hrvatski

O ranijim grčkim imenima mjesta na istočnom Jadranu

Greek elements of the East Adriatic toponymy belong to at least three different horizons: (1) an earlier horizon, preceding the Roman conquest, corresponding to constantly growing Greek influence on native population, particularly from the 6th cent. BC on, together with foundations of several Greek colonies ; (2) the second one, corresponding to the presence of the Greek-speaking element in the area under Roman Empire ; (3) the third one, corresponding to the Early and Middle Byzantine periods, reflecting political, economic and cultural relations that endured up to the 12th century. The author considers several aspects of the Greek elements in the East Adriatic toponymy relating to the first horizon only. At first it is important to note the fact that Greeks never occupied any considerable region of the area. Before the coming of Greeks the East Adriatic zone was occupied by several different native languages and it seems that the Greek has rather gradually conquered its position as a language of common use: this happened hardly before the advanced Hellenistic era (mid 3rd - 2nd cent. BC). During their early navigations through the Adriatic Greeks made some kind of a system naming the places. Mostly they used the existing native names: some were simply adapted to their language, some were &laquo ; translated&raquo ; , while rather scarce number of places, almost all small or lesser islands lying along the main navigation routes, got their names from Greek mythology (e.g. Diomedeiai islands &#8211; modern Palagruža Island, with archeological evidence for the cult of the hero Diomedes, 6th-1st cent.BC). The Greek colonization of the earlier part of the 4th century BC produced only two poleis that survived: Pharos on the island of Hvar (settled by Parians of the Aegean) and Issa on the island of Vis (Syracusan colony). These foundations in the central Dalmatian Archipelago stimulated new developments from the last decades of the 4th century on. During the Hellenistic period the native societies opened to the ever growing trade with the overseas. New situation is reflected in a series of place names that are or could be of Greek origin ; besides Pharos and Herakleia founded in the 4th cent. BC, there are nesonyms such as: Tauris (near Hvar Island), Elaphites (the archipelago near Dubrovnik, Pliny), Lopud (<*elaphobota), Šipan (<*gypanon?), Koločep-Kalamota (<*kalamos?), Ragusa, -ium (=Dubrovnik, <*ragousa?) ; there is also the name of the most important city of the southern part of Roman Dalmatia, Epidaurum: its name could be (native?) Epitaurum, slightly changed under Greek influence. The author emphasizes the importance of the process that took place mostly from the very end of the 1st cent. BC to the middle 2nd cent., that is under Roman rule and with the Latin ever more dominant. The Roman administration systematically practised the land surveying (cadastre), built up a network of roads controlled and maintained by the state, produced a meticulous statistic evidence needed to organize land-taxing, recruiting etc. For the first time there has been all along the East Adriatic only one dominating language and the efforts to constitute a unique, (almost) official lists of place-names. From the other side, the gratest part of our evidence of place names in the Antiquity belongs to the sources of the Roman period. These facts are highly relevant for the studies of pre-Roman toponomastic strata. The inclusion/non-inclusion of place names belonging to different co-existing languages prior to Roman occupation makes possible further researches of the social and linguistic history of the area.

istočni Jadran; toponimija; antika; Grci

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