Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ (Dec 2022)
Pskov place names "Полонище" and "Поле"
Abstract
The article suggests a new etymology of the Pskov microtoponym Polonishche. Based on the common Slavic meaning of the word polon "a clean place free for pasture or haymaking", preserved in Polesye region, as well as the semantics of the suffix -ishche, the article hypothesizes that Polonishche in Pskov was originally called the territory near the city where cattle were grazed. Based on the data of the Pskov chronicles, the article hypothesizes that the territory between the city walls of 1309 and 1375 was never called Polonishche, as it is commonly believed in modern historiography, while the early mentions of the microtoponym Polonishche in the text of the Pskov Second Chronicle in articles for the XIV century are late interpolations into the chronicle text. The microtoponym Polonishche originally designated the territory behind the wall of 1375, and gradually "replaced" the microtoponym Polye, which designated the territory located behind residential buildings adjacent to the city walls. The microtoponym Polye "field" most likely appeared before Polonishcha, but the chronicle data for the XIV century is very difficult to interpret, since the term Polye or field could well be used by chroniclers in a physiographic, rather than toponymic meaning. After the construction of the wall of the Roundabout City in 1465, the distinction between these names became clearer. Polonishche continued to be called the territory between the walls of 1375 and 1465, and the Polye began to denote the area behind the wall of the Roundabout City.
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