Structural Toponymic Lexicography Challenges

In our paper, we present some of the challenges faced by the editors of toponymic dictionaries for the Moldavia region (within the current territory of Romania), created according to the principles of structural lexicography, as theorized by Dragoș Moldovanu. The structure of a dictionary entry reflects, as much as possible, the situation on the field, according to which the name of a sociogeographical object considered by the nominators to be more important often becomes part of the names of other geographical units in the area, resulting in toponymic fields. Among the difficulties encountered in editing are the identification of toponymic etymology by indicating the reason why a geographical object received that specific name and not another, determining the core toponym, and tracking the processes of toponymic polarization and differentiation through which toponymic fields develop.