Citation: Sandvik, H. (2023) Stedsnavn i Tirol: endonymiprinsippets utfordringer i møtet med språklig og toponymisk mangfold [Toponyms of Tyrol – how to apply the endonymic principle in a highly diverse namescape (in Norwegian with English abstract)]. Namn og nemne, 40, 37–68.
Key words: Tyrol, toponymy, German toponyms, Italian toponyms, Ladin toponyms, Norwegian spelling norm
Abstract:
Tyrol has an extraordinary diversity of toponyms, which is due to the various languages
that have been and are spoken in this mountainous area. After presenting the "namescape"
of Tyrol (North Tyrol, East Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino), the article addresses the
challenges that the toponymy of Tyrol poses for the official Norwegian spelling norm and
identifies two problems. First, the spelling of the landscape itself (Tyrol) is
incompatible with the endonymic principle (which demands Tirol). Second, most
toponyms of South Tyrol are currently normalised in their Italian forms. However, the
endonymic principle suggests that the norm should allow all forms that are locally
well-established. A coherent alternative to the current Norwegian spelling norm is suggested
[viz. with bilingual forms for Adige/Etsch, Anpezo / Cortina d'Ampezzo,
Bolzano/Bozen, Drau/Drava, Meran/Merano and trilingual for
Ghërdeina / Gröden / Val Gardena].
Further recommendations are given regarding the Norwegian spelling of Tyrolean toponyms
that are not covered by the official norm
[viz.: (1) always use the toponym that is applied by the majority of the inhabitants of the
place; (2) consider adding in brackets the toponym(s) used by the local minority (minorities),
especially when this minority (these minorities) constitute(s) 10% or more of the inhabitants
of the place].
Full text: © 2023 Hanno Sandvik. If you accept (i) the conditions specified in the Creative Commons "Attribution-ShareAlike" 4.0 licence, and (ii) that printouts have to be made on recycled paper, you may download the article here (pdf, 0.9 MB).
Supplementary material: The data underlying the article are available from Zenodo at doi:10.5281/zenodo.10041309.
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