Abstract:

The most significant factor shaping a nation is its culture. Culture takes its source from memories of the nation. It has emerged in traditions, customs, languages, and literature. Societies with strong memories preserve themselves by transferring their cultural treasures to future generations. Place names are also a part of social memory. When Turks migrated from Central Asia, they used the location’s names to fulfil their homesickness and did not forget their roots while they raised their future generations in these new places. For this reason, Anatolia is full of place-names engraved in Turkish memory. Many materials that shed light on Turkish history and culture can be obtained from place-names. Studies on place names have also revealed the Turkish tradition of naming places. Studies in the field of toponymy in Turkey have increased in recent years. These studies, which should be compared with the names in history, will save the old place names from the archive and contribute to the use of these names together with today’s place names. In this study, the village names of the Merkez district of Burdur province were examined together with their historical names and evaluated in terms of origin, phonetic, and structural information.

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