Eesti-Ingeri viljelusnimed
Estonian-Ingrian cultivation names

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with cultivation names of Estonian Ingria, which was a part of the Republic of Estonia in the 1920s and 1930s. The subject is extracted from the place name collection of the Institute of the Estonian Language, which also stores toponyms collected in 1922 by the linguist Julius Mägiste from the Ingrian Finns and Izhorians. Memories of those born in Estonian Ingria have also given some addition. The study looks at the names of former fields and plots, as well as hayfields and pastures. The main focus is on their origin, allowing the names to be placed in meaning groups according to their attributes. When explaining the etymology, cultivation names are also compared with similar toponymies of neighboring areas (Estonia, Finland, the Karelian isthmus, Voteland). The study also identifies the determinants of place names.93 Estonian Ingrian cultivation names are considered, including 66 primary and 27 secondary names. Most (2/3) of the names examined are hay field names, almost half of which are secondary names. Very few pasture names are known, collected only from one person. For both types of toponyms it is related to a change in land use over time, though the generic word is not always changed. The same toponym can sometimes refer to hayfields, swamps, forests and fields. Relatively definite, uncertain and opaque etymologies can be distinguished. In most cases, it is difficult to determine the origin of place names unambiguously, because it is often unclear whether the attribute is related to a personal name or to common nouns with a different meaning. Therefore, a somewhat blurred picture should be seen behind the seemingly accurate figures.It turns out that the attributes of Estonian Ingrian primary cultivation names are based on 1) person, including mostly first name, rarely surname or former owner (28.8 %), 2) location of the name object (13.7 %), 3), its characteristics (34.9 %), 4) the name of a plant or animal (9.1 %), 5) the facility (cemetery, bridge, etc.) (3.0 %) and 6) the connection of the object with the previous land use (4.5 %). There is only one term (Perkkivo ~ Perkivo) name among them. The attribute of primary cultivation names broadly refers almost equally to the characteristics of the cultivated area or relates to a person. There are quite a few toponyms concerning other semantic fields, together comprising at most 22.7 %. The etymology of three place names remains opaque. Up to 14 hayfield names come from personal names, which makes up 34.1 % of the toponyms of this kind, compared to only 4 field, plot and pasture names (16 % of them). The attributes of Estonian-Ingrian cultivation names have more in common with those of Finnish and Karelian place names and relatively few coincidences with Votic toponyms. This suggests that, at least in microtoponymy, the Votic substrate is weakly expressed.

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