Kyrgyzstan debates renaming capital

Politician Emilbek Kaptagayev wants the city of Bishkek to be known as Manas, a warrior whose adventures make up a massive epic poem dated back to at least the 18th century. The former presidential chief of staff posted that this would prevent “any temptations that might emerge after the passage of the years” to rename the capital after potentially-divisive politicians.

The impetus for this was the decision of neighbouring Kazakhstan to change the name of its capital city from Astana to Nur-Sultan, in honour of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s first president who stepped down last week after nearly 30 years at the helm.

Call for papers: Onyms in Space and Space in Onyms“, Lithuania, November 7-9 2019

The Research Center of Baltic Languages and Proper Names invite you to participate in The 4th International Scientific Aleksandras Vanagas’ Conference, which will take place on 7–9 November 2019 in Vilnius.

Proposed areas for reports

  • Proper names as a research object of the Lithuanian language, Baltistics and Indo-European studies
  • Onyms under the historical framework
  • The development, composition and origins of proper names
  • The current functions and usage of proper names
  • Onyms in digital space
  • Cognition space in onymy
  • The expression of historical, cultural and natural spaces in onyms
  • Theoretical Onomastics
  • Onyms under the framework of language contacts

Submission deadline for registration forms – 30 April 2019

Submission deadline for abstracts – 3 June 2019

The Crusaders change name following Christchurch shootings?

After a gunman opened fire on two separate Christchurch mosques, leaving 50 dead and dozens injured, Crusaders chief executive says that the organisation is listening to feedback over a change of name for one of New Zealand’s most decorated sporting sides. Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson says that conversations around a potential name change for the Crusaders is appropriate.

A reference to the medieval Crusades from Christians against Muslims between 1095 and 1492, the name ‘Crusaders’ could be taken as highly offensive and inappropriate. As calls for the Crusaders to consider a re-brand continue to grow, the inevitable question is beginning to linger. To what? Any ideas?

Nursultan, not Astana — Kazakhstan renames capital to honor ex-president

Kazakhstan’s second post-independence president wanted to rename the country’s capital after its first president, who served for 30 years.

 

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was sworn in as Kazakhstan’s president on Wednesday, a day after longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his surprise resignation. Tokayev, who had served as senate speaker, was the designated interim replacement according to the Kazakh constitution. He is expected to serve the rest of Nazarbayev’s term until elections in April 2020.

In his inaugural speech, Tokayev praised Nazarbayev as “an outstanding reformer” and called for renaming the capital city, Astana, “Nursultan.”

Voprosy Onomastiki (Problems of Onomastics) publishes Vol. 16 (2019), Issue 1

The editorial board of the journal Voprosy Onomastiki (Problems of Onomastics) is pleased to inform you of the publication of Vol. 16 (2019), Issue 1. The issue is available on the journal’s website.

Articles

Petrosyan, A. Ye. Towards the Reconstruction of the Name and Image of a Great God in the Ancient Armenian Tradition [in Russian]

Dirbas H. Onomastics and the Reconstruction of the Past: Rethinking Totemism in Semitic Traditions [in English]

Zaika, N. M. Distribution of Locative Surnames in the South-West of France [in Russian]

Feoktistova, L. A. Revisiting the Paronymic Attraction to a Personal Name: the Name Elena in Russian Dialects [in Russian]

Shvarev, N. M. Russian Names with the Stem Maur-, Testimonies of the Old Rostov Land [in Russian]

Rácz A., Tóth V. Settlement Names Derived from Ethnonyms as Historical Evidence: The Case of Medieval Hungary [in English]

Ivšić Majić D. The Medieval Attestations of Croatian Pre-Slavic Island Names [in English]

Khisamitdinova, F. G., Muratova, R. T., Yagafarova, G. N., Valieva, M. R. Color Terms in Bashkir Toponymy [in Russian]

Kostylev, Yu. S. The Soviet-Period Toponymy of Severnaya Zemlya as a Reflection of Ideological Struggle [in Russian]

Akhmetova, M. V. On the Revival of One Ancient Russian Katoikonym: Staraya Russa [in Russian]

Oinotkinova, N. R. On the Origin of Some Theonyms of the Shaman Pantheon of the Altaians [in Russian]

Notes

Kaksin, A. D. Toponymic System as a Resource to Explore the Ancient History of a Region: the Case of Khakassia [in Russian]

Book Reviews

Holzer, G. Slavic Substrate in the Onomastics of Saxony. Review of the book: Wenzel, W. (2017). Die slawische Frühgeschichte Sachsens im Licht der Namen / Hrsg. von A. Brendler, & S. Brendler. Hamburg: Baar. 205 p. [in German]

In Memoriam

Valentová, I., Kopach, A. I. Milan Majtán (1934–2018) [in Russian]

Vasilyeva, N. V. Theodolius Witkowski (1930–2018) [in Russian]

Anniversaries

Ruf Aleksandrovna Ageeva [in Russian]

 

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Call for Papers: They, Hirself, Em, and You: Nonbinary pronouns in research and practice, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada, June 11-13 2019

They, Hirself, Xem, and You (THEY) is a three-day conference bringing together linguists and other researchers and practitioners working on topics relating to nonbinary pronouns in English. The conference will be held at Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada, June 11-13 2019. The goal of this conference is to bring together researchers working on topics relating to nonbinary gender (usage, users, and user experiences) in language, particularly in pronouns, in order to both raise the profile of this research within linguistics and other disciplines, and to build resources that can be used by educators, policy makers, community advocates, and researchers in other fields. Admission to the conference will be free.

It will include two interleaved tracks of talks and presentations: one featuring research from linguistics (L-track), and one featuring scholars and practitioners from other fields (O-track). There will also be a series of four invited keynote talks, open to the public, and one of the conference outputs will be a resource compiling information and resources on nonbinary pronouns, for general use. Please see the conference website for more information.

L-track proposals are due March 31, 2019.

O-track proposals are due April 30, 2019.

A downloadable Call for Papers can be found here.

 

Mandela clan backs renaming of Cape Town airport

The Royal House of Mandela has thrown its weight behind renaming Cape Town International Airport after Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. At Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral in Soweto last year, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (a far-left South African political party) Julius Malema made the first call for the name change, having said that if the African National Congress (governing party) was serious about honouring maWinnie and her legacy, it should name the Mother City’s airport after her.

Political parties disagreed in Parliament over the name change of the airport, with the ANC saying all names of Struggle heroes and heroines needed to be considered. The Airports Company South Africa has given the public until June 6, 2019 to submit names for the change. Once the public process is complete, a report of conclusions and recommendations will be compiled. Other names put forward include Struggle icons Albertina Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, Robert Sobukwe and Alex La Guma.

 

Claiming the History in Family Names

Raffi Joe Wartanian told an amazing story of his family by pointing out their interesting family name. His immigrant father Ghevont Vartanian, who left his hometown, Beirut, in 1974, thought adopting an American name was a prudent measure to avoid mispronunciations. To his son it felt like admitting defeat.

Raffi Joe describes how he cringed whenever his father called himself George. He wanted him to declare his name rather than defer to its otherness. He wanted him to teach people how to pronounce his name and appreciate its Armenian origins. History echoed within his father’s name: Ghevont is a canonized orator; Vartan, an honored warrior. Both served as Armenian leaders in the fifth-century Battle of Avarayr. But the name of George silenced that history.

About Names: Stella’s star is shining bright again

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his March 12th column, he looks at the history of the name Stella.

Stella is the Latin word for “star.” Its first use as a woman’s name came in 1591 in “Astrophil and Stella,” a book of sonnets and songs by Philip Sidney (1554-86). Astrophil (“star lover”) describes his beloved as “Stella, Star of heavenly fire, Stella, loadstar of desire; Stella, in whose shining eyes are the lights of Cupids skies.”

German author Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) wrote “Stella: A Play for Lovers” in 1776. It created a huge scandal when hero Fernando resolves his love for both Stella and Cecilia by living in a ménage à trois. Goethe rewrote the play with Stella committing suicide at the end in 1806. Both versions spread the name across northern Europe. By 1770, romantic parents were naming real girls Stella in America. The 1850 United States census, the first listing all residents by name, found 548 Stellas.

In Social Security’s yearly baby name lists, Stella peaked at 55th in 1889. It gradually declined, leaving the top hundred after 1923.

Want to know more? Read on to find out more about Stellas in history!

Call for Papers: 2019 Geographic Names Conference of COGNA, Baton Rouge, LA, August 5-9 2019

The 2019 Geographic Names Conference of COGNA (Council of Geographic Names Authorities in the United States) will take place August 5-9, 2019, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They are seeking presentation content, geographic names in nature, including regional topics, toponymic and cartographic themes encouraged. Presentations are for individual presentations or panel discussions.

This conference is the only conference that brings together the State Geographic Names Authorities (SNAs) and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and provides participants a unique opportunity to share information and knowledge about the geographic naming process and research. There is no better way to network and benefit from the expertise of members and staff of the BGN, SNAs, Tribal authorities, other State and Federal mapping agencies, and members of the geospatial and academic communities.

The conferences are open to the public for registration fees.  Registration fees included all conference materials, welcome & closing receptions, and admission to all daytime conference sessions.  Conferences conclude with an optional an educational-toponymic field workshop.

You can download the call for papers here. The deadline for abstracts is April 30, 2019.

Additional information on the conference is available at their website.