A Study of Toponyms: Place Names in Tosya (Kastamonu) / Yer Adları Açısından Bir İnceleme: Tosya’da (Kastamonu) Yer Adları

Abstract

An important branch of onomastics (or onomatology) is the one on the names of places (toponyms). Toponymy is an interdisciplinary field of study in which many disciplines such as linguistics, geography, history, sociology and archaeology are interested. Toponymy plays an important role in the discovery of local expressions and geographical units in language, history and geography research. Due to its geographical features and being located in the central region of Anatolia, Tosya could not be opened out much. Therefore, Turkish language, national culture and traditions have survived to the present day. Thus, the place names of Tosya have been investigated and it is aimed to contribute to the literature in the field. In this study, firstly the lexical semantic classification of the toponyms in the geography covering the administrative boundaries of Tosya was made. Then, these toponyms were classified according to their structure and origin, and it is aimed to reveal them with their origins. A total of 230 toponyms were identified within the administrative boundaries of Tosya. When the lexical semantic classification of the toponyms found in Tosya district was made, it was seen that the place names are mostly formed according to their geographical situations. Finally, the affecting factors in the assignment of the toponyms were highlighted and the percentages were shown in the table

Keywords

• toponyms
• toponymy
• onomastics
• kastamonu
• tosya