Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 109. kötet (2013)
Tanulmányok - Rácz, Anita: Ethnic groups and settlement names in Hungary 255
260 RÁcz, Anita beginning of the 11th century, or even at the end of the 10th century, with the most productive period using this formation being the 13th-14th centuries and, in his opinion, new coinages were appearing evan as late as the 15th century (1976: 51-52, 77). The most recent monograph to deal exhaustively with place-name formation is by Agnes Bényei, who writes that the place-name forming suffix -i appeared in place names at the end of the 13th century or in the 14th century. Then it was at its most productive, and the effect of contemporary fashion was such that it was responsible not only for the formation of primary names but, by analogy, existing names were added to using this name formant (Bényei 2012: 84). And while from her findings Bényei considers the general application, features and chronology of the place name suffix -/, on the basis of my own name material I can confirm that place names constructed on the basis of ethnonyms plus this morpheme blend into the overall picture. The ethnonym + -i structure was applied most notably in the second half of the 13th and the first half of the 14th century. However, this structure also played a part in the creation of new names in the subsequent period of language history. In my name material almost half of all settlements using the -i name formant first appeared as names in their primary form between the 12th century and the end of the 15th century. Among secondary names two major groups can be distinguished, that is to say that within the type shift two specific forms can be seen: one is the expansion of the ethnonym (as toponym) without formant through the addition of the -i suffix (Cseh > Csehi, Horvát > Horváti, Orosz > Oroszt). The second group are the names in which the type shift occurs by the addition of a first part to the already affixated ethnonym (Németi > Szatmárnémeti, Oroszi > Fiizesoroszi, Tóti > Kistóti). - From my investigations I conclude that the systematic lack of the -/' formant with some ethnonyms can be explained by a form of suffix blocking, which would prevent it from being added to the final vowel ending of the given ethnic signifier. 3.2. The second most common place-name affix -d was originally a diminutive, pet-form, and from this has evolved or developed in parallel a meaning approximating to ’supplied with something’. Relatively early on it became a typical place-name affix, and its use in connection with place names is attested from the 10th century (cf. Szegfű 1991: 253). It is linked for the most part to lexical items for plants or animals, and when connected with the basic has the function of indicating the wealth of the named plants or animals in the surrounding countryside. In addition, though somewhat rare, it also occurs in connection with ethnonymic lexemes. From our point of view it is significant to note that this suffix is often added as a pet form to a personal name (Inánd, Jánosd, Kaszád etc.), and thence may be created a settlement name on the basis of a nickname without any problem thereby enriching the number of -d ending place-names. These designations further contributed to the spread of the group of settlement names using the ^-formation and, to some extent, encouraged the development of this affix as a name formant for settlements.
