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Concept
Toponymy
Summary
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature, and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features.
In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics. Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, the study of proper names of all kinds. A person who studies toponymy is called toponymist.
The term toponymy come from τόπος / tópos, 'place', and ὄνομα / onoma, 'name'.
The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876. Since then, toponym has come to replace the term place-name in professional discourse among geographers.
Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups:
geonyms - proper names of all geographical features, on planet Earth.
cosmonyms - proper names of cosmographical features, outside Earth.
Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order:
agronyms - proper names of fields and plains.
choronyms - proper names of regions or countries.
dromonyms - proper names of roads or any other transport routes by land, water or air.
drymonyms - proper names of woods and forests.
econyms - proper names of inhabited locations, like houses, villages, towns or cities, including:
comonyms - proper names of villages.
astionyms - proper names of towns and cities.
hydronyms - proper names of various bodies of water, including:
helonyms - proper names of swamps, marshes and bogs.
limnonyms - proper names of lakes and ponds.
oceanonyms - proper names of oceans.
pelagonyms - proper names of seas.
potamonyms - proper names of rivers and streams.
insulonyms - proper names of islands.
oronyms - proper names of relief features, like mountains, hills and valleys, including:
speleonyms - proper names of caves or some other subterranean features.
Official source
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