Jalša or Joha – Toponomastic Themes

Na temelju toponomastickih i leksikografskih podataka od 13. stoljeca naovamo, analizira se položaj jezicnih inacica ‘jalša’ i ‘joha’ (u znacenju ‘Alnus’; ‘Alnus glutinosa’) u hrvatskom jezicnom prostoru. Toponomastickim potvrdama utvrdeno je da je sve do 17. stoljeca kao standardna prevladavala inacica ‘jalša’, koja je slijedom krupnih migracijskih promjena, a u vezi s turskim osvajanjima, potisnuta na krajnji sjever i zapad Hrvatske. Kao posljedica toga, ‘joha’ je sasvim istisnula ‘jalšu’ iz rjecnika jezicnog standarda, te ‘jalša’ danas opstaje jedino kao dijalektizam i zastarjeli izraz. Ovaj je slucaj obraden kao primjer jezicnog razvoja pod utjecajem migracija. Istovremeno, mada ima i primjera da se stari toponimi prilagodavaju pritisku jezicnih promjena, toponomastika uglavnom uspijeva konzervirati izvorne oblike, te kao takva postaje vrijedan jezicni spomenik.On grounds of toponomastic and lexicographic data from the 13th century forward, the position of the language variants ‘jalša’ and ‘joha’ is being analysed (meaning: ‘Alnus’; ‘Alnus glutinosa’ – aider, alder) in the Croatian-speaking areas. Both stems are today widely spread in the toponomastics and arranged in a way that it is almost impossible to set limits of the range of either ‘jalša’ or ‘joha’. However, by means of toponomastic certificates it has been established that until the 17th century the variant ‘jalša’ prevailed as the standard, and that all of the earlier confirmed toponyms are being derived from this variant. As a consequence of huge migrational changes, having to do with the Turkish conquests, ‘jalša’ was evicted to the utter North and West of Croatia, while the regions in between use ‘joha’. This language shift corresponds almost in detail to the migrations, refuges and forcible movements of the population from the Dalmatian hinterland, Bosnia and Serbia. In this way, ‘joha’ almost entirely pushed out ‘jalša’ from continental Croatia in the relatively short period between the late Middle Ages and the 18th century; which finally results in a change of language standards, according to which ‘jalša’ today only survives as a dialectal expression and archaism. This case has been worked out as an example of language development under the influence of migrations. At the same time, although there are some examples where old toponyms are being adjusted to the pressure of language change, toponomastics largely manages to conserve the original forms, and becomes as such a valuable language monument. (Translated by Marina Bertovic