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TOPONYMY OF UZBEKISTAN.
Akbarova Dildora Axtamjon kizi
Independent Researcher at Tashkent Institute
of Textile and Light Industry
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15675943
Toponymy of Uzbekistan is a set of geographical names, including the
names of natural and cultural objects on the territory of Uzbekistan. The
structure and composition of the state toponymy are determined by its
geographical location and rich history.
Dashdiğoz :
In 1924, during the period of national-territorial delimitation in
the USSR, the Khorezm Soviet Socialist Republic, the Bukhara Soviet Socialist
Republic and their territories, as well as part of the territory of the former
Turkestan MSSR, which was part of the RSFSR. were dissolved, and two new
union republics were formed - the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR.
The name of the Republic of Uzbekistan comes from the combination of the
ethnonym “Uzbeks” and the Iranian formative form –stan – “country”. The origin
of the ethnonym “Uzbeks” is still a controversial topic. So, the personal name
"Uzbek" is found in 12th-century Arabic sources, for example, Usama ibn-
Munkiza in the "Illustrative Book" notes that in 1115 he was one of the
commanders of the army of the ruler Hamadan Bursuk. In 1116, the
"commander of the troops" was Uzbek - the ruler of Mosul[1]. G. V. Vernadsky
noted that the term "Uzbeks" was used as the proper name of the united "free
people", their various professions, language, beliefs and origin. Vernadsky in his
work "Mongols and Russia" wrote: "According to Paul Pelio, the name Uzbek
(Uzbek) means "master of his own person" (maître de sa personne), that is, "free
man". Uzbek as a national name means "free people""[2]. Writing about the
Uzbeks of Bukhara in the 1830s, P. S. Savelyev noted that the name "Uzbek"
means "self-ruler".[3] According to V. A. Nikonov, the connection of the
ethnonym with the ancient hydronym Yaksart (now Syrdarya) cannot be
denied.[4]
After the collapse of the USSR, in 1991, the Supreme Council of Uzbekistan
adopted the resolution "On the Declaration of State Independence of the
Republic of Uzbekistan", as well as the law "On the Foundations of State
Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan". ". On September 30, 1991, the
Uzbek SSR was renamed the "Republic of Uzbekistan"[5], and the state
constitution adopted in 1992 stated that the names "Uzbekistan" and "Republic
of Uzbekistan" are equivalent[6].
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Formation and structure of toponymy:
The territories in Uzbekistan, which are in contact with the Turkic and
Iranian languages, due to their geographical location, are distinguished by many
features of the toponymy of other regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
According to V. A. Zhuchkevich, two toponymic regions intersect on the territory
of the country: 1) a region where toponymy was formed on the basis of local
complex stratified geographical terminology and 2) a region with ancient
toponymy, which is not closely related to hydronymy[7]. The toponymy of
Central Asia differs from other regions of the world in that rivers take their
names from cities, and not vice versa[7]. On the territory of Uzbekistan, many
ancient cultures of Central Asia centers are located, and many Uzbek cities have
a history of more than a thousand years, which makes it difficult to determine
the primary sources of many toponyms. According to Zhuchkevich, 4 groups of
names can be distinguished in the toponymy of Uzbekistan, but they do not have
the character of original toponymic layers and do not cover the entire diversity
of the country's toponymy:
ancient (mixed origin)
Iranian
Turkic
Russian[7].
The most ancient include the toponyms Samarkand, Bukhara, Kokand,
Termez, Fergana, etc. At the same time, it is still impossible to give a precise
assessment of many ancient toponyms that would allow us to determine their
linguistic affiliation. For example, Bukhara, Samarkand, Amul, Khiva, etc.[8]).
The Turkic population of Sogd in the early Middle Ages is confirmed by the
names of settlements that acquired Turkic names in the 7th-8th centuries[9].
The majority of Iranian toponyms Collected in the territory of the
Kashkadarya region. Examples of Iranian toponymy include Dugob, Obikandi,
Tuzab, Kitab, etc. In the Fergana region, Iranian toponyms are found mixed with
Turkic toponyms. Among the Turkic toponyms, one can note Saryksu,
Qarovultep, Toshtepa, Aqqurg'on, Altinkul, Urmanbek, Kattaqurg'on, Katta-
Kishloq, etc. Ts. -D. Nominkhonov, Uzbek toponymy also has a layer borrowed
from the Mongolian language: for example, in the Samarkand-Bukhara-Karshi
triangle, Nominkhonov listed 136 toponyms from the Mongolian language[7].
Russian toponyms constitute the youngest layer of toponymy in Uzbekistan.
Some names were given during the Russian Empire, the main part - during the
Soviet period, many of these toponyms had "ideological" signs characteristic of
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that era. During the period of independence, a significant part of the toponyms
in the Russian language were renamed: Gorchakovo (now - New Margilan),
Ursatievskaya (now - Khovost), Kuropatkino (now Lalnikor), Komsomolsk (now
Malikrabot), and others[7].
References:
1.
Juchkevich V.A. General toponymy. 2nd edition, revised and expanded. -
Minsk: Higher School, 1968. - 432 p.
2.
Instructions for the translation of geographical names of the Karakalpak
ASSR into Russian / Compiled by G. I. Donidze; Ed. K. Abdimuratov. - M.: Nauka,
1976. - 28 p.
3.
Instructions for the translation of geographical names of the Uzbek SSR
into Russian / Compiled by G. I. Donidze; Ed. M. T. Teshaboev. - M., 1981. - 67 p.
4.
Kamoliddin Sh.S. Ancient Turkic toponymy of Central Asia / ed. M.
Iskhokov. - Tashkent: Shark, 2006. - 192 p.
5.
Nikonov V.A. Brief toponymic dictionary. - M.: Fikr, 1966. - 509 p. - 32,000
copies.
6.
Pospelov E. M. Geographical names of the world. Toponymic dictionary /
rev. ed. R. A. Ageeva. - 2nd edition, stereotype. - M.: Russian dictionaries, Astrel,
AST, 2002. - 512 p. - 3000 copies. — ISBN 5-17-001389-2
7.
Osama ibn Munkyz. Kniga nazidaniya. per. Yu. I. Krachkovsky. M. Izd-vo
vostochnoy literatury, 1958, c.134
8.
Mongolia and Russia. Golden Horde, Lithuania and Muscovy, 1419-39.
Chast I
9.
Savelev P. S. Bukhara v 1835 godu: S prisoedineniem izvestiy obo vsex
evropeyskikh puteshestvennikah, poseshchavshikh etot gorod do 1835 goda
vklyuchitelno. SPb. 1836, p. 17.
