TY - JOUR
T1 - Unveiling the Enigmatic Origins of Sardinian Toponyms
AU - ONG, Brenda Man Qing
AU - PERONO CACCIAFOCO, Francesco
N1 - ONG, Brenda Man Qing, and Francesco PERONO CACCIAFOCO. (2022). Unveiling the Enigmatic Origins of Sardinian Toponyms, Languages, 7, 2, 131: 1-19
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: we thank Guido Borghi for taking the time out of his busy schedule to provide his expert insights on the topic. We would like to acknowledge the support from Nanyang Technological University’s URECA Undergraduate Research on Campus Programme for the Research Project at the origins of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5/24
Y1 - 2022/5/24
N2 - With the boom in Indo-European (IE) studies among linguists from the early 20th century, toponymic studies on European place names have been largely based on the Proto-Indo-European (PIE). However, historical and archaeological records of non-IE groups, such as the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia, have presented the possibility of pre-IE/non-IE (Paleo-Sardinian) linguistic stratum influences on certain toponyms in Sardinia, Italy. This article aims to present a meta-study on existing toponymic reconstructions theorized by scholars, while offering a fresh perspective by employing methods of historical phonetic chains and sequences analysis to identify toponyms of interest. Analysis showed that certain Sardinian toponyms contain striking phonetic sequences that are uncharacteristic of PIE, such as *s(a)rd-, *kar-, *-ini, *-ài/*-éi, *#[θ]-. Overall conclusions appear to display the merits of (1) PIE and (2) pre-IE/ non-IE theories. Both provide plausible toponymic reconstructions. (1) The accuracy of IE theories is brought into question, as they appear to rely heavily on phonetic links to existing PIE roots, sometimes with a lack of consideration for other contextual or hydro-geo-morphological factors. (2) Conversely, pre-IE/non-IE theories are found to be highly speculative due to the lack of historical data, and knowledge, about the Paleo-Sardinian language.
AB - With the boom in Indo-European (IE) studies among linguists from the early 20th century, toponymic studies on European place names have been largely based on the Proto-Indo-European (PIE). However, historical and archaeological records of non-IE groups, such as the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia, have presented the possibility of pre-IE/non-IE (Paleo-Sardinian) linguistic stratum influences on certain toponyms in Sardinia, Italy. This article aims to present a meta-study on existing toponymic reconstructions theorized by scholars, while offering a fresh perspective by employing methods of historical phonetic chains and sequences analysis to identify toponyms of interest. Analysis showed that certain Sardinian toponyms contain striking phonetic sequences that are uncharacteristic of PIE, such as *s(a)rd-, *kar-, *-ini, *-ài/*-éi, *#[θ]-. Overall conclusions appear to display the merits of (1) PIE and (2) pre-IE/ non-IE theories. Both provide plausible toponymic reconstructions. (1) The accuracy of IE theories is brought into question, as they appear to rely heavily on phonetic links to existing PIE roots, sometimes with a lack of consideration for other contextual or hydro-geo-morphological factors. (2) Conversely, pre-IE/non-IE theories are found to be highly speculative due to the lack of historical data, and knowledge, about the Paleo-Sardinian language.
KW - Toponymy
KW - Sardinia
KW - Indo-European
KW - Nuragic
KW - Historical Linguistics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135205626&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/7/2/131
U2 - 10.3390/languages7020131
DO - 10.3390/languages7020131
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85135205626
SN - 2226-471X
VL - 7
SP - 1
EP - 19
JO - Languages
JF - Languages
IS - 2
M1 - 131
ER -