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PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ANTHROPONYMY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

I. Boamfa

Abstract

To investigate the names of the person (the anthroponyms), it is necessary to respect a number of principles and methods. The principles of anthroponymic research are the principle of verification; the principle of knowing as accurately as possible the historical context in which an anthroponym or a group of anthroponyms appeared; the principle of differentiation. The research methods are grouped into two categories: the methods of collecting of the anthroponymic information and the methods of analysis and interpretation of anthroponyms. The methods (sources) for the collection of anthroponyms are highlighted: the direct field investigation; the inscriptions; the collections of historical documents; the anthroponymic dictionaries and encyclopaedias; the pre-censorship statistical records; the yearbooks; the regional or local monographs; the Internet sites; other sources (inscriptions on funerary monuments, monuments of heroes, inscriptions on the walls of houses, data present in cemeteries). In the methods of analysis and interpretation of anthroponymic data, on cite: the geographical method; the comparative-historical method; the linguistic analysis; the statistical method; the computing method; the cartographic method. For the full implementation of the scientific approach, some issues need to be solved. The most pressing one is the creation of a data base at the politico-administrative level. An issue is also the lack of anthroponymic data or their insufficiency, especially for the ancient historical epochs (antiquity, the Middle Ages), etc.

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