La symbolique de la dénomination toponymique. Etude de cas: la toponymie urbaine officielle de Botoşani
The Symbolics of Toponymic Denomination. Case Study: the Official Urban Toponymy in Botosani

Summary/Abstract: The names of places are divided into two types: popular toponyms created by locals as the result of a natural and spontaneous process, and official toponyms chosen by government representatives. While folk toponymy has a motivated character, reflecting a direct relationship between the name and the place it designates and describes, the toponymy imposed by the authorities is usually arbitrary, abstract, symbolic. It doesn’t indicate anymore characteristics of the designated object but has a commemorative or encomiastic function. What determines the choice of official names is not primarily the historical truth, but rather the symbolic significance attached to that name. The involvement of the Romanian authorities in the denomination of the streets, in the second half of the nineteenth century, represents the birth certificate of public tributes through hodonyms. In Botosani city, commemorative hodonyms began to appear at the end of the nineteenth century, gradually replacing almost all the popular, motivated names. The streets received names of writers, painters, historians, lawyers, mathematicians, rulers, and of course, the names of some politicians, all considered important for local or national history. The coming to power of a new political regime also involves some toponyms replacements that seem lime real symbolic clearance.

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