hydronimia
Hydronymy, also called hydronimia in some languages, is the branch of onomastics (toponymy) that studies the names given to bodies of water. This includes rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, springs, wells, channels, and other natural or artificial waterways. Hydronymy investigates how these names originate, evolve, and operate within languages and landscapes, and it examines their etymology, semantic categories, historical changes, and cultural significance.
As a subfield of toponymy, hydronymy analyzes patterns of water-name formation, distribution, and variation across linguistic
Methodologically, hydronymy relies on historical and comparative linguistics, toponymic corpora, and cartographic records. Scholars reconstruct proto-forms,
Notable patterns include intact indigenous names for long-used watercourses, eponymous names honoring persons or deities, and
Hydronymy contributes to historical geography, linguistic history, and regional cultural identity, while facing challenges such as