Russian toponymy of 15th – beginning 17th century based on archives from Moscow cloisters and churches

Documents published in the volume entitled Official Documents of the Russian State. Archives from Moscow cloisters and churches. 15th – beginning 17th century comprise an abundant collection of the names of towns and villages from the historical centre of Russia from the indicated period of time. The forthcoming article presents Russian toponymic system from the period encompassing the end of 15th and the beginning of 17th century. Approximately 1180 names of villages were subjected to semantic and structural analysis. From the semantic point of view, the analyzed toponyms can be divided into possessive names (Ivashkova – first inhabitant/owner was Ivashko), topographic names (Bor – cf. bor ‛pine forest’), cultural names (Melnitsa – cf. melnitsa ‛mill’), vocational names (Bondary – coopers used to live there), ethnic names (Dubrovtsy – originating from the dwellers of the areas overgrown with deciduous forests), family names (Sopli – first inhabitants were called by the collective name Sopli), patronymic names (Starikovichi refers orginally to offsprings or subjects of Starik) as well as toponyms derived from other toponyms such as Studenets (derived from the name of a small river Studenets). The structural analysis led to the identification of (a) primary names (Pochinok – from pochinok ‛new village’), (b) secondary names, i. e. toponymic derivatives (Brjuhovo – from a nick-name Brjuho, with -ovo suffix), and (c) word-combinations (Prokof’evo Bolshoe – cf. bolshoj ‛great’). In the investigated toponymy, possessive names predominate, which is related to the productive function of -ov-/-ev-, -in- and -sk- suffixes in this age