Every place-name has a story behind it — the name was bestowed by someone, at a particular time and for a particular reason, and sometimes the name is changed for various reasons. Conducting intensive toponymy is the process of writing a place-name’s “biography,” which essentially involves answering the following wh-questions:
• Who named the place?
• When was the place named?
• Why was it given this particular name?
• What does the name mean? What kind of feature is it?
• Where does the name come from? (referring to either the language or region of origin); Where is the place located?
The naming of Montville in Queensland, Australia, provides a fitting example of intensive toponymic research and the answering of the five wh- questions. Hannah Smith (née Freeman, b. May 1816, Birtsmorton Worcestershire, England; d. April 17 1901, Montville, Queensland), moved from England to the USA with her family of sixteen children. They settled in the town of Montville Connecticut. However, in 1879 Hannah and some of her sons moved to Queensland, Australia, where they settled at Redland Bay. They moved again in 1893 to the Blackall Ranges where Hannah’s sons Henry and Fred bought a selection of land. The local township was called Razorback, after the steep ridge on which it stands. In the same year, Henry applied to establish a “Receiving Office” (i.e., a Post Office) there. In 1897, he applied to the Under Secretary of the Queensland Post and Telegraph Department to have the name Razorback changed to Vermont. This was rejected, but apparently, at the request of his mother, he reapplied, this time requesting the name be changed to Montville, after their hometown in Connecticut. This request was officially accepted on November 27 1897.
• Who named the place? Henry Smith
• When was the place named? November 27 1897
• Why was it given this particular name? To commemorate the hometown of Hannah Smith’s family
• What does the name mean? From the French mont = “mountain,” ville =“town”
• Where does the name come from? Transferred from Connecticut, USA.
In many cases, answers to some or all of the wh- questions may not be found because too long a time has passed since the naming, and/or the necessary documentation (if it ever existed) has disappeared. Other questions researchers ask include:
• Did the place or feature have previous names?
if so, what are these?
for each or these names, the five wh- questions are posed
and why any previous names were replaced
• To which category of toponym does the name belong?
There are also three basic fields or domains of intensive toponymy:
1. A toponym’s identification
2. A toponym’s documentation
3. A toponym’s interpretation
Each of these fields has a number of parameters:
1. A toponym’s identification (five parameters):
a. its orthographic form(s) (including previous names)
b. its linguistic substance (morphology, syntax, semantics, etymology)
c. the feature type of its generic element
d. the taxon, class, or category of its specific element (based on its semantic components)
e. its location (latitude + longitude)
[For parameters a, b, and c, a sound linguistic knowledge is required]
2. A toponym’s documentation (three parameters)
a. collected primarily from written sources
b. found preferably in primary sources
c. referenced in standard bibliographic terms
3. A toponym’s interpretation (two parameters)
a. its “biography”
b. based on the most reliable of its documentation.