The Names of Plants as Toponymic bases in Russian Don Dialects

Scientists around the world study local geographic names in various languages. In this article, we are trying to determine and describe the words meaning the names of plants that served as toponymic bases in Russian Don dialects. We chose the materials
for this article from the card catalog of the Don and the Sea of Azov toponymic dictionary collected by the department of general and comparative linguistics of Southern Federal University. Many toponyms in the Don and the Sea of Azov area include botanical terminology, and the names of plants served as the basis for the names of gullies, ravines, lakes, streams, rivers, etc. The names of trees and bushes make up the biggest group among the names of plants used as toponymic bases. Both common and dialect words can become toponymic bases. The article describes microtoponyms formed from the names of willow, sallow, goat willow, birch, oak, aspen, pear, etc. The analysis showed the toponym bases formed from the names of the trees were widely use throughout the territory where people spoke the Don dialects. We should also point out that stems of the dialect words possess a good world-forming potential. Almost all toponymic bases have Proto-Slavic origin, are known in the modern Russian literary language, and can be met in numerous dialect variations. Most of the loanwords are of Turkic origin.