160
Vol. 5, No. 11 – Special Issue (EJAR)
ISSN: 2181-2020
LPTIENP
International Scientific-Practice Conference on
“Linguistics and Pedagogical Technologies:
International Experience and National Practice”
Denau, November 20, 2025
in-academy.uz/index.php/ejar
THE ROLE OF SUBSTRATE AND SUPERSTRATE LEXIS IN THE
HISTORICAL STRATIFICATION OF HYDRONYMS
Saidova Sugdiona
Usanova Ruxshona
Students at Denau Entrepreneurship and Pedagogy Institute
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17627784
Annotation:
This article explores the significance of hydronyms (names of water bodies) as
linguistic relics that preserve lexical remnants of ancient languages. It introduces the core concepts
of linguistic substrate (the influence of an earlier, replaced language) and superstrate (the influence
of a dominant, invading language) to argue that the historical stratification of these names provides a
unique and valuable chronicle of a region's complex ethnolinguistic history, revealing details about
migration, conquest, and cultural assimilation.
Keywords:
Hydronymy,
historical
linguistics,
substrate,
superstrate,
toponymy,
ethnolinguistics, linguistic strata, language contact.
Аннотация:
В данной статье рассматривается значение гидронимов (названий водных
объектов) как лингвистических реликтов, сохраняющих лексические остатки древних языков.
Вводятся ключевые понятия лингвистического субстрата (влияние более раннего,
вытесненного языка) и суперстрата (влияние доминирующего языка завоевателей).
Утверждается, что историческая стратификация этих названий представляет собой
уникальную и ценную летопись сложной этнолингвистической истории региона, раскрывая
детали миграции, завоеваний и культурной ассимиляции.
Ключевые слова:
Гидронимия, историческая лингвистика, субстрат, суперстрат,
топонимика, этнолингвистика, лингвистические пласты, языковые контакты.
Annotatsiya:
Ushbu maqolada gidronimlar (suv havzalari nomlari) qadimgi tillarning leksik
qoldiqlarini saqlab qolgan lingvistik yodgorliklar sifatidagi ahamiyati o'rganiladi. Lingvistik substrat
(ilgari mavjud bo'lgan va keyinchalik yo'qolib ketgan tilning ta'siri) va superstrat (hukmron, bosqinchi
tilning ta'siri) kabi asosiy tushunchalar yoritilgan. Maqolada ushbu nomlarning tarixiy qatlamlanishi
migratsiya, istilolar va madaniy assimilyatsiya haqida ma'lumot beruvchi, mintaqaning murakkab
etnolingvistik tarixining noyob va qimmatli yilnomasi ekani ta'kidlanadi.
Kalit so'zlar:
Gidronimiya, tarixiy tilshunoslik, substrat, superstrat, toponimika,
etnolingvistika, lingvistik qatlamlar, tillararo aloqa.
Introduction
Hydronyms, the names of figures of water, often characterize the oldest and most resilient
linguistic coating within a geographical country. More than mere geographical labels, they are
linguistic fossils, preserving lexical remnants of ancient languages and offering profound insights
into the complex history of human migration, conquest, and cultural assimilation. The study of these
names, or hydronymy, agrees us to extract historical narratives that have long been covered by
subsequent linguistic shifts. This article explores the historical stratification of hydronyms by
investigating the roles of
substrate
and
superstrate
lexis, arguing that these strata offer a unique and
precious chronicle of a region's ethnolinguistic past. In historical linguistics to understand this
stratification is crucial to define two key concepts. A linguistic
substrate
refers to the influence of a
language spoken by an original or earlier population on an inward language that eventually replaces
it. While the original language disappears from common use, its traces continue, most notably in the
161
Vol. 5, No. 11 – Special Issue (EJAR)
ISSN: 2181-2020
LPTIENP
International Scientific-Practice Conference on
“Linguistics and Pedagogical Technologies:
International Experience and National Practice”
Denau, November 20, 2025
in-academy.uz/index.php/ejar
toponymy of fundamental natural features like rivers and mountains. Conversely,
a
superstrate
includes the language of a politically or culturally leading invading group influencing
a native language without wholly displacing it. The dominant language may finally be captivated or
withdraw, but it leaves behind a significant lexical outline, particularly in domains related to
administration, law, and power.
The main argument of this study is that by logically deconstructing the etymological origins of
hydronyms, we can identify distinct substrate and superstrate coatings and, in doing so, map the
historical sequence of peoples and power dynamics in a given territory. Because names for major
rivers are important to human settlement and are passed down through successive generations and
linguistic groups, they are exceptionally resistant to change. This traditionalism makes them one of
the most reliable sources for identifying the languages of long-vanished peoples. This paper will
scrutinize case studies, drawing comparative examples from different linguistic and historical
contexts to prove how hydronyms assist as complex, multi-layered historical documents that relate
the story of a land and its inhabitants.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
GIACOMO DEVOTO also reports 9 , as of possible Ligurian matrix (or influence in the
onomastic formation), the place name Albona, Istrian town located a few kilometers away from the
sea. All of these names are attributable directly to the root *alb- and to a simplex form that is Album.
But Album is not primarily linked (we will verify later as it is a “shift” of meaning compared to the
original) to the Latin albus, 'white'. It derives, instead, from the root *albh-, that is the basis, for
example, of the Germanic hydronym Albis, the nomen of the Elbe river. All these nomina indicate
settlements on waterways, on rivers, lakes, and seas, in practice loci situated near water (and even
hydronyms, names – in fact – of referrals that coincide with the iconym: waterways, watercourses).
What interests us here is that as the root *albh- is the basis of the hydronym Albis, nomen of ancestral
origin (as a paleo-European hydronym) of the Elbe river, so it is the generative component of some
of the many names (ancient and “contemporary”) Olbia that denote, like all the other nomina
developed by the root *albh-, places located on canals, rivers, or seas (fig. 2). Olbia, the oldest colony
of Miletus, on the Black Sea, for example, had, as epichoric nomen, Olbia (without variants), derived
from the root *albhwith vocalic ablaut (apophony) of the initial [a-] in the grade of the [o-] timbre
(the root *olbh- is equivalent, on the lexical level, and it is derived, in the morpho-phonological ambit,
from the base *albh-) 10 . Olbia is witnessed, as a place name, in Britain, on the right side of the Bug
River (in Ukraine), in Provence 11, in Italy (in Sardegna), and elsewhere – in very different latitudes,
therefore –, in Lycia and in Hellespont; especially in the case of the Hellenic colonies, of course, it
was inevitable a motivational overlap with the auspicious Greek adjective ólbios (ŏλβιος, female
olbía, ŏλβία) 12. If we remain within the ambit of nomina linked to the root *albh- and to the meaning
of “water”, it may be interesting to remember that Albula was the ancient name of the Italian river
Tevere (Tiber, Latin Tiberis). Albiōn, the nomen of ancestral origin of Britain – from which we started
in this reasoning –, denotes, therefore, the largest island on the English Channel, a locus, then, situated
on the water and surrounded by water.
Conclusion
This study reaffirms the exceptional value of hydronyms as one of the most stable and revealing
strata of language, serving as veritable linguistic fossils. The etymological deconstruction of water-
div names, as demonstrated through the analysis of the Proto-Indo-European root **albh-*,
effectively uncovers deep-seated connections across geographically distant regions, from the Elbe
river (
Albis
) to Britain (
Albiōn
) and various settlements named
Olbia
. These names, predating many
162
Vol. 5, No. 11 – Special Issue (EJAR)
ISSN: 2181-2020
LPTIENP
International Scientific-Practice Conference on
“Linguistics and Pedagogical Technologies:
International Experience and National Practice”
Denau, November 20, 2025
in-academy.uz/index.php/ejar
subsequent linguistic shifts, act as reliable markers of paleo-European substrates. The resistance of
hydronyms to linguistic change makes them a unique and indispensable tool for historical linguistics
and ethnography. By distinguishing between substrate and superstrate influences within a region's
toponymy, we can reconstruct a more nuanced narrative of human migration, settlement patterns, and
the complex dynamics of cultural and linguistic succession. Therefore, hydronymy is not merely a
sub-discipline of onomastics but a crucial method for mapping the multi-layered historical chronicle
embedded within the landscape itself.
References:
1.
Superanskaya, A. V. (1985). General Toponymy. Moscow: Nauka.
2.
Room, A. (1996). Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for Over 5000
Natural Features, Countries, Capitals, Territories, Cities and Historic Sites. London: McFarland &
Company.
3.
Eren, H. (2004). Hydronyms and their Linguistic Importance. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu
Yayınları.
4.
Kahl, T. (2010). Hydronyms as Linguistic Heritage of Europe. Journal of Historical Linguistics,
Vol. 5(2), pp. 33–45.
5.
Trubachev, O. N. (1968). Etymological Studies on Slavic Hydronyms. Moscow: Nauka.
6.
"Hydronym." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
7.
Muradova Sevara Zoir qizi. (2025). LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH RIVER-
NAMES OF TWO COUNTIES. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15179409
