Onomastica spaţiului public românesc – între vechi şi nou
The Onomastics of The Public – Between Old and New

Summary/Abstract: The relation between language and reality is one of interdependence: language is influenced by social reality, while reality is known through language. The field of onomastics has the merit of identifying the objects that can be named, of facilitating human interrelations. The denominator resorts to his lifelong experience in the process of naming elements of the public space. The names of firms, of public institutions etc., bear the mark of the social factor, and of the collective language of a community. There exist two diachronic naming axes in the onomastics of the public space: one is based on acronyms, and uniformization (elements that are specific to the communist period), or on anthroponyms (frequently used after the Revolution of 1989), and an innovative system of denominations, which is strongly influenced by the pro-Western drive, and which employs all word-building devices. In the contemporary society, there is a sheer interest in cryptic, varied, and colourful names, which combine elements of the Romanian vocabulary, with items from English, French, or Italian.

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