Lietuvos vietovardžių žodyno turtinimas

ZIGMAS ZINKEVIČIUS Research areas: Baltic studies, the history of the Lithuanian language, dialectology, onomastics. ENRICHING THE DICTIONARY OF LITHUANIAN PLACE NAMES There are place names that are no longer used because the features they designate have disappeared. Yet such place names are part of the Lithuanian language’s wealth and should be included in the Dictionary. They are generally known only to the older generation, who should collect and describe them. It does not matter that these place names are mentioned in written sources. The memories of the elderly would provide significant additional information about the history of the names themselves and of the features they designate. This is evident from several examples from my native area. Cìbiškės (variants: Cibikės, Cibikýnė, cf. cìbė ‘goat’)—this was the name given in the interwar period to the left bank of the Šventoji River northeast of Ukmergė, when a dam caused the river to form a large body of water, which disappeared after the dam was removed. The place name Cìbiškės, along with its variants, then became unnecessary. Jogvilų Paupė—in my childhood this was the name of a clearing on the left bank of the Šventoji, between the streams Šiaušupis and Duoburėlis. As the water level changed, Jogvilų Paupė became an impassable reed bed, and its old name disappeared. I do not know whether anyone uses it now, except perhaps when recalling the past. Jotūniškės—in my childhood this was the name of a lovely little grove on the way from my family home to the village of Jogvilai. Many raspberries grew there, and we loved picking them. Over time, the forest next to this grove grew over it, and it disappeared as a separate feature. Its name was forgotten as well. I have had no opportunity to find out whether anyone remembers it now. Pašlaitė—a former clearing on the left bank of the Šventoji, southwest of the present-day highway. A slope separated it off to the south, giving the place its name. This place name became unnecessary and disappeared when the area was damaged during construction of the highway. Only the older generation may still occasionally use the place name Pašlaitė, recalling the past. Svirnàvietė—a place at the mouth of the Šiaušupis (a tributary of the Šventoji) that gradually became an impassable reed bed. The name comes from the word svìrnas, although in my childhood no one could remember a building of that kind ever having stood here. Apparently, it had been there a very long time ago. The relationship between the place names discussed here and similar place names found in written sources is a matter for the compilers of the Dictionary. There is no doubt that Įžvalgos / Insights 173 ZIGMAS ZINKEVIČIUS Such recollections of the old-timers would be very useful to the dictionary’s authors if more of them had been published. The disappearance of place names is a very complex process. It depends on patterns of speech: a name may no longer be used in formal speech, yet still crop up in conversation. It also depends on the age of the speakers: young people may no longer know it at all, while the older generation still remembers it. All this must be at the center of the researcher’s attention. It makes their work complex, but interesting. I would like to end this short article as I began it—by urging the older generation to seek out place names that have disappeared from their native region. Received on June 6, 2014. ZIGMAS ZINKEVIČIUS Justiniškių 41-24, LT-05127 Vilnius, Lietuva [email protected] 174 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXX