Urban Space and Inta-urban Naming: Efforts in the Classification of Urban Toponymy as Historical Resource

Historical toponymy is a specialized historical discipline, and toponyms comprise a discrete resource for historical research from which urban toponymy (intra-urban naming) ought to be rightly included. The discipline is concurrently a method of study in several disciplines, foremost among which is linguistics, but also including geography (and historical geography), and the related disciplines of ethnography and archaeology in particular.

The seminar was concerned itself with the following issues:

• Does inter-urban toponymy constitute a discrete taxonomy within Toponymy?
• What variations are possible within inter-urban toponymic classifications?
• Names, official and traditional.
• Is the lifespan of urban toponyms a long one?
• Do intra-urban place names convey reliable information regarding topography, property conditions, singular edifices, disposition of particular objects, and historical transportation links?
• The correlation between names and denotations.
• Does a methodology exist for the proper application of urban toponymy as resource for historical research?
• Challenges in acquiring resource materials.