Search for: [Abstract = "The paper is the first part of a larger study aiming at characterizing toponyms of the Wadowice district \(Małopolska Voivodeship, southern Poland\), an area so far regarded as more densely populated only in late Middle Ages or later, on the basis of its etymons, both appellative and anthroponymical. Only names confirmed in the course of data collection in the late 1950s were taken into consideration. The main question to be answered is to what extent the procedures identifying etymons of geographical names currently used by toponomasticians can prove both effective and accurate. In this part of the study, attention was focused on appellative etymons. A list of such items has been compiled, containing words attested in the major dictionaries or collections of the Polish lexis, as well as archaisms reconstructed solely on the basis of related toponyms. Some of the latter ones are discussed at some length in the body of the paper\; some have been preserved in their topographical meanings in other Slavic languages \(\*čelo ‛precipitous slope’ metaph., \*čьrtorъja ‛valley’, \*xobotъ ‛river bend’ metaph., \*sъbojь in various meanings, derivative \*svьrkъl\- ‛\(dwarf\) spruce’ locally distorted to \*ćwierkiel\), others remain mere reconstructions, sometimes encountered in the toponymy of other parts of Poland as well \(\*gorěńь ‛burned forest”, \*pertiŕь ‛path\?’\) or even endemic to that area \(\*nesъlnь ‛shaded place\?’, \*pobedr\- ‛slope\?’, \*prik\(ъ\)ŕaznь ‛precipitous slope’, \*ryšь \-a \-e ‛reddish’\; \*tьlčanь ‛valley\?’ metaph.\). The only few unattested terms can be easily explained as Polish in origin \(e.g. \*gorьnica ‛upper part of a village etc.’\). To sum up, the 20th century toponymy of this area is characterized by a notable lack\/paucity of more archaic native derivational models \(no structures in \*\-ьsko, \*\-ьno or \*\-yni\), but at the same time by a surprisingly large number of Slavic lexical archaisms preserved in place names."]

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