Pe râpi – o abordare semantică a toponimelor văilor Bistra şi Sebeş ce descriu adânciturile de teren
Pe râpi – A Semantic Approach to Toponyms from the Bistra and Sebeș Valleys

Summary/Abstract: Starting from the theoretical premises regarding the relationship between proper and common nouns, the aim of this paper is to analyze the toponyms derived from appellatives that describe ground hollows. The landscape variety of the Bistra and Sebeş Valleys (Caraş-Severin County, Romania) is reflected in the huge diversity of geographical folk terms that constitute a fundamental source for naming places. Toponymy, an independent discipline, with its own formative rules and lexical and grammatical developments, maintains a close connection with the Romanian language vocabulary, illustrated by the contribution of appellatives to place-name formation. This paper alphabetically presents the toponyms derived from topical appellatives referring to the configuration of the ground. Because of the richness of the source material, we have voluntarily limited the material analyzed to the proper nouns that refer to ground hollows of different dimensions and forms. Most of the appellatives which form the basis of our toponyms are attested by scientific works. The appellatives ogaş (groove), râpă (precipice) and groapă (pit) register the highest occurrence in toponymic compounds, shaping the landscape of the locations of interest. A constituent part of Romanian toponymy, the toponyms from the region Bistra and Sebeş Valley were collected during direct and successive inquiries organized in the localities of this region, but also by using toponymic works (dictionaries, monographies, articles, studies), document collections, history books and memoirs, guides, plans etc.

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