O MOTYWACJI TOPOGRAFICZNEJ W ETYMOLOGIACH LUDOWYCH POLSKICH TOPONIMÓW
On the topographic motivation in folk etymologies of Polish toponyms

Summary/Abstract: This paper contains an analysis of selected folk etymologies of Polish place names, which – based on the semantic interpretation of their folk etymology – can be classifi ed as topographic names, and describes the mechanism of making such reinterpretations. The paper distinguishes a few types of such toponyms: 1) original possessive, family or patronymic names formed based on anthroponyms corresponding to the name of an animal, plant or another element of the landscape, referring directly to the motivational basis of such an anthroponym, 2) other names classifi ed by folk etymologists as topographic ones due to their pronunciation similar to that of words associated explicitly with the world of nature, 3) names classifi ed by folk etymologists as topographic ones despite their alleged basic word belonging to the group of words which do not usually constitute bases of place names.

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