Фарміраванне «нацыянальнага ўзору» тапаніміі на старонках першых беларускамоўных газет «Наша Доля» і «Наша Нива» (1906–1907 гг.)
Formation of the “national pattern” of toponymy in the first Belarusian-language newspapers "Nasza Dola" and "Nasza Niwa" (1906–1907)

Author(s): Viktar Korbut
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Belarussian Literature, Polish Literature, Philology, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: toponymy; Belarus; Belarusian language; national movement; Nasza Dola; Nasza Niwa
Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the first examples of the systematic use of the Belarusian-language version of toponyms in the mass media from 1906–1907: in the Vilna (Vilnius) newspapers "Nasza Dola" and "Nasza Niwa". Some of the forms of toponyms used in these weeklies are the same as contemporary ones: Брэст, Вілейка, Віцебск, Глыбокае, Гомель, Гродна, Заслаўе, Магілёў, Мікалаеўшчына, Мінск, Навагрудак, Полацк, Рагачоў, Смаргонь, Стоўбцы and others. At the same time, other forms of the names of some of these settlements appear, borrowed both from the Russian language or spelling tradition: Вітебск, Глубокае; and from Polish: Брэсць, Вітэбск, Гродно, Магілеў. The names Ашмяна, Смаргоні, Стоўпцы may be derived from Belarusian-Polish linguistic practice. The town of Маладзечна is referred to only in the form Маладэчна. The name Менск appears in the first Belarusian newspapers only in 1906, sometimes in parallel with Мінск, and from 1907, only Мінск is used. The formation of the “national pattern” (the term introduced by the Belarusian researcher Iryna Haponienka) of Belarusian toponymy in the first Belarusian-language newspapers reflects the complex process of the formation of Belarusian national identity. This process was significantly influenced by Polish, but above all by Russian. This explains the similarity of the forms of many toponyms in "Nasza Dola" and "Nasza Niwa" in 1906–1907 and in contemporary Belarusian literary language, which, in turn, underwent a strong Russification after the reform of spelling (in fact, grammar) in 1933, as well as the official change of the form Менск to Мінск in 1939.

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