Local dictionary

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A local dictionary , local directory or gazetteer is a reference work that lists the places and communities in a larger or smaller region.

species

In addition to the names of the places and municipalities, simpler lists usually include the next higher administrative unit or a region name, a code for the type of name (place, municipality, hamlet, etc.) and the geographic coordinates . These lists are often called in the title gazetteer or, increasingly, in German, Gazetteer . They also appear in this way as registers in atlases . Scientific explanations also name the sources (e.g. official maps ) from which the names were taken.

Almost any further information such as population figures, postcodes , nearest train station, competent courts, coats of arms and flags as well as geographical and historical notes on changing administrative divisions or nationalities can be provided. Such lists are often called local lexicon . If places that have gone desolate and old forms of name are also listed, the publication is often referred to as the historical local dictionary or historical local directory .

Furthermore, the official publications on population censuses contain the statistical data collected according to administrative units. Since the statistical offices also use the official spelling, census publications can serve as a makeshift place directory.

Today's local directories are often no longer (or not only) printed, but on CD-ROM or on the Internet. The query is much more flexible than with printed works, but even the best online directories do not provide the amount of place names that can be found (cumulatively) in printed directories.

history

Place directories are already known from ancient times. The first index of places in China and thus probably one of the first worldwide dates from the 1st century.

With the emergence of atlases in the 16th century, the production of place directories also increased significantly. Even today, one of the many criteria for a good atlas is the availability of a complete list of all names in the atlas.

The structure and requirements for a gazetteer were specified by ISO in the ISO 19112 standard in 2003 .

Important works by area

Germany

Some well-known and still used national local dictionaries are:

Bavaria

Lower Saxony

Schleswig-Holstein

Austria-Hungary, Republic of Austria

Official gazetteers:

Switzerland

  • Markus Lutz (Ed.): Complete description of the Swiss country, or, geographic-statistical hand-lexicon of all cantons, districts, districts, offices in the entire Confederation ... 2nd edition. Aarau 1827-1835.
  • Charles Knapp, Maurice Borel, Victor Attinger, Heinrich Brunner, Société neuchâteloise de geographie (eds.): Geographical Lexicon of Switzerland . 6 volumes. Verlag Gebrüder Attinger, Neuchâtel ( peter-hug.ch - 1902–1910).
  • [Claudia and Robert Schnieper] (Red.): New Swiss local dictionary. 23rd edition. Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7658-0403-7 .
  • [Martin Schuler et al.] (Ed.): Population development of the municipalities 1850-2000: Eidgenössische Volkszählung 2000. Neuchâtel 2002, ISBN 3-303-01154-0 (Statistics of Switzerland. Department 1, Population).

Worldwide

  • Benjamin Ritter: Ritter's geographical-statistical lexicon on continents, countries, seas, ports, lakes, rivers, islands ... 9th edition, edit. by Johann Penzler, Leipzig 1910.
  • Gazetteer of ..., series ed. from the United States Board on Geographic Names . Washington DC 1950–1998 (published in up to four revised editions for each country in the world as well as various dependent areas; the scope of these name directories, which are officially valid in the USA, ranges from almost 9 pages [Gibraltar] to 7 volumes [Soviet Union]) .
  • Merriam-Webster's geographical dictionary. 3rd edition, Springfield, Mass. 1997, ISBN 0-87779-546-0 .
  • Leon E. Seltzer (Ed.): The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the world. New York 1952, DNB 450815498 . (Citation form: Lippincott. Belongs to the list of "Technical Reference Works for the Common Authority File".)
  • Saul B. Cohen (Ed.): The Columbia gazetteer of the world. 2nd edition, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-231-14554-1 .
  • Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Online (since 1987, online since 1997, 2 million entries)
  • GeoNames Database (since 2006, 10 million entries)
  • Zhongguo gujin diming da cidian , China

literature

  • Emil Meynen: Gazetteers and glossaries of geographical names of the member-countries of the United Nations and the agencies in relationship with the United Nations: bibliography 1946–1976 = Nomenclatures toponymiques et glossaires des noms géographiques des membres des Nations Unies et des organizations affiliées: bibliography 1946–1976. Wiesbaden 1984, ISBN 3-515-04036-6 .

Web links

Wikisource: Digitized local lexica on the Internet  - sources and full texts
Wikisource: Law, regarding the service tariff and the class division of the places (German Empire, 1887)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ OBVSG : bibliographic evidence .
  2. ↑ OBVSG : bibliographic evidence .
  3. ↑ OBVSG : bibliographic evidence .
  4. ↑ OBVSG : bibliographic evidence .