Ivana Crljenko
KLASIFICIRANJE UDOMAĆENIH GEOGRAFSKIH IMENA ZA POTREBE ZNANSTVENIH ISTRAŽIVANJA
DOI: 10.35666/28310438.2016.4.87
UDC: 911.3:81̕ʼ373.21(100)=163.42
Abstract: The adapted geographical names (exonyms) are domesticated names of foreign geographical features different from their original names (endonyms). Hence, the Croatian exonym is an adapted Croatian geographical name for the feature located outside of the Croatian-speaking area (e.g. Budimpešta /Budapest/, Juţna Koreja /South Korea/, Rim /Rome/, Sicilija /Sicily/). Due to their significant importance in the development and preservation of national language(s), exonyms are the subject of interest of the specialized Working Group on Exonyms for over fourteen years. It is an operative body within the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, which register and study exonyms. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to their comprehensive studies. The aim is to refer to the ways the adapted geographical names can be classified. The classifications could serve as a methodological tool for further qualitative and quantitative exonym studies. They could also be very helpful in the process of “reading” exonyms, especially in deciphering geographical attributes that are strongly represented in geographical names, and in detecting the prevalence and intensity of historical-cultural and political relations between the two language communities. Since the country names have reached the highest degree of the standardization of geographical names in Croatia (with their official and recommended variant names), they were used as an example of applying classification of exonyms according to the motivation of naming.
Key words: adapted geographical names, exonyms, classification, country names