FOREST TREES IN ROMANIAN TOPONYMY

• Main Authors: Andra Simon, Georgiana Arsene, Emilia Vechiu, Cristian Mihai Enescu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura Universitatii din Pitesti 2018-07-01
• Series: Current Trends in Natural Sciences
• Subjects: commune; forests; toponymy; Romania
• Online Access: http://natsci.upit.ro/media/1654/paper-20.pdf

According to paragraph (3) of Article 3 of Romanian Constitution, the territory is organized in communes, cities and counties. Currently, there are 41 counties, plus Bucharest, 324 cities (including municipalities) and 2861 communes, with a total of 12.957 villages. The aim of this study was to highlight the relation between the names of the localities and the forest tree and shrub species found in Romania. The names of a total of 456 localities were related with the names of the forest tree and shrub species. Both hardwood and coniferous species were well represented, the names of the localities related with the softwood species being more common in mountainous regions. The most common names of the localities were related to silver fir, Cornelian cherry and the oaks. In most of the cases, a strong correlation between the natural distribution range of forest tree and shrub species and the names of the localities was found.These results suggest that Romania is a country with a strong forestry-related heritage.