Official toponymy and popular toponymy: the contribution of dialect forms and ethnotexts in the etymological and motivational reconstruction of (micro)toponyms

Recent and more historical studies of toponymy in the Literature have relied heavily on the kinds of, officially documented toponyms that appear on maps while little attention has been given to their oral (or dialect) equivalents in terms of their documentary and cognitive value. This paper outlines the results of a number of microtoponomastic surveys conducted in Sicily with local informants who, in addition to providing dialect forms, have also described the places referred to, given reasons for their names, and have told tales of the ‘facts’ connected with the place names investigated. Through a selected sample of the data collected, I wish to show how such material is important not only inasmuch as it can add to the written toponymy by providing place names that have as yet been unrecorded in the maps of the IGM (Istituto geografico militare), but also and above all in the fact that this data suggests forms and reasons for place names that are far from those given in the official records. Competing names, allotropes, and fluctuations in phonetic and morphological terms serve both to shed light on the relationship that exists between dialect place names and their translated equivalent in Italian and to clarify explanations and reconstructions that, though based on trusted sources, are not always convincing. We can think of the microtoponym Suro, given in Caracausi as meaning ‘walls surrounding a town’ (< ar. sur) but that in its dialect form instead appears to come from suᶸru (cork), the place in case being so-named for the large numbers of cork plants in the vicinity. Another example is that of microtoponym Cannatieddu (‘wine flask’), that is not registered in the maps of the IGM, and whose naming can be explained by looking at ethnotext that refer to a small watering trough where the water was tinted pink as a result of its high copper content. Our knowledge of Namengebung, which has been up to now based on official forms, may thus be enriched through taking into consideration the information provided in ‘spoken’ toponymy that shows itself to be essential factor in the provision of accurate etymological and motivational reconstructions.