PROFESSOR MYRON KORDUBA’S GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES IN UKRAINIAN TOPONYMY

Abstract

Professor Myron Korduba’s (1876–1947) contribution to geographical studies of Ukrainian toponymyis highlighted. The scientist accentuated that the local folk pronunciation should be the basis and theprerequisite of the authenticity of different forms of geographical names. According to the “Dictionary ofUkrainian Language”, toponymy is a “set of geographical names of settlements, mountains, plains, lakes,rivers, forests, etc. certain territory” (Білодід та ін., 1979). Professor’s “Materialy do geografichnogoslovnyka Halychyny i Bukovyny” (“Materials to geographical vocabulary of Galicia and Bukovyna”) available with the section of manuscripts of Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library are givenscrupulous analysis. Said materials contain as follows the alphabetical index of vocabulary positions,materials to the collection of topographical names, map of settled localities, toponymic descriptionscollected by different people. The whole variety of geographical names of the Galician and Bukovyniansettlements is reduced to three “big communities”: names that possess regional nature; names thatoriginate from proper names; other (smaller) groups of names. The regional names of settlements arecharacterized by such attributes as their appearance, local specificity, disposition with respect to thesuburb, hydrographical specificity, soil quality, means of communication, plant (flora) or animal (fauna)specificities. The proper names of settlements possess nominative or adjectival “appearances” as follows:nominative names ending in -ичі, -иці; adjectival names ending in -ь, -ів, -ин; nominative names endingin -івці, -инці; nominative names ending in -івка. The other (smaller) groups of settlement namesinclude colonization, fortification (defensive), occupational, newcomer encouragement, forest, church,tavern, jocular and habitation names.It is substantiated that geographical names of settlements, rivers, mountains, forests, etc. shouldbe presented as used by the local population. It is stated that M. Korduba organized and collected theorganization and collection of rich material to the geographical dictionary of Galicia and Bukovina,which includes topographic names, maps and dialectal names of their settlements; developed a detailedclassification of geographical names of settlements in Galicia and Bukovina has been developed, coveringthree main “communities” (local history, personal and others) and 21 “smaller” groups of names ofsettlements.