Semantic Classification of Russian Alternative Place-Name Etymologies from Trediakovsky’s Three Discourses on Three Most Important Russian Antiquities

The research addresses the etymologies of 82 toponyms proposed by the Russian scholar V. Trediakovsky in the mid-1700s book Three Discourses on Three Most Important Russian Antiquities compared with 148 etymologies of the toponyms from The Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by M. Vasmer, where the etymologies had been identified under the modern etymological approach. The article argues that the alternative etymologies proposed by Trediakovsky and the toponymic etymologies having been established under linguistic principles possess similarities in terms of general semantic features. Identifying the semantic features of toponyms from the two selections required the classification based on etymological and semantic features, with the principal division into natural and cultural place-names. The research showed that 5 out of 7 semantic features: hydronym, choronym, people’s activity, ethnonym, and type of settlement, corresponded in both selections. The alternative etymologies from the discourses revealed more semantic features related to the climate and soil. The semantic features of flora and fauna, which are part of modern semantic classifications, were found in rare cases in both toponymicons. The research showed that although generally Trediakovsky’s etymologies seemed to contradict the existing linguistic principles, the semantic features remained comparable with those of the place-name etymologies that were compiled at the later stages of scientific thought.