Polyonymy in the Tatra oronymy

Abstract

Variant and parallel names referring to oronyms have not been the subject of detailed research so far, although the phenomenon of polyonymy concerning other groups of proper names is in the field of interest of linguists. The paper therefore attempts a preliminary description of the oronyms denoting objects forming the space of the Tatra Mountains. The starting point was a publication by Robert Mrózek (1991) on the phenomenon of polyonymy concerning field names. This paper discusses the specificity of mountain (Tatra) naming, pointing out that naming structures reflect cognitive processes. As polyonyms, on the other hand, they can be interpreted taking into account the textological perspective, treating them as pretexts from which, at some point, a proper name-text emerged, referring to a specific denotate. The article also outlines the problem of authorship of the characterized toponyms and its impact on the production of variants and naming doublets. In the case of the Tatra nomenclature, this is an important issue, because the area from which the names originate has been popular for years due to its natural and cultural specificity, and the creators of onyms are both autochthons and, among others, guidebook authors, mountaineers, tourists, editors of the 'Taternik', and naming committees. Thus, the article proves that among the objects forming the space of the Tatra Mountains, there are some to which the following names apply: 1. exclusively variational, 2. exclusively parallel, 3. from the borderline between variant and parallel names ('borderline'), 4. variant, parallel and 'borderline'. It was also pointed out that there are objects which (most likely) are not affected by the phenomenon of polonymy. The different groups of onymes are discussed in the order indicated above.