“Love Science not in Yourself Alone”: Review of the XXI International Scientific Conference “Onomastics of the Volga Region”

Abstract

The article describes the scope of onomastic research outlined at the XXI International Scientific Conference “Onomastics of the Volga Region”, which took place on October 3-5, 2023 at Ryazan State University named after S.A. Yesenin. At plenary and panel sessions, reports were heard and discussed on the theoretical and methodological aspects of onomastics, modern problems of anthroponymy and ethnonymy, toponymy and microtoponymy; the study of urban onomastic space, literary and folklore onomastics, as well as onomastic periphery (studies of zoonyms, theonyms and onomastic units of other categories). For the first time, separate thematic blocks were composed of reports examining the possibilities of using onomastic material (in particular, local history) at school and university, as well as the peculiarities of the functioning of onyms as parts of proverbs. As a result of the conference, priority areas of onomastics of the 21st century were revealed, controversial issues and research prospects were identified.