ISSN: 2317-2347 – v. 9, n. 2 (2020)
Todo o conteúdo da RLR está licenciado sob Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional
The classification of place names is not a simple task, given their multiform nature. Such a classification can be done according to many criteria: etymological, sociolinguistic, ontological, cultural, and others. Stewart (1954) attempted to undertake such a classification. Another more recent attempt to make a comprehensive classification of place names was undertaken by Urazmetova et al. (2017). According to these authors, "it is obvious that it is impossible to create a unified classification of place names which would reflect the entire multidimensional nature of the toponymic vocabulary" (URAZMETOVA et al., 2017, p. 28). These authors presented eleven principles or criteria for classifying toponyms and, according to them, they should consider the parametric and ontological characteristics of an object, the type of toponymic base, the etymological, motivational, chronological, and structural characteristics of place names, polysemy, degree, and variety of toponymic naming and, finally, the location of an object (URAZMETOVA et al., 2017).
Such principles mentioned above by Urazmetova et al. (2017) are intralinguistic and extralinguistic, and this contributes to their multiplicity.
According to the criteria of origin of place names, presented in the above-mentioned classification, one can classify them as spontaneous or artificial, although these authors do not mention these categories. We define here the place name assigned by speakers of the language in which it was created as spontaneous, anonymously. Spontaneous names are usually those of physical and natural elements such as waterways, mountains, hills, mountains, beaches, etc. Artificial toponyms are those with planned assignment, whose creators are known. Examples of artificial place names are those assigned by official initiatives, such as the names of streets, squares, districts, cities, municipalities, etc. These usually replace older toponyms. Artificial place names are also those given to private properties, both rural and urban, without the stability, permanence, and anonymity that characterize the spontaneous names given to physical and natural elements.
The creation of artificial toponyms can have several causes and motivations, among which we list the following:
