Why Dubechna Transformed to Dubechino? (On the Importance of Linguistic Aspect in Analysis of Toponymy)


2019. № 2, 30-36

Dmitry M. Savinov, Vinogradov Russian Language Institute (Russian Academy of Science) (Russia, Moscow), crillon@yandex.ru

Abstract:

The article focuses on the proper names that are considered to be as a fact of the language system, therefore, their analysis from historical, cultural, geographical, philosophical and other points cannot replace linguistic analysis, refering to different language levels, as well as taking into account dialect specifi city. Ignorance of the local language features, inattention to the phonetics and grammar in the dialects often lead to etymological inaccuracies and errors, that are abundant in the toponymic literature. Names with unclear internal structure and confused motivation are often explained on the basis of semantic associations arising from the sound similarity in the words. This fact is illustrated by the name of Dubechino village, located in the Stupinsky district of the Moscow Region on the Dubechenka River.
Transformation Dubechna → Dubechino was caused by the appearance of a non-etymological vowel sound after the hissing and before the next consonant and by the re-decomposition of the morpheme structure, as a result of
which the primordial formant -n with the inserted non-etymological vowel sound was perceived as a formant -in. This is contrary to the opinion of the local historian A. B. Tonin, who believed that “Dubechna transformed into
Dubechino due to coincidence of the roots in the name DUBechnya and the surname of the owner — StaroDUBsky”.