Między endonimem a egzonimem. Status nazw obiektów transgranicznych

The aim of the paper is to discuss the theoretical endonymic or exonymic status of names of transboundary geographical features. The history and the most important definitions of the concepts of endonym and exonym are presented briefly. These are the definitions approved and used by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. In the second part of the paper the newly proposed “academic” definitions and theoretical approaches to the endonym – exonym divide are discussed. The third part of the paper is devoted to the status of the names of transboundary features that results from different theoretical views on the nature of endonyms and exonyms. The last part provides arguments for the “holistic” approach, i.e. for the position that the endonymic status is valid for a name within its whole range, notwithstanding any borders dividing the geographical feature.