Folkloric characters in toponyms of Scotland: linguocognitive aspect

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of Scottish toponyms with names of folklore characters. The purpose of the research is to establish what knowledge about folklore characters is reflected in Scottish toponymy, and what nomination mechanisms are involved in their development. The article deals with Scottish toponyms containing the names of geographical objects, and names of folklore characters. The source of empirical material is Scottish toponymic dictionaries, works of foreign researchers and Internet resources. The methods of searching for particular toponymic units, cognitive matrix, lexico-semantic and etymological analysis, as well as cultural analysis are used to accomplish the purpose. in the course of the research we considered toponyms, the internal form of which contains the names of giants Saxa and Herman and the names of mythical creatures – faeries, boggles and brownies. In the cognitive bases of the considered toponyms there is cognitive context folklore characters and characteristics of the concept of place: inhabitant, quality and event. The place-names are formed through metaphorical and metonymic transfers. the cognitive bases of the considered toponyms reflect such knowledge about folklore characters as their habitat, abilities of folklore characters and related actions and events occurring at the place. Metaphorical and metonymic transfers are based on the comparison of knowledge about the external properties of the character and the geographical object and knowledge about feelings caused by what happens at the object, as well as on the correlation of the name of the folklore character, the quality of the object acquired due to the folklore character, and the name of the object.