The Salt in the Bulgarian Microthoponymy
Anna Choleva-Dimitrova, Maya Vlahova-Angelova,
Nadezhda Dancheva
Institute for Bulgarian Language, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria
Аbstract
In the framework of the project „THRACIANS – Genesis and Development of Ethnicity, Cultural Identities, Civilizational Interactions and Heritage from Antiquity“, BAS (TOPIC 8, II part): The Heritage of Antiquity in Bulgarian Onomastics one of the main tasks
we set ourselves is to mark on the whole territory of Bulgaria, as far as possible, the names of the places where salt was originally extracted (such as Slatina), i.e. places where settlements arose relatively early. Presented are 565 toponyms from 50 former districts of Bulgaria, all
of which are derived from the word salt. The terminological diversity of the studied onyms is summarized and the areas in which toponyms with this basis are most common are outlined. The research proves that in a large part of the area, in places called Slatina there are remains of ancient settlements, mainly from the prehistoric era, as well as old mining works, and places where gold was mined.
Keywords: toponym, Slatina, salt, ancient settlement