Toponyms of Arbaty area (Republic of Khakassya)

The toponymic material of the Arbaty micro-area of the Republic of Khakassia gives an idea of the history, geography, ethnography of the southern part of the region, the culture and religion of the Khakasses, the peculiarities of the way of life and economic activity of the people in the taiga area, reflects the linguistic and dialectal features of the Khakass language, and also shows the processes of formalization of the world man. The factual material of the study was the geographical names collected in the field, supplemented by information from dictionary, scientific and local history works. Toponyms here reflect the Beltir dialect of the Sagai dialect. The search for the etymology of the large hydronyms Arbaty and Madyras led the study to the Tungus trace, which was not noted in any work by previous linguists and historians specifically for this territory. The hypothesis awaits further confirmation (or refutation). The chronological picture of the settlement of the area is continued by the Ket names, then numerous Turkic and single Russian ones. The territory of the Arbaty is a taiga place, squeezed by high ridges and mountain rivers. The relief is characterized by numerous logs, depressions and their streams and springs, low hills, mounds. The population lives by hunting, cattle breeding, harvesting and gathering. In Soviet times, there were cultural crops, state farms, logging facilities, and sawmills. River mills worked. The main population is Khakasses and Russians. The Khakass have ancestral and sacred mountains on which shamans perform rituals; believe in the existence of natural spirits. Nature is rich in berries, nuts, wild onions, birds and animals. All these features of the area are reflected in the names of geographical objects: depressions, rivers, mountains, streams and springs, villages and settlements, taiga and steppe towns and lands. Many toponyms consist of two to five words, reflecting qualitative, relative, typical and possessive relationships and connections. Toponyms are characterized by signs of ambiguity, asymmetry, and variability. In the semantic sense - appellative signs of landscape, production, management, hydronyms, names, events, plants and animals.

Khakass language, toponyms, Republic of Khakassia, Tashtyp District, Arbaty