Toponymy of Asia. The complexity of formation of an ancient system of geographical names in Asia

The toponymy of countries in Asia differs from the toponymy of countries in Europe. It is explained by the sizes of the territory of Asia, features of environment and nature, settling history, considerable isolation of many peoples, and also by huge ethnic and language diversity.

For many thousands of years Asia was the land where the main migration routes passed and a lot of people have brought there their own terms and toponyms. Significant value in toponymy formation of the continent was played by the Great silk way therefore Asia represents a difficult, diverse and unique toponymic landscape. The toponymy of Asia is studied incomparably worse than toponymy of European countries. A great contribution in studying the toponymy of Asia was made by the largest toponimist E. M. Murzaev.

Asia occupies a huge territory therefore each toponymic region is characterized by its own features.

Toponymy of Central and Eastern Asia

Toponymy of Central and Eastern Asia are characterized by identity, linguistic diversity and considerable antiquity. Complex historical processes behind the ethnic diversity of the region, with amazing landscapes, including the highest ridges and uplands, huge areas of deserts and semi-deserts, vast plains in the valleys of the great rivers of Asia, and thousand-year experience of managing many generations of inhabitants of this land — all this is reflected in place names. Given the specificity of the region, including a small number of countries, the spread of common toponymy is advantageously carried out on the basis of the modern political map of Central and Eastern Asia. The system of geographical names of Mongolia studied well compared with other Asian countries. The vast majority of geographical names of the country have Mongolian origin. Nomadic economy, the life of the cattleman demanded exclusively differentiated geographical terminology. Mongol nomads not only needed in a very precise designation of the main elements of spelling and hydrography, but also in their detailed nomenclature according to various criteria (shape, size, location, feed advantages, etc.). National geographical term firmly became part of names Mongolia, among them the most typical: ula (mountain), Hamar (Cape), Daba (pass), Gol (river), mörön (a large deep river), Nur (nor) — lake, hure (monastery), Khoto (city). The name of the largest of the Central Asian Gobi desert formed Mongolian geographical term Govi, which means "flat or rolling terrain covered ed by semi-desert or desert vegetation, with rocky and saline soils, which is characterized by the lack of water available only wells and rare keys, and the lack of surface water, except for debris flows". There are a large number of the Gobi (Govi), as the Mongols detailing landscape this term refers to the desert. An interesting feature of the Mongolian toponymy is the large number of laudatory names — epithets associated with the ancient cult of mountains and later the influence of Lamaism: Gurvan-Bogdo (three sacred mountains), Bayan-Gol (rich river), Saikhan dulan (lovely place), Ongon-Ulak-Ula (pure, sacred red mountain). With the spread of Lamaism in Mongolia toponymy penetrated Tibetan and Sanskrit religious terms: Chinaman — "talisman"; mandalas — to "dish for sacrificial offerings"; Lama - "the monk"; sum — "temple" etc. In some places of the country you can see the Turkic, Tungus-man-jurskie and Chinese elements in the toponymy.

The toponymic relation to the vast territory of people's Republic of China is extremely diverse. The complexity of the toponymy of the country due to the presence of multiple Chinese dialects and the presence of foreign (Manchu-Tungus, Tibetan, Turkic, Iranian) that is associated with ethnically mixed population. The Chinese names are common throughout the country, but the main reservoir of the toponymy of Chinese origin are confined to the Eastern part of the state. Here geographical names was formed in ancient times, during the existence of ancient Chinese civilization (III Millennium BC). Chinese toponymic stratum is characterized by a composite two - and three-element names. These facts are explained by the specificity of the language relating to the root, with a vocabulary of similar sounding monosyllabic words where the meaning of the expression is indicated by the tone, word order, emphasis, etc. Hieroglyphic writing contributes to the preservation of historical documents of ancient place names, because character rarely changes form. Therefore, Chinese names almost do not experience transformation for centuries. The vast majority of place names from the language of the Han (the Chinese self) and its dialects reflect natural conditions and spatial position of the object. The ultimate in geographic terms Shan — "mountain"; fu — "hill"; fin - "top"; sia — "gorge"; an - "the coast"; he, Shui — "the river"; Jiang — "big river"; Chi - "lake"; myn — "entrance harbour"; Ching — "big city capital"; Tung — "the village". Often repeated definition Yes (big), Zhong (middle), Shang (upper), etc. After establishing in China, the authorities of the Communist party (1949) began to appear symbolic names, such as Hongxing, Red star, Hanin the World; Hasso — Cooperation; Shanley is a Win.

However, the renaming process was not massive, and the vast majority of Chinese place names have survived in the original version. Some geographical names are surprisingly poetic and philosophic. An example would be a world-known name of the Central Beijing square, which in 1988 was brutally suppressed student speech: Tien animine — "the gate of heavenly peace". In Northern and North-Eastern parts of China meet, the Mongolian and Manchurian place names, and in the Western part of Turkic and Iranian. Tibetan toponymy common in Tibet and surrounding areas. The extreme South and South-East China is characterized by a minor presence of Vietnamese and Thai names. Currently, the Chinese authorities are making efforts to mapping the territory of the country and the standardization of geographical names. Toponymy of Korea and South Korea is characterized by homogeneity that is associated with the mono-ethnic composition of the population, the unity of language and antiquity of many names. Characterized by the following Korean geographical terms and other words: ak — "mountain"; Gan — "the river"; Ho — "lake"; to - "island"; Kok — valley; San - «fortress»; Chung — "settlement"; Lee - "the village"; de - "big"; puke - "high"; the bunch — "North"; us South; "West"; tone — "East", etc. In some parts of the Korean Peninsula there are Japanese and Chinese place names. For the DPRK is characterized by the emergence of the ideological names of the characters.

Toponymy of Japan is characterized by peculiar and distinctive individual traits. Chinese hieroglyphic writing, which appeared in Japan in VI—VII centuries ad contributed to the emergence of two systems of transfer words (including place names). Ssion system of writing was characterized by the use of the character in accordance with his Chinese meaning. This system has led to the emergence of new words and names, which were absent in the Japanese language. Kanna transmission system in their own way, adapted from Chinese characters to the Japanese language; they began to be used only as syllables that do not carry semantic meaning, to transmit sounding Japanese words. Therefore, the Japanese meaning of words and names could be completely different than the Chinese kanji which they were recorded. When records kannum syllabic letter names has given a different value, and restore them to the original etymology is often impossible.

Mono-ethnic composition of the population of Japan, the specifics of the historical development with a long period of isolation from the outside world contributed to the formation of toponymy of the country. Only in the North state meet ancient Ainu place names. The vast majority of place names are of Japanese origin. Part names often include the following national geographic terms: pit, dzan, sen — "mountain"; Dasi — "the rock"; the TAPI — "valley"; DIN "the coast"; Shem — "the island"; Coti — 'hill'; Gava, Saint — "the river"; ICA — "lake"; Wang, Bang — "Bay"; ke — "big city capital". The names of the four main Islands of Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu) formed in the middle ages, when in the country there was an old administrative-territorial division of the province, which has now become historic areas. Each of these names includes geographical terms Syu, to, Coca, which are synonymous and mean "a historical region, province". Ainu toponymy is found on Hokkaido island and in nearby parts of the country. It is assumed that the Ainu dialect had some similarities with linesystem languages. The role of Ainu toponymy in the formation of a system of geographical names of Japan ambiguously estimated by modern researchers.