Toponymastics as a Branch of Onomastics
In principle, humans constantly name various things. A name serves as a marker, allowing people to refer to something without having to explain it at great length. Humans, for instance, experience various emotional states and name them—sadness, happiness, joy, fear, and so on—so that these states can be easily recognised and communicated. Parents name children, and grandparents often bestow names upon grandchildren through their offspring. An entrepreneur must choose the right name for their business, considering various factors such as suitability for the target market, the name’s ability to represent the product, ease of recall, and the positive image they intend to build.
Naming also applies to places. Humans name places to mark and differentiate one location from another. The names Pasaman and West Pasaman, for example, indicate that both are distinct geo-administrative entities. A name is not merely a label attached to something, but a means that helps humans identify, organise, differentiate, remember, and discuss the various entities surrounding them (Hough, 2016).
Since Ancient Greece, the issue of names has been part of the philosophical debate regarding language. Plato, for instance, discussed the relationship between a name and the object it names in ‘Cratylus’, written around 360 BC. This issue relates to a fundamental question: is the relationship between a name and the thing it refers to natural, or is it a result of human convention? Centuries later, the question of the relationship between linguistic form and reality has resurfaced as a significant issue in modern linguistics. Ferdinand de Saussure (1916), for example, explained the linguistic sign through the relationship between the signifier and the signified. In this view, a name is the signifier for the entity it denotes.
In linguistics, the study of names is known as onomastics. Etymologically, onomastics derives from the Ancient Greek ‘onomastikḗ’, relating to naming or the act of giving names. The word is rooted in ‘ónoma’, meaning ‘name’. In a more specific sense, onomastics is a field of study focusing on proper names, rather than common nouns or appellatives (Utley, 1963; Algeo & Algeo, 2000).
The distinction between proper names and common nouns is essential for understanding the scope of onomastics. Common nouns are used to refer to members of a class or category, whereas proper names are used to identify specific entities (Ainiala, Saarelma, & Sjöblom, 2016). ‘City’, for example, is a common noun because it can refer to members within a specific class of geographical entities. Conversely, ‘Padang’ is a proper name because it is used to identify a specific geographical entity that distinguishes it from other geographical entities. Similarly, ‘human’ is a common noun, while ‘Amir’ is a proper name. If you have a cat and name it ‘Tobi’, then Tobi is the proper name of an entity belonging to the common noun category ‘cat’.
Initially, the study of names centred largely on structural issues, particularly etymology, form, meaning, and the relationship between a name and its referent. Recent developments have expanded this scope. A name is no longer understood merely as a linguistic unit, but also as a product and instrument of social life. Consequently, names can be studied through a historical perspective to trace origins and changes; through geography to understand their relationship with space; through sociology to examine their relation to social groups; through psychology to understand the accompanying cognitive and affective processes; or through cultural and political studies to see how names shape and represent identity, memory, and power.
Onomastics has two branches: anthroponomastics and toponymastics. At least to this day, these two are the most established branches because they have evolved from mere groups of name types (anthroponymy and toponymy) into specific scientific disciplines (anthroponomastics and toponymastics). Anthroponomastics studies the names of people, while toponymastics studies place names. Both have developed into relatively independent fields of study with increasingly specific and complex objects, problems, theories, and methods. Nevertheless, the world of naming is far broader than these two.
Various categories of names are known within onomastics, such as ethnonymy for ethnic group names, glottonymy for language names, zoonymy for animal names, cosmonymy for celestial bodies, and phytonymy for plant names. These categories demonstrate the vast range of objects that can be examined within onomastics. However, these categories have not yet developed into established subfields like anthroponomastics and toponymastics. The distinction in terminology should also be noted: the suffix ‘-ics’ is commonly used to denote a field or discipline of study, whereas ‘-nymy’ refers more to a type or category of names.
In this context, the term ‘toponymastics’ must be distinguished from ‘toponymy’ and ‘toponym’. Some literature uses ‘toponymy’ to refer to the study of place names. While its use is not incorrect in certain traditions, it has the potential to cause ambiguity because ‘toponymy’ is also used to refer to a collection of place names. To avoid confusion, through ‘Key Concepts in Names Studies’, the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS, 2011) recommends the use of ‘toponymastics’ to refer to the field of study that specifically examines place names.
A toponym is the name of a specific place or geographical entity, such as Padang, West Sumatra, and Lake Singkarak. In the context…