A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 19. (1980)

VIGA Gyula: Helynévi adatok a magyar kecsketartáshoz

HELYNÉVI ADATOK A MAGYAR KECSKETARTÁSHOZ 237 TOPONYMICAL DATA OF GOAT KEEPING IN HUNGARY (Abstract) The collection of geographical names has become a countrywide movement in Hungary in the last decades. The systematic elaboration of the collected and published material, the analysis of the cultural historical, economic historical and ethnographycal data hidden in the place names lag behind the appearance of toponymical collections. There are only a few essays in the Hungarian ethnographic literature, which, on occasion of a certain circle of problems, would consider systematically the toponymical data at hand. This essay collects place names in connection with one aspect of the animal keeping culture of the peasantry, the goat keeping. It also draws some consequences conserning the history of goat keeping in Hungary. Regrettably enough the collection of place names is not evenly distributed on the territory of the country, thus only partial possibility is provided for topographical deductions. In Hungary, just like in the surrounding countries, place names in connection with the goat are frequent. The spreading of this type of geographical names underlines the once important role of goat keeping in animal keeping and in the traditional way of life. These names appear in historical sources in Hungary as early as the 12th c, there are numerous ones in the Middle Ages, and they are frequent in the most recent times, as well. The reference part of the paper enlists 229 data of place names containing the word goat, from Hungary and the territories of the surrounding countries inhabited by Hungarians, from the recent times. The distribution of the data show, that this type of name is the most frequent at the margins of the hills where the great importance of goat keeping is supported also by historical data. This type of toponym is rare on the plains, neither was importance attached to the goat there. Most of the names indicate higher territories, those, which hardly could be used for anything outside goat keeping. A part of the place names reveal also that goat keeping and goat pasture had its place in the economic and field using system of villages in the hills. There are some names which tell about the way of keeping, and hint at animal keeping in caves as well. Gyula Viga