Crossings as key elements of land routes (Based on geographical vocabulary and toponymy of karelia)

Abstract

The paper explores the usage of the terms of crossing (bridges, walkways, fords, piers, ferries) in the vocabulary and toponymy of Karelia. The author reveals a set of toponymic stems of Russian and Karelian origin marking these road sections and analyses the ethnohistorical content therein, concurrently, she takes to identify the geographical objects containing references to crossings in their names and to describe the areas of toponymic and lexical distribution of the terms revealed. For the evidence base, the study relies extensively on the Dictionary of the Karelian Popular Geographical Terminology, field research data of the Karelian Research Center Institute of Language, Literature and History, the geographic information system Toponymy of Karelia, mapping sources, and a number of dialect dictionaries, ethnographic, and folklore materials. The study has revealed the prevalence of the terms of Finnic origin in the names of crossings, with a well-defined areal distribution of toponymic stems. The traditional “Russian” areas of Karelia (Zaonezhye, Pomorye, and Pudozhye) showcase the prevalence of terms of the Russian and substrate origin, whereas in the rest of the territories, the Karelian lexemes predominate — which falls entirely within the history of the region. The difference in the landscape and settlement system between the northern and southern parts of Karelia impacts on the territorial confinement of the certain types of crossings (the abundance of bridges in the south and the developed network of ferry crossings in the north). The prospects for a study of “road” toponymy are linked with the exploration of historical landmarks and stages of the colonisation of Karelia, as well as with the reconstruction of particular routes of the ancient road network of the region.