Raakpunte tussen streekgeskiedenis en pleknaamkunde.
Abstract
• Opsomming:
Omdat taal een van die belangrikste kultuuroorblyfsels van
vergange mensegemeenskappe is, behoort historici dit as 'n waardevolle en veelsydige bron van inligting omtrent die verlede te ag. Hierdie opvatting het miskien in hoër mate ook op plekname betrekking.
Gevolglik is dit 'n logiese uitvloeisel dat pleknaamkunde en
streekgeskiedenis sekere raakpunte en vlakke van samewerking behoort
te toon. Hierdie samewerking hou egter praktiese gevare in as
dit nie op deeglike (vak-) kennis gegrond is nie. Suid-Afrikaanse
streekhistorici het nog nie eens begin om pleknaamkunde as 'n bron
van inligting te benut nie omdat daar by hulle óf nog onkunde oor
die waarde daarvan heers of omdat hulle nie onderleg is om naamkundige
gegewens te ontsluit nie. Aangesien plekname moeilik
uitgewis word, bly dit dikwels eeue lank voortbestaan en dien
byvoorbeeld as kennisbron omtrent die eerste inwoners en Iatere nedersetters,
die ras, taal en tradisies van die mense, die oernatuurlandskap,
fauna en flora, historiese gebeurtenisse en figure asook
kultuurbedrywighede. Plekname kan soms misleidend wees en die
historikus op 'n dwaalspoor laat beland. Hy moet dus vir sowel name
wat nie direk op 'n bepaalde plek of sy inwoners betrekking het nie
as vir die onjuiste uitleg van plekname, op sy hoede wees. • Summary:
As language is one of the most important cultural relics of
human societies of the past, historians should regard it as a valuable
and many-sided source of information on the past. This is also true
of place-names, perhaps more so. It is therefore natural that there
should be points of contact and co-operation between toponymy and
regional history. There are, however, practical risks in this cooperation
if it is not based on sound scholarship. South African regional
historians have not even begun to exploit toponymy, largely
because they are ignorant of place-names as a source of information,
and, secondly, because of their incompetence in retrieving the information
they contain. Since place-names are very resistant to change,
they sometimes survive for many centuries, carrying with them information
on various matters, e.g. on the original settlers and those
who moved in at a later stage, their race, language, and social traditions;
on the original landscape, including fauna and flora; on
historical events and personalities, and on cultural activities. In
some instances place-names can be deceptive and lead the historian
astray. He should therefore be wary of names that have no direct
bearing on either the location or its inhabitants and of unsound interpretations
of place-names.