Slavic Railway Onomastics. Review of the book: Tomasik, P. Nazewnictwo kolejowe: na materiale języka polskiego, rosyjskiego i czeskiego [Railway Onomastics: Evidence from Polish, Russian, and Czech]. Bydgoszcz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kazimierza Wielkiego, 2016.

• Main Author: Vasily I. Suprun
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta 2018-07-01
• Series: Voprosy Onomastiki
• Subjects: railway onomastics; name of a vehicle; chrematonym; personal name; place name; name of animal; Polish language; Czech language; Russian language
• Online Access: http://onomastics.ru/sites/default/files/doi/10.15826/vopr_onom.2018.15.2.026.pdf

The reviewed book examines Polish, Czech, Slovak (partially), and Russian proper names of various onomastic classes related to the sphere of railway: namely, anthroponyms (especially nicknames), names of animals, names of railway terminals, stations and other place names, names of trains, locomotives, cars, railway lines, and other chrematonyms. All onomastic units are classified as formal or informal, each group characterized by its own specificity of usage, linguistic and cultural semantics. The book consists of an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The first chapter discusses the works by Czech, Slovak, Polish, and Russian onomatologists focused on the functioning of names in communication practices related to the railway sphere. The second chapter analyses the official names of objects on the railway. The third chapter deals with informal names related to rail transport. A thorough analysis of the origins of railway onyms and their variations in folk speech is based on a profound knowledge of the functions of these onomastic units in the social space of the four peoples, which constitutes a valuable contribution to Slavic ethnolinguistics. The book may serve as an example for describing peculiar traits of railway onomastics intrinsic to other Slavic peoples and undertaking a further study of proper names used on the railway in Russia.