Namenzwillinge und ‑mehrlinge in der Toponymie: Am Beispiel von Deutschschweizer Ortsnamen

Abstract

Not all place names are unique, and certain place names are – or used
to be – name twins or even name multiples. In a corpus of around 1200 place
names from German speaking Switzerland it was found that nearly a quarter of
them share the original name form with at least one other name (etymological
or primary homonyms). Today, the originally identical name forms are either
the same or differ from each other. A smaller part of the corpus consists of
place names that show the same name form today but derive from different original
name forms (secondary homonyms). This article explores the possibility of
classifying place names according to the concept of homonymy, which is familiar
primarily in relation to common nouns and has not been examined with regard
to place names before. As a first step, the place names were classified into types
of homonymy (total or partial homonymy). Subsequently, the processes that lead
from the original name form to today’s name form – either parallel to or different
from each other – were investigated and characterized. The aim was to explore
the influencing factors affecting the development of the name forms. It was found
that the geographical distance between the places involved can have a major
influence on the development of the names. However, phonological processes,
writing conventions in administration, morphology and folk etymology also
play an important role.