THE ROLE OF TOPONYMS IN CREATING THE IMAGE OF THE EAST IN THE 17TH CENTURY MONUMENT "ON THE VOYAGE FROM MOSCOW TO THE PERSIAN KINGDOM..." BY FEDOT KOTOV

Abstract

This article examines the 17^th century travelogue "On the Voyage from Moscow to the Persian Kingdom, from Persia to Turkey, to India, and to Urmuz on the White Sea, Where the Germans Arrive by Ship", by the Moscow merchant Fedot Kotov, completed in 1623–1624. This historical and literary work is presented in the form of a travelogue. The author integrates this work into the thematic unity of Eastern Russian literature, suggesting that the text be analyzed within the context of this multi-genre thematic community. Common elements of Eastern texts include route markers describing the journey to the East and extensive nominations of geographical and man-made landscape features in foreign spaces. In travelogues, the route determines the plot and structure of the text. Routing becomes the basis for the composition of the text of the analyzed monument, establishing periods of movement and stops. Routing becomes the basis for the composition of the text of the analyzed monument, establishing periods of movement and stops. Movement necessitates abundant toponymic nomination and topographical commentary on landscape features, while stops allow the inclusion of ethnographic commentary and pictorial sketches of everyday life related to the history and present of the toponymic object. The travelogue describes the route from Moscow along the Volga and Caspian Sea to Isfahan and Sultaniya; the route from Shamakhi to Turkey; the route from Isfahan to India, etc. An expanded toponymic nomination, indication of distances between points and types of geographical features with descriptions of their features, recreate a pictorial layout of the space, which has an aesthetic effect. The toponym is considered as a sign for designating a landscape feature, natural or man-made, and as an element of the poetics of the work, while commentary on the toponymic object serves as a means of the author's presence in the text.

Extended Abstract

This article examines the 17th-century travelogue “On the Voyage from Moscow to the Persian Kingdom, from Persia to Turkey, to India, and to Urmuz on the White Sea, Where the Germans Arrive by Ship” by the Moscow merchant Fedot Kotov. The author integrates this work into the thematic unity of the Eastern text of Russian literature, proposing its analysis within the context of this multi-genre thematic corpus. Common elements of such texts include route markers describing the journey to the East and extensive nomination of geographical and man-made landscape features in foreign spaces. In the travelogue, the route determines the plot and structure of the text. Routing becomes the basis for the composition of the analyzed monument, establishing periods of movement and stops. Movement necessitates abundant toponymic nomination and topographical commentary on landscape features, while stops allow for the inclusion of ethnographic commentary and pictorial sketches of everyday life related to the history and present of the toponymic object.

The travelogue describes routes from Moscow along the Volga and the Caspian Sea to Isfahan and Sultaniya; from Shamakhi to Turkey; from Isfahan to India, and others. An expanded toponymic nomination, indication of distances between points, and types of geographical features with descriptions of their characteristics recreate a pictorial layout of space, which has an aesthetic effect. The toponym is considered as a sign for designating a landscape feature, natural or man-made, and as an element of the work's poetics, while commentary on the toponymic object serves as a means of the author's presence in the text.

The study establishes that the description of the route in the travelogue serves as its narrative and compositional core. It is determined that the artistic means of the travelogue is toponymic nomination. A total of 137 toponyms of various types are identified and analyzed in the text. The subject of the research is the substantive content of the toponym, the context formed during its existence and application. It is concluded that toponyms in a travel text are incorporated into the national worldview and acquire their specific historical and cultural context, which expands the substantive volume of the toponym in the course of its existence and application. The inclusion of historical and cultural realities in the description of a toponymic object recreates the historical appearance of the point denoted by the toponym, actualized in the practical usage of the toponym.

Thus, toponyms in Kotov’s travelogue function not merely as geographical designations but as complex semantic units organizing the perception of foreign space. They integrate practical, documentary information with historical, cultural, and ethnographic commentary, thereby constructing a multifaceted image of the East. This approach allows the author to overcome the impersonal, official style of the report, introducing an artistic element and an authorial perspective. The expanded nomination and commentary on toponyms create a detailed, visually rich cartographic project of the traversed territories, contributing to the formation of the Eastern text in Russian literature and demonstrating the cognitive and aesthetic potential of toponymy in travel narratives.