Paper on the Disappearance of Exonym
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UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES Working Group on Exonyms, Prague, September 24-26, 2003 Paper on the disappearance of exonym Defining exonyms causes permanent confusion in the terminology of the standardization of the geographic names. The problem has often been discussed with members of UNGEGN for many years. It was also outlined on the body of the Commission for Geographical Names in Prague whose members would like to elaborate the list of the Czech exonyms and offer their results to the public. All similar lists issued in the past have become step by step in my country out of date. It is estimated that many thousands of Czech exonyms exist. How many of them do Czech people know? Thus, how many of them do people employ in communicating? How do the speakers/writers understand the exonyms and distinguish them from the endonyms? I am afraid the answers would be rather sad than optimistic. The map and atlases publishers prefer endonyms in general and succeeded in reducing exonyms. The Czech tourists are used to look for their destination on maps as if the Czech exonyms did not exist. The teachers continue to neglect the subject geography in schools so that the youths do not see any differences between names like Trento and Taranto, Main and Mainz, Genève and Genova, Trier und Trieste, Konstanz and Constanţa or even Constantinopolis. To all mentioned names there are exonyms in Czech as well, which makes the understanding still more complicated. The practice in publishing geographical glossaries augments confusion. The Encyclopaedical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic published the Geographic Topographic Glossary in 1993. The Chinese capital was in this book headed “Peking/Pej-t’ing/Beijing” without any explication. Only the experts know that those three names stand consecutively for the (inter)national exonym, the Czech phonetic transcription and the pinyin transcription. The glossary entries have been headed ruleless. Thus, for example “Aachen/Cáchy” means endonym/Czech exonym, “Anglie/England” means the same reversed, “Alexandrie/Iskandaríja” represents exonym/phonetic transcription and “Halab/Aleppo” the same vice versa. The item “Athína/Athénai/Athény” shows the historical form in the phonetic transcription from Greek as well. It is not to be wondered that the exonyms step-by-step fell out of use. But does this process help to the better understanding of geographical names? We may agree with the positive answer if we watch the situation on the international level. The disappearance of the exonymes on the national level is rather prejudicial to communication. I tried to investigate the bilateral understanding of the selected couples exonym/endonym with my colleagues. Getting out of premise that the number of exonyms issued in the school atlases has been stable for the past 15-20 years I found out the Czech exonyms from the territory of the middle Europe occurring in the widely distributed School Atlas of the World. My effort resulted in the list of 175 exonyms of the features situated in the area that included Poland, the German speaking countries, the BENELUX countries, Northern Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and the French, Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, Ukrainian and Belarussian borderland. This list is attached to this paper. Then the names of towns were selected from the list and the endonymic forms were distributed to my colleagues. They were to complete the simply Czech sentence with the names in a form that they knew. There is the resulting knowledge standard in the table below. Unfortunately the number of respondents was too small to give the accurate portray to the aim of the probe. Seeing that the gathered scale of knowledge is of orientation only without any claim to present the results of the regular research. Endonym/Czech exonym Knowledge of exonym * Aachen (Cáchy) C Antwerpen (Antverpy) B Basel (Basilej) A Bautzen (Budyšín) D Braşov (Brašov) A Bremen (Brémy) C Bruxelles/Brussel (Brusel) A Bydgoszcz (Bydhošť) B Cluj-Napoca (Kluž) D Częstochowa (Čenstochová) B Debrecen (Debrecín) C Dresden (Drážďany) A Genève (Ženeva) A Gniezno (Hnězdno) D Görlitz (Zhořelec) D Graz (Štýrský Hradec) D Győr (Ráb) D Klagenfurt (Celovec) E Köln (Kolín nad Rýnem) C Konstanz (Kostnice) E Leipzig (Lipsko) A Leuven (Lovaň) E Liège (Lutych) E Linz (Linec) C Ljubljana (Lublaň) C Luxembourg (Lucemburk) C Mainz (Mohuč) D Metz (Mety) C Miskolc (Miškovec) E Mulhouse (Mylhúzy) E München (Mnichov) A Nürnberg (Norimberk) B Pécs (Pětikostelí) D Plauen (Plavno) C Potsdam (Postupim) C Regensburg (Řezno) C Rostock (Roztoky) E Rzeszów (Řešov) C ‘s-Gravenhage (Haag) E Strasbourg (Štrasburk) C Szczecin (Štětín) A Szeged (Segedín) C Timişoara (Temešvár) C Torino (Turín) B Trento (Trident) D Trier (Trevír) D Venezia (Benátky) A Warszawa (Varšava) C Weimar (Výmar) C Wien (Vídeň) A Wrocław (Vratislav) D Zagreb (Záhřeb) A Zürich (Curych) C *) A = perfect, B = perfect, mistakes in orthography, C = normal, D = week, E = none I must notice that letter “E” has been joined to the names Konstanz and ‘s-Gravenhage although people mostly know the respective exonyms. The problem is in their synchronous knowledge of the endonymic form. What did find out? The list numbered 53 important towns from the territory of Middle Europe. The Czech exonymic forms are well-known only for 16 of them indeed, and only 11 of them are written without orthographic mistakes in general. Many different qualities and attributes of the names and features are of importance to maintaining those exonyms. The trend is influenced by frequency in communication too. In the near feature some exonyms lettered with “C” may be marked with the letters D or E and all names “A” could become “B” again, if they were absent from the Czech media in the essential way. Appendix I Selected Czech Exonyms (School Atlas of the World, ed. 1999) Country Type of the feature Notes: 1. Names in square bracket are added for purposes of identification. 2. Endonyms are in cursive form. Aachen (Cáchy) DE town Alsasko [Alsace] FR area, region Antwerpen (Antverpy) BE town Ardeny [Ardennes] BE/FR mountains Argony [Argonne] FR mountains Arlberský tunel [Arlberg-Tunnel] AT tunnel Atterské jezero [Attersee] AT lake Bačský průplav [Велики канал] CS canal Bakoňský les [Bakony] HU mountains Basel (Basilej) CH town Bautzen (Budyšín) DE town Bavorský les [Bayerischer Wald] DE mountains Bělověžský prales [Белавежская пушча/Puszcza Białowieska] BY/PL forest Benátský záliv [Golfo di Venezia] IT bay, gulf Bergamské Alpy [Alpi Orobie] IT mountains Bernské Alpy [Berner Alpen/Alpes Bernoises] CH mountains Blatenské jezero (Balaton) HU lake Bodamské jezero [Bodensee] CH/DE/AT lake Braşov (Brašov) RO town Bremen (Brémy) DE town Brennerský průsmyk [Brennerpass/Passo del Brennero] AT/IT pass Bruxelles/Brussel (Brusel) BE town Bukové hory [Bükk] HU mountains Bydgoszcz (Bydhošť) PL town Cluj-Napoca (Kluž) RO town Curyšské jezero [Züricher See] CH lake Częstochowa (Čenstochová) PL town Debrecen (Debrecín) HU town Dněpro-bugský kanál [Дняпроўско-Бугскі канал] BY canal Дністер/Nistru (Dněstr) UA/MD river Dolní Lužice [Niederlausitz] DE area, region Dolní Slezsko [Śląsk Dolny] PL area, region Dolomity [Dolomiti/Dolomiten] IT mountains Dresden (Drážďany) DE town Durynský les [Thüringer Wald] DE mountains Elbe Seiten kanál [Elbe Seitenkanal] DE canal Ems (Emže) DE river Enns (Enže) AT river Fehér-Körös/Crişul Alb (Bílý Kriš) HU/RO river Flandry [Vlaanderen/Flandre] BE/FR area, region Franský Jura [Fränkische Alb] DE mountains Franský les [Frankenwald] DE mountains Gardské jezero [Lago di Garda] IT lake Gdaňská zátoka [Zatoka Gdańska/Gdan'skij zaliv] PL/RU bay, gulf Genève (Ženeva) CH town Gniezno (Hnězdno) PL town Görlitz (Zhořelec) DE town Grajské Alpy [Alpi Graie/Alpes Grées] IT/FR mountains Győr (Ráb) HU town Hauensteinský tunel [Hauenstein-Tunnel] CH tunnel Havel (Havola) DE river Helská kosa [Mierzeja Helska] PL peninsula Horní Lužice [Oberlausitz] DE area, region Horní Slezsko [Śląsk Górny] PL area, region Hornorýnská nížina [Oberrheinisches Tiefland/Plaine d'Alsace] DE/FR lowlands Chiemské jezero [Chiemsee] DE lake Istrie [Istra] HR/SI area, region Istrijský poloostrov [Istra] HR/SI peninsula jezero Iseo [Lago d'Iseo] IT lake Julské Alpy [Julijske Alpe/Alpi Giulie] SI/IT mountains Karavanky [Karawanken/Karavanke] AT/SI mountains Karnské Alpy [Karnische Alpen/Alpi Carniche] AT/IT mountains Karpatské podhůří [Podkarpacie] PL slopes Kielský záliv [Kieler Bucht/Kieler Bugt] DE/DK bay, gulf Klagenfurt (Celovec) AT town Köln (Kolín nad Rýnem) DE town Konstanz (Kostnice) DE town Körös (Kriš) HU river Lago di Como (Comské jezero) IT lake Leipzig (Lipsko) DE town Leuven (Lovaň) BE town Liège (Lutych) BE town Linz (Linec) AT town Ljubljana (Lublaň) SI town Lotrinsko [Lorraine] FR area, region Lübecký záliv [Lübecker Bucht] DE bay, gulf Lublinská vrchovina [Wyżyna Lubelska] PL highland Luxembourg (Lucemburk) LU town Mainz (Mohuč) DE town Malá nížina uherská [Kisalföld] HU lowlands Malopolská vrchovina [Wyżyna Małopolska] PL highland Marnsko-rýnský průplav [Canal de la Marne au Rhin] FR canal Maros/Mureşul (Maruše) HU/RO river Mazovská nížina [Nizina Mazowiecka] PL lowlands Mazurská jezerní plošina [Pojezierze Mazurskie] PL plateau Meklenburská jezerní plošina [Mecklenburgische Seenplatte] DE plateau Metz (Mety) FR town Miskolc (Miškovec) HU town Montceniský průsmyk [Col du Mont Cenis] FR pass Moravské pole [Marchfeld] AT lowlands Mosel/Moselle (Mosela) FR/LU/DE river Mulhouse (Mylhúzy) FR town München (Mnichov)