Microtoponyms from the area of Łuków in the 19th-century notarial acts

Joanna Kuć

Uniwersytet Przyrodniczo-Humanistyczny w Siedlcach

Abstract

The subjects of the article is to analyze the motivational-semantic field names from the 19th-century notarial acts from the area of Łuków. There are 117 units, so called land, semantically and structurally varied, with the exception of the names of waterways that are not represented in the material. The way of description these microtoponyms in documents leaves no doubt that it is a nomen proprium, which is connected with locating and characterizing functions, serving as landmark in the definition of the borders of fields, meadows, departments of succession, forests. In the material from Łuków is revealed characteristic concentration of the process of formed names, including topographic motivation, having the largest share in the creation of these units, followed by possession and cultural. Lexical basics of microtoponyms provide information about the terrain, determine its relative position or shape of social relations and human activities. These names are generally structurally and semantically transparent with reference to the historical names of Mazovia.