Imagined hodonymy: a guidebook to non-existent Vilnius Cover Image

Urbanonimia wyobrażona: przewodnik po Wilnie nieistniejącym
Imagined hodonymy: a guidebook to non-existent Vilnius

Author(s): Justyna B. Walkowiak
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics
Published by: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego
Keywords: hodonymy; Vilnius; Lithuanization; interwar Poland; Mykolas Biržiška

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses Lithuanian street names of interwar Vilnius as they appeared in a 1938 guidebook by J.V. Narbutas, written on the advice of M. Biržiška. In such form, they had never been in official use before. Nearly 60 per cent were translated from Polish to Lithuanian, but almost 40 per cent were new names. The aim was to replace the Polish cultural landscapewith a Lithuanian one, yet a few culturally neutral onyms (e.g. Świerkowa ‘Spruce Str.’, Tramwajowa ‘Tramway Str.’)disappeared too. Some new names were coined by metonymy (e.g. Lwowska ‘Lviv Str.’ > Ukrainų ‘Ukrainian Str.’). Oftenan attempt was made to retain phonetic similarity (Saska Kępa > Sausas Kampas ‘Dry Corner’), and to find namesakes of similar type (e.g. a Lithuanian priest instead of a Polish one) or importance.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 94-105
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish