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Abstract:

The toponymy of Great Britain has more than two thousand years of history. For a long time, various linguistic and speech communities coexisted on the territory of the country, which was reflected in the variety of combinations of linguistic elements in the oikonyms of the country. The vocabulary used by them is reflected in various urban toponyms. Toponyms differ in the historical period of appearance, and in linguistic origin, the method of word formation. The article discusses the features of linguistic and historical characteristics in the nominations of cities in the toponymy of Great Britain. The structure of ‘city’ oikonyms is analyzed from the point of view of the presence or absence of a specific and/or generic element in their structure, historical features of the formation of topoformants, combinations of word elements from different languages, united in city nominations. The main linguistic categories of forming the basis of the studied oikonyms are singled out and studied: the ones formed on the basis of hydronyms, anthroponyms, theonyms, zoonyms or phytonyms.

Keywords: oikonyms, Great Britain, specific element, generic element, topoformant.