Time and Ideology, Reflected in Urban Microtoponymy

Abstract

Every urban locality is marked by numerous individual imprints, reflected in the architecture of buildings and public spaces, in the names of streets, institutions, places, which form a specific semiotic code that city residents decipher and use to find their way through this labyrinth and “read” urban information as if it were a book. Urban microtoponyms, urbanonyms are the keys with which information can be decoded and retrieved. There are two basic functions of the urbanonyms: the primary, orientation function, and the secondary, symbolic function, which reflects the period, ideology, cultural-political code of the time. With reference to the Republic of Moldova, during the Soviet period, the party’s political visions on toponymy are imposed. It is well known that in Russia, after the Bolshevik revolution, the conquests of the revolutionary movement materialized in the names of streets, parks, squares and institutions that evoked the communist/socialist ideology. In all the cities of the former USSR and in the former unionist republics, including the MSSR, there has been a widespread politicization of place names, with the same standard names being imposed everywhere. The situation takes a different turn after 1989, when the Russified/Sovietized urban names are dropped and a new nomenclature of urban names is created, reflecting the local history and ethnic specificity.

Keywords

• onomastics
• toponymy
• urban space
• urbanonyms
• odonyms
• politicization of toponymy
• common symbols
• collective memory