Prontuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Prontuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige, in English Reference Work of Place Names in South Tyrol, is a list of Italianized place names in South Tyrol which was published in 1916 by the Reale Società Geografica Italiana (Royal Italian Geographic Society). The list was called the Prontuario in short and it formed an important part of the Italianization process initiated by the fascists, as it was the basis for the official place and district names in South Tyrol. It has often been criticised by the German speaking population of South Tyrol because the names used have little historical reference and many entirely new names were introduced.
Contents |
[edit] Development
In the 1890s Ettore Tolomei founded a nationalist magazine "The Italian Nation". He hoped to create the impression that South Tyrol had originally been an Italian territory and that the German history of South Tyrol was merely a short interruption and that the land did indeed belong to Italy. In 1916, a year after Italy's entrance in the First World War a commission was set up on the basis of Tolomei's work to translate the place names of the "soon to be conquered territory". The commission (comprised of Tolomei himself, Professor of Botany and Chemistry Ettore De Togni as well as the librarian Vittorio Baroncelli) translated almost 12,000 place and district names on the basis of Tolomei's study, which he had begun in 1906. In June 1916 this list was published as Volume XV, Part II of Memorie of the Reale Società Geografica Italiana as well as in Archivio per l'Alto Adige, con Ampezzo e Livinallongo, an annual publication established by Tolomei himself. In 1923, three years after South Tyrol had been formally annexed, the place names were Italianized by means of a royal decree and almost entirely based on the Prontuario. The original place names were re-established after the end of the Second World War.
[edit] Translation Methodology
While translating the names of places, a number of methodologies were used:
- Use of previously existing Italian names: e.g. (Bozen-Bolzano, Meran-Merano);
- Use of previous Roman settlements in the area: e.g. Sterzing-Vipiteno, from the Roman settlement called Vipitenum;
- Phonetic Reduction: The name was simply italianized (normally by adding a vowel to the end of the name), e.g. Brenner-Brennero or for Moos-Moso. In some cases, initial versions such Toblach-Toblaco were further modified so that today we have Toblach-Dobbiaco;
- Direct Translation: e.g Lago Verde for Grünsee; this was frequent source of mistakes, as Linsberg was translated with Monte Luigi, which was also used as the translation of Luisberg;
- Use of the patron saint of the town: e.g.: Innichen-San Candido;
- Geographical derivations: e.g. Colle Isarco (Hill-upon-Eisack) for Gossensaß.
[edit] External links
- Online version of the Prontuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige. (Digitalised by Edoardo Mori; the Prontuario is available as a PDF file at the link of the same name)
