Experiment of the South Yakutia Toponymy’s Lexicographic Description

Abstract

The paper considers main stages of the lexicographic description of the SouthYakutia toponymy. The authors made the classification of collected geographical names in the structural and derivational aspect. During the study, an extra-linguistic analysis of toponyms (geo-referencing, culture-historical information) was conducted. As a result, dictionary entries have been drawn up in which a denomination zone, a zone of interpretation, an etymological and word-forming zone were identified. Different maps as well as Evenk-Russian dictionaries were used as the basic sources for this research. To make the analysis easier, 900 place-names were first categorized and then situated into a special catalogue. As a result, the analysis shows the territorial majority of Evenk place-names what finally proves the wide spread of Tungus tribal people on this territory in ancient times.