Cet article s’attache à l’interprétation du toponyme (ici, le nom de lieu habité), en prenant pour exemple le cas du nom propre de ville Outreau. Ce toponyme peut avoir, en contexte, des sens différents (polysignifiance). Mais surtout, il a vu, dans une période restreinte (2001-2006), son sens évoluer totalement jusqu’à se stabiliser, à partir de 2005-2006, comme renvoyant principalement à « l’erreur judiciaire par excellence ». La polysignifiance du nom de lieu habité et l’évolution de son sens rendent (...) la question du contexte et de l’interprétation particulièrement cruciale. En recourant à un corpus de presse contemporaine partitionné en cinq sous-corpus relevant de tranches historiques différentes, l’analyse, aidée par le recours au concordancier Antconc, se donne pour objectif de rendre compte, d’une part de ce qui construit le changement du sens de Outreau, d’autre part des éléments d’interprétation pertinents de ses différents sens. Elle se propose de croiser plusieurs paramètres d’interprétation, relevant de paliers syntagmatiques différents : niveau du syntagme et de la phrase, niveau textuel (article de presse) et niveau intertextuel (corpus). L’article discute la part d’interprétation basée sur l’utilisation du concordancier et la part d’interprétation humaine qui demeure nécessaire, selon les différents paliers mentionnés. (shrink)

Cet article s’attache à l’interprétation du toponyme (ici, le nom de lieu habité), en prenant pour exemple le cas du nom propre de ville Outreau. Ce toponyme peut avoir, en contexte, des sens différents (polysignifiance). Mais surtout, il a vu, dans une période restreinte (2001-2006), son sens évoluer totalement jusqu’à se stabiliser, à partir de 2005-2006, comme renvoyant principalement à « l’erreur judiciaire par excellence ». La polysignifiance du nom de lieu habité et l’évolution de son sens rendent (...) la question du contexte et de l’interprétation particulièrement cruciale. En recourant à un corpus de presse contemporaine partitionné en cinq sous-corpus relevant de tranches historiques différentes, l’analyse, aidée par le recours au concordancier Antconc, se donne pour objectif de rendre compte, d’une part de ce qui construit le changement du sens de Outreau, d’autre part des éléments d’interprétation pertinents de ses différents sens. Elle se propose de croiser plusieurs paramètres d’interprétation, relevant de paliers syntagmatiques différents : niveau du syntagme et de la phrase, niveau textuel (article de presse) et niveau intertextuel (corpus). L’article discute la part d’interprétation basée sur l’utilisation du concordancier et la part d’interprétation humaine qui demeure nécessaire, selon les différents paliers mentionnés. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with the transformation in the Middle English Partonope of Blois of French place-names that appear in its source, Partonopeus de Blois. Six of the twenty-two French toponyms in the version of Partonopeus drawn upon by Partonope appear at least once in the English text in a different form. At first sight these divergences seem either to be insignificant substitutions or else to arise from common scribal errors. Closer consideration suggests, however, that they are in at least (...) some cases intentional. The principal effect of these alterations, which has escaped the attention of previous scholars, is to shift the location of the Somegur episode from the Vexin to Ponthieu. Given the probable dating of Partonope to the second quarter of the fifteenth century, this relocation may have been designed to avoid a transfer to the Lancastrians of the implicit criticism in Partonopeus of Henry II's possession of Normandy. (shrink)

The Great Palace of Constantinople has been subject to several investigations since the second half of the nineteenth century. All of them have been mostly concerned with the topographical, architectural and typological development of the imperial residence, leaving aside questions such as toponymics. This paper will deal with this issue taking into consideration the name of the complex of buildings that once was the core of the Constantinian Palace, the Daphne. Doing so, we will better understand the denomination of the (...) Palace, and shed light on the functions related to several spaces, the courtly ritual and, in short, the representation of power through architecture in an imperial context. Besides, the present enquiry will challenge some topographical assumptions on the complex. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the problem of studying the relationship between language and ethnic culture. It analyzes Bashkir toponyms associated with the cult of fire. The Bashkirs, like many nations, including the Turkic and Mongolian, have thought that fire symbolized home and was the protector of the family. The Bashkirs worshiped fire as cleansing and healing power, while at the same time the fire represented formidable and dangerous force. Fire in the Bashkir mythology is closely related to its opposite (...) element - Water, with the gods of the upper world - the Sun and the Moon and the deity of Earth, geographical names of Bashkortostan testify this. On the material of Bashkir toponymy and related beliefs it was attempted to do a semantic etimological-onomasiological reconstruction of the Bashkir deity of fire Otukan, which dates back to the old Turkic deity Yduk Otuken//Otukan. In Mongolian mythology, it corresponds to the deity Etugen//Otuken, associated with the cult of the mother goddess, earth and fire, and in Japanese mythology - with the god, the owner of the land, - Ootukonu-si-no kami. According to the author, the formation of names connected with ‘fire‘ in the Bashkir toponymy was promoted by the worship of the deity of fire, the tribal fire, the tribal habitat and the family by Tatar-Mongols. Interesting is the fact, that the base ‘ut‘, which is connected with the ancient Turkic beliefs, also builds a theonym, a toponymic term, a geographic name, an ethnonym and anthroponym, i.e. it permeates the entire onomastic and appellative vocabulary. However, at the appellative level, this lexical item has no religious significance. For example, Otukan, TÓ©kÓ©n, Ò®tәgәn, Ò®tәk, otaq in Turkic languages have the meanings of ‘home‘, ‘yurt‘, ‘mountain valley‘, ‘flat place in the mountains on the hillside‘, ‘southern winter quarters‘. This relationship is explained by the fact that, initially, perhaps, yet there was the worship of a female deity Otukan that embodied fire and was associated with the earth, with the habitat and the ancestral hearth, where the original base morpheme was ‘fire‘, then it was associated with the deification of family and tribal territory, and later with the deification of the person of the ruler, this lexic item has spread throughout the onomastic vocabulary and in the appellative lexicon within the meaning of the place of residence. (shrink)

In Simferopol, the names of the streets appeared rather late. In 1837 the Tavrian governor was given an order on the name of the city streets and lanes. Here is their complete list: Gubernatorskaya, Aleksandrovskaya, Novosobornaya, Moscow, Nevoryanskaya, Malobazarna, Mokra, Bazarna, Trading, Jewish, Greek, Petropavlovskaya, Hospital, Tatar, Gypsy, Banny, Meat, Prison, Armsky, Nagorny. Already in this very first list of streets, our attention is attracted to the horns, in the names of which in one form or another have a connection (...) with the history of religions. (shrink)

Cet article explore les oronymes, noms propres désignant une partie du relief, comme une sous-catégorie du toponyme au sein des noms propres. En dehors de la linguistique historique et de l’onomastique, les travaux en linguistique ont encore consacré peu d’ouvrages au toponyme. Cette sous-catégorie du nom propre est elle-même hétérogène, et la présente étude est consacrée spécifiquement aux oronymes. Après une explication des spécificités de l’oronyme liées à ses caractéristiques formelles et à l’instabilité de son référent dans un (...) espace géophysique continu, nous explorons la manière dont ce type de nom propre émerge. Nous appelons toponymation le parcours qui débute avec la proposition d’un nom propre de relief jusqu’à sa stabilisation dans le langage et sur les cartes. Ce parcours long et complexe montrera les nombreuses hésitations, les erreurs et les doublons. Il permettra de définir les conditions nécessaires à la nomination du relief. (shrink)

Dans cet article nous examinons la syntaxe de l’anglo-normand tardif, en confrontant l’hypothèse d’une « différence fondamentale » entre l’anglo-normand (AN) et le français du continent (Kibbee (1991), à celle de Trotter (2003), selon qui l’AN aurait participé au « continuum dialectal » francophone du Moyen Age. Il est proposé par la même occasion de démontrer la capacité de textes non-littéraires, comme le sont la plupart des textes AN tardifs, à nous renseigner quant à la datation d’évolutions en syntaxe. Une (...) analyse de sources appartenant à la base de textes de l’Anglo-Norman Hub nous a permis de constater que la syntaxe du français insulaire s’est conformée à celle du français du continent sur les points étudiés, observant jusqu’en 1350 environ une distinction entre adverbes invertissants et non-invertissants, qui s’est ensuite perdue, et d’autre part en n’employant l’article partitif de qu’après point, plutôt qu’après mie ou pas. Ces résultats s’expliquent mieux si l’on suit l’hypothèse de l’adhésion de l’AN à l’aire francophone médiévale plutôt que celle d’une différence fondamentale entre le français insulaire et celui du continent. Il est proposé en outre que la base de textes de l’ Anglo-Norman Hub puisse servir de référence quant à la chronologie des changements syntaxiques survenus en français médiéval, en attendant d’être complétée par des sources continentales de genres comparables. (shrink)

Incompletely understood medical texts, like other kinds of technical writing, pose problems that require a multi-disciplinary approach. In addition, the etymological writings of ancient commentators hint at their own cultures priorities and limitations. Progress today, therefore, also depends partly upon how well we can harmonize our own thinking with the beliefs and practices of an alien culture, whose medicine may overlap with culinary and other social uses. A puzzling word may have been reshaped to reflect the supposed properties of the (...) entity denoted or the use made of it. Plant names, which figure strongly in such texts, are particularly liable to be passed from language to language as ‘culture borrowings’ and are thus especially vulnerable to this false rationalization process, commonly known as ‘folk etymology’. In a personal exploration I analyse some modern vocabulary and identify several varieties of the process and then illustrate its effects by means of toponyms and medicinal plant names from mediaeval Italy and ancient Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Greece and Italy. Since no known language seems immune from etymologizing, the generic points that emerge are offered as a contribution to the decipherers craft. (shrink)

Mediteransko nasljeđe kulture, filozofije, povijesti i umjetnosti nepregledan je univerzum procesa, informacija, sinteza i imaginacija. Sam po sebi, Mediteran se predstavlja kao jedna opća imenica takvog opsega da predstavlja rod u kojem je velik dio opće europske kulture uvijek jedna od njegovih vrsta. No, ipak, riječ je o dojmu koji ne može težiti precizno utvrđenoj konstataciji već jednoj općoj opservaciji koja samo pokazuje da zamisao o zahvaćanju u smisao Mediterana kao nasljeđa ili suvremenosti predstavlja jedan ogroman, ali nikad dokraja dovršen (...) posao.Kao opće i široko obuhvatno ime, mediteranski prostor, onaj virtualni i onaj stvarni, otvorio je prostor mnogim iznimnim osobnostima. koje ukazuju na pojedinačni značaj svake od njih. Neizbježno, one ne mogu u kontekstu mediteranskog prostora predstavljati više od pojedinačnog slučaja koji nikad ne može obuhvatiti cjelokupni doseg pojma mediteranskog. Ali ono što mogu jest obznaniti one vlastite dosege koji ukazuju na vrijednost onoga što im je u mediteranskom prostoru otvoreno da misle, stvaraju i žive. U kontekstu Mediterana tu je uvijek prisutna jedna dimenzija napetosti između općeg i pojedinačnog, između napora da se izrazi duh vremena i nasljeđa, vlastito slaganje i neslaganje s njim, ali i promišljanje koje može probiti duh danog. Jedan od takvih filozofskih i umjetničkih osobnosti jest Albert Camus. Kao jedna od danas gotovo zaboravljenih figura mišljenja i umjetnosti, njegovo propitivanje humaniteta u djelima kao što su Mit o Sizifu i Pobunjeni čovjek svojevremeno su ostavili dubok trag iza sebe. Iako on nije napisao svoje pismo o humanizmu kao što je to učinio Heidegger , njegovo se djelo čini kao poseban slučaj jednog općeg govora o humanizmu suprotstavljen i zasigurno najpoznatijem intelektualcu svog doba, Jeanu Paulu Sartreu, intelektualnom hegemonu onoga doba. Postoji iskušenje da se Camusa u toj konstelaciji dovede u vezu s, recimo, stoicizmom, no time bismo promašili bit u odgovaranju na pitanje koliko bi njegov humanizam imao snage biti suvremeni humanizam, a koliko nova tehnika interpretiranja istog. Stoga mi je namjera propitati, suvremenu mogućnost tvorbi Camusovih promišljanja o povijesti, humanizmu, politici i umjetnosti, kao i danas uočljivi pomak u odnosu na prijašnje dosege u propitivanju etičnosti, politike i umjetnosti na mediteranskom prostoru.The cultural, philosophical, historical and artistic heritage of the Mediterranean is a measureless universe of processes, information, syntheses and imaginations. In itself, the Mediterranean portrays a general noun of such scope that it represents a kind in which a large part of general European culture is always but one of its sub varieties. However, this is but an impression, which cannot aspire to become a precisely verifiable or verified statement, or a general observation, which only demonstrates that the idea of penetrating the meaning of the Mediterranean as a heritage or contemporaneity represents an enormous yet never fully completed task.The Mediterranean space – both the virtual and actual – as a general and widely inclusive toponym has opened its doors to countless exceptional individuals, who point to the particular significance of each. Inevitably, within the context of the Mediterranean space they cannot exemplify more than a particular case that can never embrace the range of the Mediterranean concept as a whole. Yet, what they can do is disclose their own reaches that point to the value of that which is open to them in the Mediterranean realm to be thought, created and lived. A dimension of tension between the general and the particular, between the effort to express thespirit of time and heritage, one’s agreement and disagreement with it, as well as one’s reflections capable of penetrating the spirit of the given – are invariably present within the context of the Mediterranean. One such philosophical and artistic individual is Albert Camus. As one of the almost forgotten figures of thought and art today, his questioning humanity in The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel once left a profound trace. Although he never wrote a letter on humanism as Heidegger did , his work appears to be a special case of a general speech on humanism opposed to even surely the most famed intellectual of his time, Jean-Paul Sartre, the intellectual hegemon of his time. Within this constellation one can easily be tempted to compare Camus with, for example, Stoicism, but by doing so one would fail to answer the question of whether his humanism has the strength to be a contemporary humanism or just a novel interpretation technique of the same. This paper intends to examine the contemporary possibilities of constructing Camus’s reflections on history, humanism, politics and art, as well as the today distinct shift in relation to the earlier reaches of the studies into ethicality, politics and art within the space of the Mediterranean. (shrink)

The article considers regional issues of the Kazakh transtoposystem. There are a number of problematic issues related to cross-border Kazakh toponymy. The article analyzes only one aspect – the status of binary names in the cross-border toposystem. The goal is to study how obvious the binary opposition is there, considering the etymology of toponyms based on semantic opposition. The toposystem of the Northern and Western regions bordering Russia was used as the empirical material for the study. According to the border (...) administrative-regional division, a number of districts of such regions of the country as North Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Kostanay, Western Kazakhstan, Aktobe, and Atyrau border with Russia. In the article, a series of binary names along the toponyms of this cross-border zone is formed. In particular, Úlken-Kіshі (Big-Small), Aq-Qara (Black-White), Qara-Sary (Black-Yellow), Jaqsy-Jaman (Good-Bad), Jyly-Sýyq (Warm-Cold), and Ashy-Tushy (Bitter-Fresh) are analyzed. The difference between toponymic binary names and lexical antonyms is considered. We discuss the fact that the contradiction in lexical antonyms is clearly expressed, but in binary opposition along toponyms, the contradiction may not be complete. It is reported that the contradiction of toponyms is recognized only in the toponymic context, and sometimes it is even possible to form a related pair, rather than a semantic contradiction. (shrink)

Pagan solar and fire metaphors, which Christianity accepts and modifies and which are frequent in the early literature of the Serbs and Bulgarians, experience very wide use in the 14th and 15th centuries, i.e., in the period when Hesychasm (Palamism) becomes a peculiar poetics of the early Renaissance. With the Hesychasts antique solar metaphors acquire a new poetic-religious semantics. For the Hesychasts light becomes a postulate of philosophy and aesthetics. From the Bible, liturgy and early literature the given metaphors also (...) pass into oral folk creation, into the living conversational language, and into numerous personal names, surnames and toponyms where they survive to the present day with a somewhat altered poetic semantics. (shrink)

The paper discusses the myth of the founding of Vilnius as an example of a myth of city foundation. The myth has received two independent semiotic interpretations. Narrative grammar procedures are applied to the analysis of the mythical story and the semantic code generating the story in the paper “Gediminas’ Dream (Lithuanian myth of city foundation: an attempt at analysis)” by Algirdas Julien Greimas (1971). The sovereignty ideology expressed in the myth, which describes religious and spiritual culture of the Grand (...) Duchy of Lithuania, is linked to the tri-functional model of the Indo-European social structure. The semantics of the Vilnius myth is seen as analogous with such Indo-European myths as king’s accession to the throne and creation of a city-state. The Lithuanian myth of Vilnius is linked paradigmatically to the Indo-European mythology in the study “Vilnius, Wilno, Vil’na: City and myth” by Vladimir Toporov (1980). At the level of the signifier, phonological equivalents of toponyms of Vilnius are traced. At the level of the signified, transformations of the “core” Indo-European myth are identified. The myth of the city foundation can be read both as a figurative form of cultural expression and as an ideology narrated as a plot of a story. In this view, the paradigmatic and syntagmatic approaches complement each other. (shrink)

L'identification du site d'Aphrati (Crète centrale) avec le toponyme antique d'Arkadès, soutenue pour la première fois par D. Levi et généralement acceptée, est en réalité fort peu satisfaisante. Le « Contrat de travail » de Spensithios ainsi que plusieurs autres documents nous engagent plutôt à localiser à cet endroit la cité de Dattalla, dont le fonctionnement est étudié tant à partir des sources écrites qu'à travers les vestiges archéologiques. L'histoire de cette cité est ensuite éclairée par l'examen du contexte (...) régional, et plus particulièrement par la politique d'expansion de la cité de Lyktos dès l'époque archaïque. Cette étude dévoile une évolution des cités de Crète centrale beaucoup plus dynamique qu'on ne l'avait soupçonné jusqu'ici, attirant l'attention sur certains changements qui ont touché ces cités au VIe et au Ve s. av. J.-C. Elle fait notamment apparaître une restructuration des territoires qui trouve de nombreux parallèles contemporains dans d'autres cités du monde grec et contraint à revoir l'image d'une Crète en sommeil, entièrement tournée vers son passé, que véhiculent tant l'historiographie antique que les interprétations modernes. (shrink)

Cet article apporte, pour la première fois, des arguments confortant l'identification de l'emporion de Pistiros, attesté épigraphiquement dans la « Grande inscription » du village de Vetren, avec le site archéologique d'époque classique et hellénistique de la région d'Adžijska Vodenica, situé à 2 km de l'endroit où l'inscription a été trouvée. Les éléments en faveur de cette identification sont les suivants : 1) la relation entre l'emplacement de l'inscription — de l'autre côté de l'ancienne « Voie diagonale » reliant Byzance (...) à Serdica, près des ruines de la station romaine de Bona Mansio — et la vocation historique de Vemporion durant le règne de Philippe II de Macédoine ; 2) la tradition antique du nom de Pistiros jusqu'à son dernier avatar : Kapisturia ; 3) l'étymologie du nom Pistiros/Bistiros, toponyme que l'on trouve près d'une vaste étendue d'eau ; 4) l'interprétation de l'hapax epaulistes comme désignant un envoyé du roi thrace qui était obligé de passer la nuit avant le défilé de Succi (aujourd'hui Porte de Trajan) avant de poursuivre son chemin vers l'Ouest le lendemain ; 5) la localisation des Emporta Belana, d'après l'inscription, au pied du versant Sud du mont Orbélos (aujourd'hui Mt Belasitza). Historiquement Xemporion de Pistiros peut être identifié avec le chorion Masteira, mentionné par Démosthène. Des données sûres le concernant nous ont été transmises par l'historien Anaximène de Lampsaque. On tente aussi, pour la première fois, de localiser le chorion Drongilon, à partir de l'ancienne forteresse de Dingion dans la moyenne vallée de l'Hébros. L'article donne enfin une interprétation nouvelle du terme Thraces tetrachoritai, qui désignerait la zone d'occupation macédonienne à l'intérieur de la Thrace, où les quatre garnisons de Philippe II (Drongilon, Kabyle, Philippopolis et Masteira) furent en butte à la révolte. Du point de vue chronologique, cette zone fut établie au moins en deux étapes : en 352/1 et 342/1 av. J.-C. (shrink)

Ortsnamen können im Kontext gegenwärtiger Debatten, insbesondere zum sog. spatial turn und zur Religionsästhetik, wesentliche Beiträge leisten, sind im religionswissenschaftlichen Fachdiskurs bislang jedoch kaum gewürdigt worden. Der Aufsatz gibt in Form eines Hypothesenkatalogs einen Überblick über zentrale Aspekte des Potentials, das diese Quellengattung hier haben kann: In diachroner Perspektive können Toponyme u. a. als Quellen für historische religiöse Raumordnungen dienen. In synchroner Perspektive spielen sie u. a. als Speicherungsmedium des kulturellen Gedächtnisses eine Rolle bei der Schaffung von Assoziationsräumen und (...) der Vergegenwärtigung und Naturalisierung von religiösen Ordnungen. Sie leisten einen Beitrag zur Schaffung eines Gefühls von Heimat, zu Orientierungsstiftung und zu Kontingenzbewältigung. Zugleich können sie zu Katalysatoren einer Neuerfindung von Traditionen werden, dokumentieren religiöse Pluralismen und stellen Kristallisationspunkte von Konflikten dar. (shrink)

Language was never studied by linguists (or philologists) alone. The greater part of the languages of the world was first known in the West through the reports of missionaries, explorers, and colonial administrators, and what they documented reflected their specific interests. Missionaries wrote catechisms, primers, dictionaries, and Bible translations (especially Lord's Prayers); for explorers and administrators, language was one aspect among many to cover in their accounts of faraway regions. Peoples were identified by their language; toponyms served for geographic description; (...) names of plants and animals were gathered together with specimens and images of plants and animals. In this context, linguistic materials were equally described as “specimens.” This article investigates the various ways in which language material was used and conceived of as a specimen, and the global trajectories of these “specimens.” Especially the role of naturalist explorers deserves closer attention in this regard. What they did, throughout the late 18th and 19th century, was gathering language material as one kind of specimen among others, Forster in the Pacific, Humboldt, Martius, and d'Orbigny in South America, and Peters in Mozambique. Two large‐scale expeditions from the mid‐19th century stand out as examples: the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–1842), whose collections later filled the Smithsonian Institution, and the Austrian‐Hungarian Novara expedition (1857–1859). (shrink)

A persistent tradition existed in antiquity linking Caria with the island of Crete. This central theme of regional history is mirrored in the civic mythologies, cults and toponyms of southwestern Anatolia. This book explains why by approaching this diverse body of material with a broad chronological view, taking into account both the origins of this regional narrative and its endurance. It considers the mythologies in the light of archaeologically attested contacts during the Bronze Age, exploring whether such interaction could have (...) left a residuum in later traditions. The continued relevance of this aspect of Carian history is then considered in the light of contacts during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, with analysis of how, and in which contexts, traditions survived. The Carians were an Anatolian people; however, their integration into the mythological framework of the Greek world reveals that interaction with the Aegean was a fundamental aspect of their history. (shrink)

This essay makes the case that Livy's version of the tale of Mettius Fufetius transmits certain facts that relate to inherited ritual practices along with formulas used in early law and diplomacy. Although the author may not be fully aware of the original meaning of all he is handing down because he has simply taken materials from his sources without much critical investigation, the traditional elements are important to him because they seem to authenticate this legend about the reign of (...) Tullus Hostilius. For the moralizing historian that Livy certainly is, the treason of Mettius Fufetius and his execution at the command of the Roman king comprise the starting point of a remarkable sequence of episodes in his narrative that demonstrate the dishonorable behavior of Rome's chief rivals in Italy. The legend of Mettius Fufetius thus embodies a kind of “original sin” in the political realm, and becomes the paradigm for Rome's harsh dealing with faithless allies over the next five centuries. The essay concludes that this story typifies many Roman fabulae, insofar as they were often composed on the basis of outdated or unfamiliar idionyms, toponyms, ceremonial words and phrases, and ancient legal terms. In such fabulae characters like Tullus Hostilius and Mettius Fufetius, perhaps mere names in annals and king-lists, become the performers whose ceremonial acts turn into the foundational moments of Rome's public life. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Edging Toward IberiaJean Dangler (bio)As I edge toward a complete definition of medieval Iberia, with its constellation of Muslim and Christian realms and Jewish communities from approximately 500 to 1500 CE, I strive for precise word use, for unity and accuracy, but I am always on the perimeter of Iberia’s fullness. I am always at its edge trying to capture it all by researching Castilian kingdoms here and Muslim (...) realms there, or Jewish poets in this instance and Aragonese physicians in that one. Iberia is more than mere geography. Just when I am certain that I have arrived at an airtight definition of the place, its inhabitants, and its cultural production, another contingency emerges to throw my neat design into a state of doubt and disorder. Iberia always eludes me. sI my area of study fully “medieval Iberia?” Do I always consider Portugal after its twelfth-century split from Castile? When dealing with medieval Iberia, how can I separate North Africa from al-Andalus, the name the Muslims gave their Iberian territory? And if I cannot divide them, should my area of study be Iberia and North Africa? Can “Iberia” contain North Africa in its meaning? And where does medieval Iberia fall, in “Christian Europe” (yes), or toward “the Muslim east” (yes), which was not truly “toward the east” at all? How to contain all that diversity in one obligatory word, in one comprehensive toponym?I wonder if trying to find the perfect name for the diversity of the Iberian Middle Ages is an important or worthy undertaking. Many colleagues are content to use limited terms such as “medieval Spain” or “Hispania,” but I am not. A growing number of scholars, such as María Rosa Menocal [“Visions of al-Andalus” 12] and Anthony Pym [14–15], have recently discussed this difficulty in nomenclature, yet I cannot help but think that this is our own modern preoccupation: medieval people surely did not conceive of medieval Iberia in this way. We invented the Middle Ages. Modern scholars especially from the nineteenth century on determined and maintained, however loosely, chronological breaks between what we call Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and between the medieval and early modern periods.1 In addition, scholars often erroneously applied modern values to the past, as demonstrated in studies by, for instance, Norman F. Cantor, John Dagenais, Umberto Eco, Mark D. Meyerson, and Gabrielle M. Spiegel. These investigations point out many modern presumptions about the medieval period, such as about ethnicity, hierarchies of powerful and marginalized groups, gender relations, nationhood, or authorship and book production in medieval manuscript culture. And while the most useful scholarship avoids the unthinking application of modern concepts to the medieval period, it is evident that scholars are always confined by their own limits and values, even if they wish to describe the past with accuracy. It is like walking a tightrope between the medieval period and the present; it is like being on Iberia’s edge, trying to have that broad scope from the twenty-first century to contain it all. But the tightrope, the edge is [End Page 12] like quicksand that constantly shifts; it is a border without limits. Edging toward Iberia is being outside Iberia, moving around it, toward it, but being in it at the same time.One example of how modern constructs continue to inform our understanding of the past is the artificial periodization of the era into roughly ten centuries. Yet even the recognition of the medieval period as a modern invention does not change the practical value of terms such as “medieval” or “the Middle Ages,” which are maintained by scholars and the public alike.2 Eco suggests that to some degree we always recast the Middle Ages in our contemporary image, which manifests in modern novels, movies, and scholarship. He calls attention to the constructed quality of the medieval period by delineating ten types of “Middle Ages” made popular nowadays through media and scholarship, including “the Middle Ages as a barbaric age” and “the Middle Ages... of occult philosophy” [69, 71].How do we characterize or study the medieval period in a way that demonstrates medieval issues and values rather than... (shrink)

The native Japanese name of the Buddha hotoke < poto2ke2 has no internal etymology and is likely to be a loanword introduced together with Buddhism. The hypothesis of a link with Korean pwuche < pwuthye ‘Buddha’ and of their ultimate origin as deriving from a Chinese rendering of Sanskrit Buddha makes sense from both a linguistic and historical point of view. Still, the last part of the Japanese and Korean forms has no correspondent in Chinese and has remained unaccounted for (...) hitherto. From the comparison with the pattern ‘Buddha-lord’ for the name of Buddha in several Asian languages, it is hypothesized that the enigmatic final element was originally a word for ‘lord, ruler, king’. This hypothesis is confirmed by the attestation of such a word in toponyms and in nobility titles recorded in ancient Chinese, Korean, and Japanese chronicles. (shrink)

Drawing on corpora from West Africa and Iceland, the article presents a fieldwork-based comparative exploration of ‘things that place names do’. Treating toponyms as performative elements of culture, we have observed striking parallels as well as differences in the uses of place names in both regions. Place names communicate spatial orientation; play an important role in the commemoration of people and events; mark claims of possession; support the construction of identity; sacralize landscapes; and voice moral reprimands. They can provide entertainment, (...) by, for instance, inscribing ridicule into the land. They subvert as well as affirm hierarchies and power structures, and even play a role in interethnic conflict. Equally, they can become nuclei of storytelling, providing starting points for the invention of narratives. Showing the range of functions that place names can assume in two very different geographical contexts, the article presents a heuristic illustration of the potential of fieldwork-based approaches for toponomastic research. (shrink)

Introduction. Modernism as a culture -- Culture and cognition -- Culture, mythology, politics -- Culture, community, cartography -- Cultural spaces and their travelers -- The toponymical labyrinth of Russian modernist culture. Early Russian modernism and its "isms" ; The Russian domestication of the term Modernism ; New names, old problems ; Politics and cultural toponymy ; Naming the field -- The errant compass rose of Russian modernist studies. Realism as a cardinal direction ; Tradition and innovation as cardinal directions -- (...) Russian modernism in time and space. The myth of 1917 ; Culture and border patrol ; Putting late Russian modernism on the map ; Chronologies of Russian modernism -- Navigating Russia's cultures of modernity. The intelligentsia and the two avant-gardes ; The two avant-gardes and mass culture -- Russian modernism in the cultural market. The economics of Russian cultural modernity ; The formalist writer-type and the evolving institution of authorship ; The political economy of Russian modernism -- Conclusion. (shrink)

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on Gaelic advent and expansion in medieval Scotland given at the British Academy's 2009 Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture. This text reviews the evidence for Gaelic's arrival and expansion in the various different regions of Scotland in the Middle Ages and evaluates the different ways in which toponymic data can usefully be interpreted to inform our notion of the process of expansion. It argues that, contrary of received views, the twelfth and thirteenth (...) centuries remained periods of expansion for the Gaelic language. (shrink)

The present article is divided into two parts. Its theoretical introductory part takes under scrutiny how proper name has been previously dealt with in linguistics, philosophy and semiotics. The purpose of this short overview is to synthesise different approaches that could be productive in the semiotic analysis of naming practices. Author proposes that proper names should not be seen as a linguistic element or a type of (indexical) signs, but rather as a function that can be carried by different linguistic (...) units. This approach allows us to develop a transdisciplinary basis for a wider understanding of naming as a sociocultural practice. The empirical part of the article uses one certain village in Estonia in Laane-Virumaa district as an example to demonstrate how toponyms structure the social space, how they carry the memory and how naming practice highlights such changes in the semiotic behaviour of the social life that otherwise could have remained hidden. (shrink)

The present article is divided into two parts. Its theoretical introductory part takes under scrutiny how proper name has been previously dealt with in linguistics, philosophy and semiotics. The purpose of this short overview is to synthesise different approaches that could be productive in the semiotic analysis of naming practices. Author proposes that proper names should not be seen as a linguistic element or a type of (indexical) signs, but rather as a function that can be carried by different linguistic (...) units. This approach allows us to develop a transdisciplinary basis for a wider understanding of naming as a sociocultural practice. The empirical part of the article uses one certain village in Estonia in Laane-Virumaa district as an example to demonstrate how toponyms structure the social space, how they carry the memory and how naming practice highlights such changes in the semiotic behaviour of the social life that otherwise could have remained hidden. (shrink)

The present article is divided into two parts. Its theoretical introductory part takes under scrutiny how proper name has been previously dealt with in linguistics, philosophy and semiotics. The purpose of this short overview is to synthesise different approaches that could be productive in the semiotic analysis of naming practices. Author proposes that proper names should not be seen as a linguistic element or a type of signs, but rather as a function that can be carried by different linguistic units. (...) This approach allows us to develop a transdisciplinary basis for a wider understanding of naming as a sociocultural practice. The empirical part of the article uses one certain village in Estonia in Lääne-Virumaa district as an example to demonstrate how toponyms structure the social space, how they carry the memory and how naming practice highlights such changes in the semiotic behaviour of the social life that otherwise could have remained hidden. (shrink)

In his Geography, Ptolemy recorded the geographical coordinates of more than 6,300 toponyms of the known oikoumenē. This study presents the type of geographical information that was used by Ptolemy as well as the methods he applied to derive his geographical coordinates. A new methodological approach was developed in order to analyse the characteristic deviations of Ptolemy’s data from their reconstructed reference locations. The clusters of displacement vectors establish that Ptolemy did not obtain his coordinates from astronomical observations at each (...) geographical location. The characteristic displacement vectors reveal how Ptolemy derived the coordinates: he constructed locations on maps using a compass and ruler, for which he employed a small amount of astronomical reference data and geographical distance information; he made schematic drawings of coastlines, based on textual descriptions of coastal formations; and he situated additional locations within the established framework using reports of travel itineraries. (shrink)

This article examines the tradition of punitive house demolition during the Roman Republic, but from a sociocultural rather than institutional-legal perspective. Exploiting recent scholarship on the Roman house, on exemplarity, and on memory sanctions, I argue that narratives of house demolition constitute a form of ethically inflected political discourse, whose purpose is to stigmatize certain social actors as malefactors of a particular sort . The demolition itself is symbolically resonant, and the resultant stigma is propagated by subsequent monuments—various structures, toponyms, (...) narratives, etc.—that attach to the housesite. These monuments are thought to bear the trace of what went before, hence transmit an account of the alleged malefactor's deed and disgrace. Far from obliterating the doer of misdeeds, then, the discourse of punitive house demolition fixes him in cultural memory as a negative exemplum. (shrink)

Dans cet article nous examinons la syntaxe de l’anglo-normand tardif, en confrontant l’hypothèse d’une « différence fondamentale » entre l’anglo-normand (AN) et le français du continent (Kibbee (1991), à celle de Trotter (2003), selon qui l’AN aurait participé au « continuum dialectal » francophone du Moyen Age. Il est proposé par la même occasion de démontrer la capacité de textes non-littéraires, comme le sont la plupart des textes AN tardifs, à nous renseigner quant à la datation d’évolutions en syntaxe. Une (...) analyse de sources appartenant à la base de textes de l’Anglo-Norman Hub nous a permis de constater que la syntaxe du français insulaire s’est conformée à celle du français du continent sur les points étudiés, observant jusqu’en 1350 environ une distinction entre adverbes invertissants et non-invertissants, qui s’est ensuite perdue, et d’autre part en n’employant l’article partitif de qu’après point, plutôt qu’après mie ou pas. Ces résultats s’expliquent mieux si l’on suit l’hypothèse de l’adhésion de l’AN à l’aire francophone médiévale plutôt que celle d’une différence fondamentale entre le français insulaire et celui du continent. Il est proposé en outre que la base de textes de l’ Anglo-Norman Hub puisse servir de référence quant à la chronologie des changements syntaxiques survenus en français médiéval, en attendant d’être complétée par des sources continentales de genres comparables. (shrink)

The ancient city of Alexandria was often referred to as Alexandria ad Aegyptum in Roman documentary, epigraphic and literary sources; this phrase was translated in Greek as ἡ Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ πρὸς Αἰγύπτῳ. The grammatical phrasing implies that Alexandria was seen as being ‘near’ or ‘next to’ Egypt, not ‘in’ Egypt. This observation has given rise to the scholarly view that Alexandria was not part of Egypt. In this article the function of the designation ad Aegyptum and of similar designations within (...) literary, papyrological and epigraphic sources ranging from 300 b.c.e. to 640 c.e. will be closely examined. This article argues that the expression can be seen as reflecting both the distinction and the close connection between Alexandria and Egypt on the basis of geographical, political and socio-cultural factors. (shrink)