Alanica в топонимии Дона II
Alanica in the Don toponymy II

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the proposed study is to determine the Iranian trace in the toponymy (mostly in hydronymy), attested in the basin of the Don river. In particular, taking into account the results of the etymological analysis of a toponym group in the Don river region, the author considers that the conclusion about its Alanian genesis is very likely. An important factor leads to this thought: the words reconstructed in this study have close equivalent or full identity only in the archaic Ossetian vocabulary (appellative and toponymic), which inherits Alanian lingual tradition. There is a rea¬son to reconstruct the following Alanian words: *anz-āf, *aspa-boγ-, *boγ-ān, *boγ-ut čar, *bor-oday- or *bar-oday-, *bur-gāmi āstaw, *dānaw [*dānaw- sanak?], *fars-dān, *fotug-dān, *is-ān, *sūs-[w]ad, *tuskāj lanč-, *wīr-xān or *wīri xān. All overviewed toponyms are of particular interest for the practice of etymology and Iranian comparative-historical linguistics. There is a very interesting and etymolog¬ically equivocal example Донав Сынок which may be a case of Slavic rethinking Alanian *dānaw just as Proto-Slavic *dunavь. The conclusion on Alanian heritage in the Don toponymy can be supported with data of archaeology and history, therefore it is clear that further search of evidences of Iranian lexical relicts in this region will be in perspective.

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