Approaches to Research in Toponymy

Abstract

There are two basic ways to conduct toponymic research — one concentrating on the etymology, meaning, and origin of toponyms, and one focusing on the toponyms of a region and examining patterns of these names. Usually, this distinction is not explicitly recognized. This paper considers the differences between the two approaches and proposes guidelines for their use.

Keywords:

• toponymic research
• toponymy
• extensive
• intensive
• quantitative
• qualitative

Notes

1. Of course, an intensive enquiry into the origin and meaning of a toponym can also reveal information on the geomorphology of a geographic feature or its surrounding region, Iron Knob (in South Australia) and Cornelian Bay (a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania) being examples. Although Watkins’ map illustrates the distribution of the various generic names of streams as used across the USA, the map can also be used to establish where the watercourses are in the country. It can be inferred that areas with few or no watercourse names are arid areas.

2. Refers to theoretical papers on toponymy.

3. The following case will illustrate this point. The toponym Ko Rimaroa was conveyed to Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks by the Māori inhabitants of Doubtless Bay (north-east coast of the North Island, New Zealand) and Queen Charlotte Sound (northern end of the South Island, New Zealand) in December–January 1769–1770 when Cook enquired, via their Tahitian interpreter Tupa’ia, about Māori knowledge of the existence of the Great Southland. Tupa’ia interpreted the name as ’O Rimaroa, following the phonology of his own language, Tahitian. Cook and Banks in turn interpreted Tupa’ia’s pronunciation as Olhemaroa, and transcribed it thus. Non-Polynesians find it difficult to distinguish between Polynesian /l/ and /r/ sounds and thus tend to confuse them. Moreover, a Polynesian language will either have /l/ sounds or /r/ sounds, never both; the two occurring in one word is thus impossible. The confusion was magnified when John Hawkesworth edited and published Cook’s journal in which he transcribed the name as Ulimaroa. Up until Tent and Geraghty (2012) unraveled these linguistic and orthographic misinterpretations, the etymology of Ulimaroa was unknown. The name had featured as a late eighteenth-century to early nineteenth-century appellation for the continent of Australia (see Djurberg, 1801; 1818), the name of an early twentieth-century Australian steamship, and is the name of a Melbourne mansion, and a location west of Brisbane. Several attempts had been made to discover its etymology, but all were unsuccessful because none of the authors had the necessary linguistic knowledge. See Tent and Geraghty (2012) for a full exposition of this name.