Place names used by the Hungarian inhabitants of the settlements of Csernakeresztúr, Sándoregyháza and Székelykeve

Abstract

Place names used by the Hungarian inhabitants of the settlements of Csernakeresztúr, Sándoregyháza and Székelykeve

This paper discusses the place names of three settlements into which Bukovina Székelys moved at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. These three settlements, Csernakeresztúr (Cristur), Sándoregyháza (Ivanovo) and Székelykeve (Skorenovac) are today outside the boundaries of Hungary: Csernakeresztúr is in Romania, while Sándoregyháza and Székelykeve are in Serbia. The place names in the three settlements have been affected by the official languages of the states in which they are located. A certain percentage of the place names is used only or partially in the official language: the settlement names and the street names are used in two languages, i.e. in Hungarian and in the official language (in Csernakeresztúr and in Székelykeve), or used mainly in the official language (in Sándoregyháza). Name-giving practices observed in the Székely settlements of Bukovina are present in the three surveyed settlements as well: e.g. dividing the villages into lower and upper parts, naming fields after their proprietors or naming streets based on size.