Mountain Toponyms in the “Toponymic Dictionary” by B. K. Ondar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.1.2Keywords:
mountain, toponym, toponymic system, mountain toponym, mountain oronym, Tuvan language, Tuva, toponymic dictionary, Bichen Kyrgysovna OndarAbstract
The article offers a comprehensive description and analysis of mountain toponyms of Tuva recorded in the second edition of B. K. Ondar’s Toponymic Dictionary of Tuva (2007), which is regarded as a fundamental source on Tuvan onomastics. The main objective of the study is to identify the structural, semantic and etymological features of mountain oronyms and to establish their distribution across the administrative districts of the republic.
The empirical basis consists of 778 names of mountains, ridges and passes selected and systematized from the overall body of toponyms in the dictionary. It is shown that the highest concentration of mountain toponyms is observed in the taiga northern and western districts of Tuva (primarily Todzhinsky, Barun-Khemchiksky and Dzhun-Khemchiksky), which correlates with the natural conditions and traditional types of economic activity of the local population. The district-based distribution makes it possible to clearly demonstrate the density of naming of mountain features.
From the viewpoint of the typology of landforms, mountain toponyms are classified into three main classes: dag ‘mountain’, syn ‘ridge’, art ‘pass’, which reflects the basic morphological and morphometric differentiation of the landscape. Analysis of the lexico-semantic composition has revealed the high productivity of models with components denoting colours, animals and birds, parts of the body, as well as numerals, which encode important Tuvan conceptions of sacredness, spatial organization and economic development of the territory. Attention is paid to the identification of Mongolism and Turkism within mountain toponyms, which makes it possible to trace contact processes and the multilayered nature of the linguistic history of the region.
It is concluded that the mountain oronyms of Tuva function as stable linguistic markers of natural space and cultural memory, reflecting the unity of the geographical consciousness of different districts of the republic.
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For citation:
Tuimebaev Zh. K., Mongush Sh. V. and Urazbayeva Zh. A. Mountain Toponyms in the “Toponymic Dictionary” by B. K. Ondar. New Research of Tuva, 2026, no. 1, pp. 37-59. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2026.1.2
Author Biographies
-
Zhanseit K. Tuimebaev Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Rector, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
Postal address: 71, Al-Farabi Ave., 050000, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.
E-mail: turkology.ri@gmail.com
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Shenne V. Mongush Tuvan State University
Candidate of Philology, Senior Lecturer, Department of Tuvan Philology and General Linguistics, Tuvan State University.
Postal address: 9B, Mongush Sat St., 667010 Kyzyl, Russian Federation.
E-mail: shenne2242@mail.ru
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Zhanat A. Urazbaeva Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Докторант кафедры русской филологии и мировой литературы филологического факультета Казахского национального университета имени аль-Фараби.
Адрес: Республика Казахстан, 050000, г. Алматы, пр. аль-Фараби, д. 71.
Эл. адрес: uzhana1@yandex.com
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