Methods of excerpting and analyzing geographical names occurring in the first, second, and third land cadastres of Galicia

Abstract

Proper names of places, which can serve linguistic and cultural research, are often obtained as a result of conversations conducted with the inhabitants of a given area. When examining them from a diachronic perspective, especially in the case of a larger region, it is often impossible to reach beyond the registers, lists, compilations, and maps developed in the 20th or late 19th century. In the case of the southeastern corner of Poland, the situation is exceptional because we have comprehensive sources at our disposal, the oldest of which were created at the end of the 18th century. This article presents the methods of excerption work along with encountered problems and their solutions. Criteria adopted in the selection of proper names from the predominantly narrative material are also presented, along with the preliminary results of the analysis of these onyms. Nowosiółki Dydyńskie, a village located in the Pogórze Przemyskie Foothills, served as a case study.

The preparation of the I, II, and III land registers of Galicia was intended to serve the occupier in describing the lands within the boundaries of the Austrian partition for tax purposes. Therefore, it includes a description of the boundaries of settlements with a detailed division into plots, their productivity, and owners. These materials were created successively in 1785–1789, 1819–1820, and 1844–1854. A thorough interpretation of them allows for the recognition of proper names of parts of villages, towns and small towns, arable lands, fields, meadows, pastures, hills, watercourses, and other types of places designated by specific onyms.