Abstract
This study looks into Czech and Finnish place names containing the colour term WHITE in order to find out how the perception of this colour may change depending on the landscape and language, and how this, in turn, may influence the naming motivation and possible folk etymologies. The reason for choosing these two languages is one them being my mother tongue, the other one the subject of my studies for several years.
According to the theory of evolution and universality of basic colour terms (Berlin & Kay 1969), WHITE appears at the first stage (along with the term BLACK) when there are no other colour terms yet and therefore it serves to denote not only white but also lighter shades (of other colours). The research consists of two parts: the distribution of WHITE in landscape features and the analysis of naming motivation, i.e. what this colour term was (at the moment of namegiving) referring to.
There are about 1100 Czech microtoponyms in the area of Bohemia (available in the Department of Onomastics, Czech Language Institute, Prague) containing the colour term white (bíl-/běl-, e.g. Bílá hlína, Bělidlo), the most frequent naming motivations being the colour of soil, and laundry places.
The number of Finnish names containing the colour term WHITE (fin. valkea, e.g. Valkeajärvi, Valkeinen) is higher (ca 3500, available in the Names Archive, Helsinki).
Most of these names refer to lakes and they are usually motivated by the colour and clarity of water. In both languages there is a marginal but interesting group of names which are explained on the basis of supernatural beings and tragic events.