My sources and discourse | Osward Chanda

Onomastics, the scientific study of names, is a relatively new discipline that saw its birth in the mid twentieth century. It is interesting to note that Hungarian scholars are among the pioneers in this field from around the 1950s onwards. Onomastics is still undergoing institutionalisation in many parts of the world. There are a handful Onomastic societies in Europe, few in Asia, one in America and only one in the entire Africa. The few existing onomastic programmes in universities are very recent. As a result, the field tends to draw much from a variety of related fields.

Notably, the very nature of onomastics is broad. According to the International Council of Onomastic Sciences, onomastics deals with the study of anthroponyms (names of human beings), toponyms (place names), ethnonyms (names of ethnic groups), hydronyms (names of water bodies), theonyms (names of gods or God), astronyms (names of stars or other heavenly bodies), zoonyms (names of animals), technological terminologies, scientific terms, medical terms, nicknames and all other categories of proper names. As a result, the themes covered vary, including politics, power, legislation, psychology, sociology, economy, and many others.

There are a number of established onomastic journals including Onoma (global), Names (USA), Nomina Africana (South Africa), and others. The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS), American Name Society (ANS), Society of British and Irish Onomastics and the Name Society of Southern Africa (NSA) are among the examples of institutions which bring onomasticians together. A list of standard terminologies to be used in Onomastics was published recently in print, some of which can be accessed on the ICOS website.  

Disciplines where I will draw sources

1.       Onomastics

2.       Anthropology

3.       Philology

4.       Sociology

5.       Laws/policies

6.       History

7.       Linguistics

8.       Religious Studies

Categories of sources

1.       Books

2.       Articles

3.       Reports

4.       Conference papers

5.       Policies/government documents

6.       Theses

7.       Websites

8.       Interviews

Key Secondary Sources

Frequency	Same primary sources	Similar methodology	Cross-citation	Other (policies, standard practices)
2		Gudeta	Gudeta
3	Penda	Penda	Penda
			Datuuma II
3	Tembo	Tembo	Tembo
1			Turner
1			Gluckman
1			Evans-Pritchard
1			Wele
1			Daily Mail
1			Manchishi
3	Lisimba	Lisimba	Lisimba
2	Kapwepwe		Kapwepwe
2	Kashoki		Kashoki
2	Cheke Cultural Writers		Cheke Cultural Writers
2	Chikota Cha Luchazi Association		Chikota Cha Luchazi Association
1			Kasonde
1			Janzen
1			Van Dijk et.al
1			Gropeter
1			Guhrs
1			Colson
1			Ngulube
2			Ministry of Lands and Mines	Ministry of Lands and Mines
2			Government Printers (Zambia)	Government Printers (Zambia)
2			Ndulo	Ndulo
2			UNGEGN	UNGEGN
2			ICOS	ICOS

Key on sources used:

Blue: Similar methodology, cross-citation

Green: Same primary sources, similar methodology, cross-citation

Yellow: Cross-citation

Pink: Same primary sources, cross citation

Grey: Cross-citation, other

The field of onomastics is all-inclusive. It draws from such disciplines as geography, religious studies, technology, natural sciences, history, linguistics, literature, anthropology, etc. My study will be concerned with the cultural heritage aspect of anthroponymy and toponymy in Zambia.

Links

https://icosweb.net/drupal/

https://unstats.un.org/UNSD/geoinfo/UNGEGN/default.html