Historical Onomasticon: On the Problem of Lexicographic Description of Anthroponyms. Review of the book: Kuznetsov, A. V. (2020). Narodnyi imenoslov Russkogo Severa XV–XVII vekov: proiskhozhdenie imen (prozvishch), otchestv, nazvanii dereven’ [Folk Name Book of the Russian North of the 15th–17th Centuries: The Origin of Names (Nicknames), Patronymics, Village Names] (2 vols.). Vologda: VOUNB. 185 + 184 pp.

Abstract

The reviewed two-volume dictionary by Alexander V. Kuznetsov refers to historical onomasticon featuring names (nicknames), patronymics, names of villages attested, in handwritten and published business monuments of the pre-national period and related to the territory of the Russian North. To date, the “Folk Name Book of the Russian North” is the most comprehensive lexicographic volume in terms of the data span, composition, and the source base, which is its main advantage and testifies to the author’s meticulous approach to material collection. The onomastic data introduced by the author have a high value for specialists in onomastics, dialectology, language history, ethnolinguistics, culture and society of late medieval Russia. The dictionary follows a traditional structure: it opens with an introduction that highlights certain issues of historical anthroponymy, provides a brief analysis of lexicographic publications that record names, defines the terminology used in the dictionary, describes the structure of the dictionary entry; then follows the dictionary itself, complete with the lists of sources and annexes. However, similarly to other lexicographic publications, the dictionary is fraught with some errors, inaccuracies in the presentation of onomastic materials, the structure of the dictionary entry, interpretation of the internal form and controversial theoretical statements, all of which are noted in the review.

Keywords

• etymology
• historical anthroponymy
• lexicography
• motivation
• onomasticon
• the russian north