Dosmakhov S.M., Malayeva L.T., Malayev D.

Karaganda State University named after E.A.Buketov, Karaganda city

The historical impact assessment on formation

of land and water names in karaganda region

All geographic places in the world have their own names. The geographical names are considered a necessary and an important issue for the development of human society. It is essential to differentiate one specific geographical place from another in order to see its location. Therefore, the geographical names are widely used for determining the geographic objects and patterns by comparing them, and for forming a unified concept. In the literature, the geographical names are mostly replaced with a Greek word “toponymy”. Topos means a place or a local land. Onoma means a name. Hence, toponymy includes the origin of geographical names, formation of place names, their development and current use, their lexical and grammatical structure and spelling, and their classification. Then, the term onomatology has emerged, which is a branch of lexicology. Onomatology is a study, which explores certain geographical and mythological, and other place names. Toponymy derived from toponimiya (a place-name study). Toponimiya describes a district, region, province or a region, established through the links of geographical names. Each toponym includes a variety of messages; it can appear in historical, linguistic, and geographical names in accordance with the social, state and national policy changes, as well as in geographical studies and research. Toponymy is a key component in area study. It can serve as an important tool for increasing students’ interests in the study of the past and current events of the regions, the local geographical conditions and the link between geographical names. The Kazakhs, who knew the specific environmental conditions, explored the geographical space by giving names to the pastures and to the orographical and hydrographic objects. As is known, the main agriculture of the Kazakhs was a cattle-farming. The Kazakhs were engaged in animal husbandry, and they raised sheep, horses, camels, cows in mountainous and steppe regions. The cattle grazed on natural pastures during four seasons. It was also necessary to have cattle to be grazed in wide fields and pastures that have clear water and a place for animal movement. Many centuries practice of agriculture management underpinned procedures for animal grazing during the season pastures. The changes of degraded pastures and fields during each season show that cattle breeding tradition served as a basis for the nature of the ecological animal husbandry. Due to the nomadic animal husbandry, there have been occurred toponyms related to cattle camp, jailow (mountain pasture), winter pasture, summer pasture, delve, stable, dropping, sheltered space, as well as the names of pets and farm animal. The information disclosure processes are implemented with help of economic and statistical studies, area studies and other materials through a wide variety of sources, maps, geographical descriptions. The land and water names are also significant for informational purposes. For example, the names of rivers, lakes, regions, mountains give historical data about the nation history, the migration of tribes in the territory of Kazakhstan, and their relationships with other nations. This shows the different stages of the population growth. Currently, the vast majority of the land and water names have clear meanings and definitions; however, some of them have lost their meanings and have remained unclear. There are also the names came from Turkic period as well as the names, which were borrowed. People say various legends and chronicles about unknown and unclear place names. In recent years, there have been conducted several research about the history of the place names, there are also toponymic dictionaries and other published materials, which have increased the interests of the population. Currently, the roles of such literature, dictionaries and references in educational institutions are of great of importance. In teaching physical geography, the science of “toponymy” is an issue of the importance. In our country, the toponyms have been developing for centuries and some of them have already been established. However, the land and water names still need thorough scrutiny and investigation. The geographical names are the main tool in political and ideological education, more importantly, it is essential to study the names changes in the political map of the world, and the principles of their changes (for example, the role and place of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the world's political map, 1991).

The study of the economic and social geography provides a description of the geographical origin of the place names. Some toponyms can be mentioned during our lessons, while describing the economic development of regional agriculture. Kazakhstan is divided into 14 provinces, for each of which we can give a description of their historical characteristics. They are the names of the areas, regions, and plants of Kazakhstan that have occurred due to the certain historical events and toponymic borrowings.

For example, the place name changes in Central Kazakhstan during the pre-revolutionary period, as well as the distinction of these names from one to another while the Soviet Union and before and after independence of the country can be explained due to the effects of changes in society and the changes of the land and water names. For example, the former Ulyanovsk village is now known as Botakara; the former Ulyanovsk region is now called Bukhar Zhyrau region. There are also other place names that have presently changed their designations, for example collective farms during the Soviet Union, such as Chapay, Kalinin, Lenin, Pushkin, etc.

The toponyms of Central Kazakhstan regions associated with those place names. For example, a number of terms, such as “dala” (field) are commonly used in the names of foothill plains and high plains (Betpakdala, Jusandala, Konyrdala, Akdala). It can be explained that the Kazakh people clearly indicate the difference between the mountainous and plainous areas. The names for colors, in most cases, are directly related to the color of the rocks. The term “konyr” (brown) is widely used for determining the nature of the rangeland. As a term that describes the nature and landscape, it can be used for a description of land features. So, the term “konyr” (brown) gives information about the rangelands (Konyrat, Konyrsu, Zhetykonyr, Konyradyr). In transmitting animal husbandry practices from one generation to the next should take into account the peculiarities of local nature, adaptation approaches, efficient use of natural resources, geographical conditions, and the seasonal nature of the nomadic livestock, which in its turn, play an important role in the local place names. The terms related to the summer pasture, include such terms as grasslands, meadow, highlands, feather-grass. In this regard, the place names in Aktogay district of Karaganda region, such as Shybarozek, Shybar, Shybartau, Akzharyk, Zhyryk, Zharyk have been occurred in relation to the historical and environmental factors.

A sovereignty of the country allowed to revive the historical names of the regions, the land and water names, as well as the names of towns and villages, inhabited by our ancestors. For example, Bukhar-Zhyrau region, Abai district, Kazybekbi district, A.Bokeikhan village, Zhidebay village, Karamende village, Satbayev town, etc.

A number of regional areas are considered centuries-old “sacred” and “holy” lands of the Kazakhs, and these places that include forests, rivers, lakes, mountainous areas with natural resources, and historical and archaeological monuments have been protected.

For example, St. Akmeshit in Southern Kazakhstan, Auliyetau in Ulytau, Bektauata in Balkhash region. Due to these given names as “ata” (ancestor) and “auliye” (holy), they could save beauty of the nature for centuries.

The water shortage of water resources caused classification of new Kazakh terminology. This is obvious for other nations as well, who live in a dry climate. In Central Kazakhstani regions, where there is a water shortage, the geographical names of the desert and semi-desert regions include the commonly used terms, such as “well spring”, “lake” and “delve”. The terms related to the “well spring” are widely used in these regions; especially many of those terms are utilized in the areas where we live. They are Kylyshbulak, Balyktybulak, Maibulak, Milybulak, Kaynarbulak, Saumalbulak, Taldybulak, Uzynbulak, Tasbulak, Ainabulak. For example, the name Kaynarbulak was given to the region since it associated to the boiling water, that is, “kaynar” (boiling), “bulak” (water). In the steppe and Desert Rivers, there is a shortage of water throughout the year. Therefore, we believe that the names as “Tokyrauyn” and “Espe” were given to these rivers for these reasons.

The land and water names are still include the borrowed words from Arabic, Persian, Mongol, Turkish, Russian languages as well as ancient Kazakh words of indigenous tribes, and the names of those tribes. Most names were given in relation to the land and water characteristics, the main water sources, water quality, its depth and volume. More than 16% of the total number of Central Kazakhstani toponymic terms associated with water sources. Such terms can be classified as follows: 1) lakes and salt marsh; 2) rivers; 3) well spring; 4) delve.

The Kazakhs defined the features of steppe and semi-desert regions, by determining the degree of salinity of lakes, which can be seen in their names. This makes clear the names of the regional lake terms. For example, there are a lot of place names that include the terms, such as “bitter”, “fresh”, “salt” and “salt marsh”. The place names of Ashysu, Sorti, Tuzdykol, Karasor, Saumalkol characterize the degree of lake salinity. Some studies show that the toponym “Kusak”, which is used in several areas of Aktogay district in Karaganda region, means “dry” and “firth”. The Kazakh hydronyms also define the water colors. The waters in rocky valleys of Central Kazakhstan have special colors as well. For example, in those regions, the Saryala lake appears a green color, and Kurendala lake appears a yellow-brown color. The most common term in groundwater use is a “delve”. In Karaganda region, there are more than a hundred names with this term. For example, the place names, such as Togyzkudyk, Maikudyk, Kamyskudyk, Karagankudyk, Zhidelikudyk, Taldykudyk consists of the names of plants and numerals suffixes. Geography and regional studies include a wide range of issues. Toponymy has taken an important place in the area studies. The further studies on toponyms are important for the local geography teacher because of two main reasons. Firstly, it is necessary to analyze the geographical names in relation to the history of nations of those periods, and the development of their agricultural characteristics. Secondly, it is essential to gain a deeper understanding about cause-and-effect relationship of geographical names, in order to increase students’ interests towards historical and current names of those places. Therefore, cognitive and pedagogical aspects are of particular importance in the study of geographical names. Having considered the above discussions, it can be concluded that exploration of toponymy in relation to the historical and geographical viewpoint are significant for improving students’ cognitive abilities in geography and local area studies. This is also the current demand of the time.

References:

1. Zhanyzakov T. “The land and water names of Central Kazakhstan”, Almaty, “Gylym” 1989

2. Zhanyzakov T. “Dictionary of geographical names of Central Kazakhstan”, Almaty, “Gylym” 1990

3. Zhunusov D. “The river and lake names”, Almaty, “Kazakhstan” 1991

4. Abdrakhmanov A. “Toponymy and etymology”, Almaty, “Gylym” 1975

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