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Since olden times Karelians and Vepsians settled on banks of rivers and lakes developing uninhabited places and giving them their names. Villages were named after rivers or other features of the district (a mountain, bay, cape or name of its first inhabitant). These toponyms, place names of settlements, are original monuments of history, language and culture of people that created them, reflect physiographic features of the region, history of its population, conditions of life and occupations of the population, their world outlook and belief.
Kuusiniemi settlement, Kalevala region
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With adoption of local names by Russian language settlements have received their Russian designations not always corresponding to the indigenous. In this connection the necessity to match place names of Karelia both in Russian, and in Karelian, Finnish and Veppsian languages is long overdue.
In 2005 the terms and spelling commission at the Head of the Republic of Karelia and onomastic center of the Institute of Language, Literature and History of Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences had made a great work to match Karelian and Vepsian names of settlements in territory of the Republic of Karelia. On results of this work, for the first time in the post-war period, The List of Names of Settlements in Russian, Karelian and Vepsian Languages (in territory of compact residing of Karelians and Vepsians) directory was published.
The settlement of Pryazha
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The next step in preservation of these names was establishment of billboards with names in language of indigenous people on existing traffic signs. In 2006 for the first time billboards were established in territory of compact residing of Vepsians in Vepsian language in Prionezhsky region. In the following years inhabited localities of Louhi, Muezersky municipal regions, Kostomuksha Urban District, Kalevala, Pryazha and Olonets national municipal regions along with Russian names on guide sign have received indigenous Karelian names. Not only place names, but also front signboards with names of establishments of culture and education in native language please inhabitants and visitors of Karelia in these municipal formations.
Petrozavodsk was not an exception. Travellers and guests of the city already at the railway station see the name of the city – Petroskoi. The road service station connecting the capital with regions of the republic, also has its second name of Autoasema. One of the new building hypermarkets is called KODI (Home), a food store in one of the microdistricts is called Onnela (Happy Country), many drugstores of the city have names in Russian and Finnish languages. Names of some enterprises of the city also have Finno-Ugric roots (Seppo, Ilves, Tukat, etc.).
At the recent meeting with representatives of the Council of Karelians, Veppsians and Finns Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov has supported this initiative.
Currently the Ministry of the RK on National Politics and Relations with Religious Associations accepts offers concerning introduction of Karelian, Veppsian and Finnish equivalents in names of various objects both in Petrozavodsk, and in municipal regions. All offers will be forwarded for consideration of the terms and spelling commission.
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