Once More about the Need to Harmonize Onomastic Terminology

Abstract

The aim of the article is to propose the preparation of a list of Polish onomastics terms, which will be published online. Reference is made here to many works that draw attention to the need to organize and unify Polish onomastic terminology. It presents current ideas for solving this important issue, e.g. the assumptions of the dictionary of onomastic terminology by Zofia Abramowicz and Leonarda Dacewicz. Based on the existing lists of onomastic terminology (Polish, Slavic, European), the Onomastic Section of the Committee on Linguistics of the Polish Academy of Sciences decided to join (on the basis of grant applications submitted first to KBN and then to NCN, according to the idea of Prof. Robert Mrózek) in the preparation of a well-structured (and if possible unified) list of terms used in the science of personal names. The starting point is the development of a set of maximum terms within individual onomastic subdisciplines, from which the entries to the list will be extracted and then defined, with quotations from onomastic studies certifying their use and maybe recommendations for use or not. The ideal would be to organize them in such a way that they form a coherent image: from the most general to the most detailed terms. Such action, also in cooperation with representatives of fields using onomastic terminology (historians, geographers, cartographers), will in effect contribute to the ordering of Polish, Slavic and international terminology.