Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 109. kötet (2013)
Tanulmányok - Rácz, Anita: Ethnic groups and settlement names in Hungary 255
264 RÁcz, Anita within a single county. The case of villages with the same name and lacking any distinctive markers suggests that their populations used some distinguishing name elements in their spoken language but that these were not recorded in official documents. However, the result of using of these expanded forms was that, over time and as they became embedded in language use, sooner or later they started to appear in records as well, finally taking their place as fully fledged names in official documentation. At the same time we could asseverate about this name type that settlements with the same base name which are geographically near each other may be derived from a common source. We need to bear in mind that very often we encounter names, the sources of which suggest we are dealing with the existence of a separate settlement, whereas in reality it may not cover a discrete village at all. Such nominally duplicated settlements only temporarily bore marked name elements, and later (as also originally designated) they continued their existence under a single base-name form. Three sources of motivation can be identified for the creation of names of this type: l. The distinctive marking prefix is used to express and clearly identify a hitherto nonexistent, newly-formed settlement; 2. The new name element is used to express some change (e.g. of ownership) to some already existing settlement; 3. It is related to some unique feature of the settlement, of a trait being expressed unambiguously through the name to distinguish it from another settlement of the same name, possibly expressing the salient difference of the inhabitants. This latter motivation may come into play when a society’s name knowledge - their actual scope of movement, their system of connections - expands and widens, and other, more distant settlements with the same name enter within the name users’ fields of knowledge (cf. Inczefi 1965: 75, Szabó 1966: 135, Bölcskei 2010: 239-248). Through the examination of the chronological characteristics of this name type we can ascertain that its popularity began to rise sharply during the first half of the 14th century, with numbers continuing to grow throughout the examined period and reaching a golden age in the second half of the 15th century. This name structure, its upward trend and zenith essentially coincide chronologically with the appearance of this previously discussed settlement names with a geographical common noun suffix. The new fashion for two-part names brought about the creation of this name structure. 7. One possible research direction for linguists and historians who concern themselves with place names (settlement and water names, micro-names) is the attempt to answer the question as to how useful these names are for the determining the ethnic composition of any given area. The settling of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin is still a matter which occupies archaeologists and historians are still employed, and even after all the available resources have been processed a number of issues still remain unclear. However, the theme was ap
