Markers of Ore Deposits in the Toponymy of the Russian North and the Central Urals

• Published in: Izvestia of the Ural federal university. Series 2. Humanities and Arts
• Main Author: Anna Andreevna Makarova
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Ural Federal University Press 2020
• Subjects: русский язык; топонимия; железо; медь; руда; русский север; средний урал; History (General) and history of Europe; D; Language and Literature; P; Arkhangelsk; Russian North
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15826/izv2.2020.22.4.063; https://doaj.org/article/c60ae797a5cf4ab789295bab18a3e6e7

Interest in geographical names based on names of ores (железо ‘iron’, медь ‘copper’) and their generic designation (руда ‘ore’) is due to the fact that ore deposits are linked to a specific area and at the same time have a high value for the national economy, therefore, it is logical to expect their reflection in toponymy. The research material is a set of geographical names formed from the words железо, медь, руда and their derivatives recorded in the Russian North (Arkhangelsk and Vologda Regions) and in the Urals (Perm and Sverdlovsk Regions) during the work of the Toponymic Expedition of Ural University between the 1960s and 2010s. Taking into account the type of objects denominated, their areal distribution, and accompanying contexts, the author determines the motivation for such names. Additionally, the article examines alternative toponymic markers (ржавец ‘viscous, swampy place, swamp covered with a reddish-brown coating, film (due to ironstone it contains)’, домница ‘blacksmith forge’), which could indicate the mining and production of iron. Moreover, the article examines data from the substrate toponymy of the Russian North with the same meaning (Ровдозеро, cf. Veps. roud ‘iron’; Розмега, cf. Veps. rozḿe ‘rust (on water)’). In the Russian North, железный is used to denote objects that are mostly water bodies — rivers, streams, swamps, and lakes, most of which are located in old iron-producing areas. Some of the names (for example, the metaphorical model Железные Ворота ‘Iron Gate’) are not related to iron ore deposits. Geographical names derived from the words руда, рудный и рудник are “synonymous” to toponyms referring to iron: water bodies also predominate among them, and most explanatory contexts associate them with the extraction of ore or the corresponding colour of water. The areas of toponyms formed from the words железо ‘iron’, ржавец ‘rusty’ and рудный (рудник) ‘mine’ in the Russian North overlap with and correspond to the territory of the main areas of the peasant iron industry. There are ...