polynymy - hellog〜英語史ブログ

■ #5247. 名前変化と多名性 [hydronymy][onomastics][toponymy][name_project][polynymy][language_change][terminology][sign][semiotics]

　連日，固有名詞に関する話題をお届けしている．
　地名や水域名によくみられるが，同一指示対象でありながら，時代によって異なる名前で呼ばれるケースがある．通時的な名前変化 (name change) の例である．一方，同じ時代に，同一指示対象に対して複数の名前が与えられているケースがある．共時的な多名性 (polynymy) の例である．固有名ではなく普通名でいえば，それぞれ「語の置き換え」 (onomasiological change) と「同義性・類義性」 (synonymy) に対応するだろうか．
　昨日の記事「#5246. hydronymy --- 水域名を研究する分野」 ([2023-09-07-1]) で参照・引用した Strandberg (111) では，水域名の name change と polynymy について，実例とともに導入がなされている．

Name change is a common phenomenon in the history of hydronyms. In England, Blyth was replaced by Ryton, Granta by Cam, Hail by Kym, Writtle by Wid, etc. During a transitional stage of polynymy, there must often have existed both an older name and a new one. Trent (< Terente) is an alternative name for the river Piddle in Dorset. In Denmark, an older Guden and a younger Storå(en) were for a long time used in parallel for the same river.
   Polynymy may also involve the simultaneous existence of different names for different parts of a (long) river. There are, for example, cases where the upper and lower reaches of a river have different names. The upper part of the Wylye in Wiltshire, England is called the Deverill, and the source of the French river Marne has the name Marnotte. A present-day name for a long river may have replaced several old ones denoting different stretches of it. The Nyköpingsån is a long and large river in Sweden; its name is formally secondary, containing the town name Nyköping. Two lost partial names of the Nyköpingsån (Blakka, Sølnoa) are recorded in medieval sources, while others, like *Sledh and *Vrena, may be or probably are preserved in names denoting settlements on the river; the current partial name Morjanån most likely goes back to an OSwed. *Morgha.

　人名でいえば，同一人物が人生の節目に改名したり (name change)，ニックネームやあだ名が複数ある (polynymy) ことに相当するだろう．固有名の最大の意義は，指示対象の同一性が固定名により恒久的に確保される点にあるはずと考えていたが，名前変化と多名性は，むしろその逆を行くものである．興味をそそられる現象だ．

　・ Strandberg, Svante. "River Names." Chapter 7 of The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Ed. Carole Hough. Oxford: OUP, 2016. 104--14.

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