LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF NATURAL ATTRACTION TOPONYMS IN LONDON

Abstract

Despite extensive scholarship on English toponymy, the names of natural attractions in London represent a distinct and under-researched category. This article analyzes the linguistic characteristics of the names of 115 natural attractions in London, which can be regarded as historical and cultural artifacts. Employing a qualitative approach, the study aims to investigate the etymological origins, morphological structures, and semantic features of the place names of these natural attractions in London. The findings reveal that Old English accounts for 60% of the names, while Norman French and Modern English together comprise 31.3%. From a morphological perspective, more than 90% of the names are compounds following the pattern [Modifier + Common Noun]. Semantically, expressions of ownership and social structure (35.7%) constitute the dominant meaning group, followed by topographical descriptions (24.3%). Overall, the results indicate that the names of London’s natural tourist sites serve a historiographical function and can be regarded as a form of social archive of the environment and geography, documenting the transition from folk-based descriptive naming practices to ideological and commemorative naming that reflects the historical transformation of a modern metropolis.