughly, especially those with unclear meanings.

In transcribing the original geographical names, different transcriptions of original names may be encountered. Most differences appear among Arabic, Iranian, and Greek names, as well as among names from the territory of the former Soviet Union, where the transcription of names in the official languages of newly-created countries is still rare or imprecise. In unclear cases, both versions of a name are given since one who is not an expert can not easily say which is more appropriate. Also in cases where the historical names of settlements have changed in the course of time there are several different names given; the naturalized form is usually derived from one of these forms.

The list of languages in which the original forms of geographical names are written has been composed on the basis of knowledge of the characteristics of individual languages and relative to the official languages of individual countries. Only where possible are the multilingual forms of names written in different languages. This applies to countries with various ethnic groups, to larger regions, to larger mountain groups and rivers that cross several countries, and of course to seas. The names of oceans are not entered multilingually but only in English and French;

3 this also applies to the names of continents and larger regional units, which by exception are also written in the language form dominant there.

For appropriate identification, the original name has been added to every naturalized exonym along with the language of the original name and its content-related class. The name class defines the class of exonym relative to its descriptive significant feature. Included in the simplified version are: - continents, - regions, - historical regions, - administrative units, - historical administrative units, - settlements, - historical settlements, - parts of settlements, - oronyms, - continental hydronyms, - maritime hydronyms, - coastal relief forms, - island relief forms, - submarine relief forms, - paysages, - inclusive category other (i. e. karst caves, deltas, reservoirs, traffic arteries, etc.).

Finally, an estimate of the suitability of use for the name is offered (in the elaboration List of Foreign Geographical Names in Slovene language there is a five class division, of which on the Internet version only types A and B are available): - A - the use of those names is obligatory (for instance Belgija for Belgium, Havana for La Habana, Nil for Nile), - B - the use of those names is recommended (for instance Caprivijev pas for Caprivi Belt, Črna Volta for Black Volta, Viktorijina dežela for Victoria Land, Galapaški prag for Galapagos Rise), - C - the use of those names is less recomended (for instance Nanking for Nanjing, Prydzov zaliv for Prydz Bay, Velika ribja reka for Great Fish River, Diamantna puščava for Diamond Desert), - D - the use of those names is not recomended or not necessary (for instance Doverska vrata for Dover Strait, Indijska puščava for Indian Desert, Krimske gore for Krims'ke hori, Natronsko jezero for Lake Natron), - E - the use of those names is inappropriate (for instance Aleksandrova zemlja for Zemlja Aleksandry, Velika ravnina for Great Plains, Češki zaliv for Čëšskaja guba, Lyonski zaliv for Golfe du Lion, reka Snake for Snake River).

Typology of exonyms

After the review of the extensive material and its classification relative to degree and manner of naturalization, twelve different name type categories crystallized, of which first category in fact is consisted of endonyms. The fourth, eighth, ninth, and tenth categories are internally heterogeneous and can be further broken into independent groups. In devising the categorization, we used a combination of the type, manner, and degree of naturalization. The individual categories are presented below with typical examples of names taken from the list. Before it was elaborated only one typology of exonyms (Moder, 1972), which is also a basis of the following one.

01 Slovene names -these are names that probably originate in our language, which in turn could have been the basis for the formation of the present name in foreign languages. This applies particularly to the names of places located immediately beyond the borders of Slovenia.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Gradišče Gradisca d'Isonzo Ital. settlement 01-A Gradec Graz Germ. settlement 01-A Bela Vellach Germ. river 01-A

02 translated exonyms - this group of naturalized names includes complete translations. These exonyms are no longer original official names in the stem sense but rather only from the content point of view. In such names we also encounter the generally and partly adopted foreign words and stem bases of very naturalized geographical names.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Antili Antillas/Antilles Span./Engl. island relief form 02-A Bajkalsko jezero ozero Bajkal/Dalai-Nur Russ./Bury. continental hydronym 02-A Nova Zelandija New Zealand Engl. country 02-A

03 translated colonial exonyms - the names in this group are also translated, but from the languages of former colonial powers (besides these languages, traditional indigenous languages are also used) or from geographical names given by colonists. Such are also all the names of former colonies. Commonly, the colonial names differ from the original indigenous names to such an extent that they can no longer be recognized in them at all. Included in this group are Russian names from the territory of the former Soviet Union that do not have meaningful parallels in the native languages.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Albertov Nil Albert Nile Engl. continental hydronym 03-B Beli rt Râs Nouâdhibou/Cap Blanc Arab./Fren. coastal relief form 03-B Obala popra Grain Coast Engl. coastal relief form 03-B Sevansko jezero ozero Sevan Russ. continental hydronym 03-B

04 adapted or partly translated exonyms - in this group are names whose content in Slovene language partly differs from the original transcription for the sake of better understanding; exonyms that have been shortened or simplified in the naturalized form; exonyms that have been adapted to the description of the location for the sake of better understanding; exonyms that are only partially translated and may also be partly naturalized; and exonyms that have (unnecessarily) retained foreign expressions within them.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Aralsko jezero Aral'skoe more Russ. continental hydronym 04-A Azori Açores/Ilhas dos Açores Port./Port. island relief 04-A form/administrative unit Orinoko Río Orinoco Span. continental hydronym 04-B

05 naturalized exonyms - in this group are names with omitted special letters and diacritic marks (additionally, at least one other letter of the original transcription of the name has changed) and names with naturalized stems (which is a more rare phenomenon) or naturalized suffixes (this form is more frequent). In some cases both the stem and the suffix are naturalized. The naturalization can be a result of transliteration or transcription. In this large group, which is quite important for the Slovene geographical nomenclature, there are also many historical geographical names, among which names from the classical antiquity period stand out.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Bagdad Baghdād/Baġdād Arab./Arab. settlement 05-A Delos Dhilos/Dilos Greek/Greek island relief form 05-A Loara Loire Fren. continental hydronym 05-A

06 partly naturalized exonyms - this group is smaller and includes names that are not derived entirely according to the rules of naturalization. They may have superfluous letters, retain vowels in places where one would expect consonants, have unusual vowel combinations, or have only one part of a name naturalized in the case of compound names. This group also includes some exonyms that are admittedly naturalized, but their naturalization is not in accordance with the original transcriptions; this must be attributed primarily to traditional elements in the domestic nomenclature.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Beludžistan Baluchistān Urdu region 06-B Gvineja Bissau Guiné-Bissau Port. country 06-A Saška-Anhalt Sachsen-Anhalt Germ. administrative unit 06-B

07 minimally naturalized exonyms - this group includes names in which only the special letters and diacritic marks have been omitted. This group is not very large.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Bogota Bogotá Span. settlement 07-B Osaka Ōsaka Jap. settlement 07-B Sevastopol Sevastopol' Russ. settlement 07-B

08 naturalized colonial exonyms, exonyms adopted or naturalized in the past, or exonyms from one of the Slavic languages - this exceptionally diverse group accentuates the origin in the past of Slovene names that do not have a particularly deep connection with today's original name in the non-colonial languages. Colonial exonyms that have been naturalized also belong to this group. Many exonyms have their origin in the nomenclature of classical antiquity. The origin of some exonyms can only be explained by knowing the names in other Slavic languages; it is questionable how much longer it is appropriate to take them as a starting point for naturalization into our language.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Aljaska Alaska Engl. administrative unit/natural region 08-A Kišinjov Chişinău/Kišinev Mold./Russ. settlement 08-B Solun Thessaloníki Greek settlement/administrative unit 08-A

09 exonyms adopted or naturalized from one of the multilingual forms of the name - this group includes the names of regions, rivers, lakes, and mountains that as a rule extend across the territories of several countries or the territories of several peoples speaking different languages. There are also examples where a geographical feature has several different names within the same country. These exonyms have been adopted from one of the various forms of the name and may also be naturalized from one of the forms of the original name; which one it is can be recognized from the higher degree of correspondence between the Slovene and the original transcription of the name.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Amur Amur/Heilong Jiang Russ./Chin. continental hydronym 09-B Cape Town Cape Town/Kaapstad Engl./Afr. settlement 09-B Finska Suomi/Finland Finn./Swed. country 09-A

10 adopted colonial exonyms or exonyms from a large neighbouring country's language - this group of exonyms includes two main subgroups. One is the subgroup of adopted colonial exonyms written as the original forms of the names are written in the colonial languages, which, however, can differ almost indiscernibly from the names of today's official languages. In some cases the colonial names are shown beside the official ones, while in other cases they are not but can be found in atlases in the English language. The second less numerous subgroup includes Russianized exonyms from the area of the former Soviet Union that have long been used in Slovene. However, with the independence of these countries and with the use of other languages, their official names have changed, sometimes so much that a name's established form is no longer recognizable at all. In such cases it would be better to retain the previous forms; however, the situation is different in the case of smaller and less known geographical features for which we could gradually adopt the original names.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Borneo Kalimantan Indon. island relief form 10-B Ganges Ganga/Ganges Hindu/Engl. continental hydronym 10-A Taškent Toškent/Taškent Uzbek/Russ. settlement 10-B

6 11 compound exonyms, in which the left part in Slovene is a common noun and the right a proper noun - in spite of its apparent uniformity, this large group of exonyms is quite diverse internally. Some believe that these are not true geographical names since the common noun has merely an explanatory role; others define the common name as a part of the proper name, which they denote with the use of an initial capital letter. To avoid confusion, which in our practice is quite considerable, in writing the common noun we have used the lower-case letter for the whole group. The proper names on the right-hand side can be written as in the original form; but they can also be naturalized to various degrees or adopted from the colonial forms of the original names or translated or adapted.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE globel Vitjaz Vityaz Depth Engl. submarine relief form 11-B gora Nashville Nashville Seamount Engl. submarine relief form 11-B zaliv Sirta Khalīj Surt Erab. maritime hydronym 11-B

12 artificial exonyms - in this group, the Slovene form of a name has no meaningful correspondence with the original or the original name is such that the people living there do not know it or use it in everyday life for denoting geographical features. Some names are adapted to better reflect the main characteristics of the feature. Often such exonyms denote large regional units and names that to observers from distant countries reveal more clearly the description of the essential characteristics of a feature or its location. In this group are also some names that are actually erroneous but are already so firmly rooted in everyday use that we can attribute them the status of artificial names; however, some names are also interesting that are certainly applied but whose nomenclature does not match the situation in the specific region.

SLOVENE NAME ORIGINAL NAME LANGUAGE NAME CLASS NAME TYPE Amazonsko nižavje Selvas port. natural region 12-B Moskovska kotlina Meščëra rus. oronym 12-B Vzhodne Alpe Ost Alpen/Alpi Orientali nem./ital. oronym 12-A

Sources and literature

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