KULTÚRNOHISTORICKÉ HĽADISKO POMENOVANIA ARCHEOLOGICKÝCH NÁLEZÍSK POHANSKÝ HRAD/ POHANSKÝ VRCH A ICH MOTIVÁCIA SLOVOM POHAN

The article deals with the names of selected archaeological sites of the Kyjatice culture or selected fortified features with polycultural settlement which are concentrated in the south of Central Slovakia and the adjacent area of Northern Hungary. The authors derive the origin of the Slavic word pohan in the toponyms of Pohanský hrad, Pohanský vrch from the Latin expression pāgānus meaning rural or village, which is related to the Latin word pāgus – village. With regard to the time of origin, a contemporary semantic phenomenon – village castle – is petrified in the names of Pohanský hrad, Pohanský vrch (Hungarian Pogányvár, Pogány-hegy, English Pagan castle, Pagan hill). When named by means of Slavic vocabulary, with their localization and function, these pagan castles were different from the medieval castles which were also built in the country, but in a different era, different social structures and fulfilled functions correspondent with the time of their origin and prospering. The article is motivating and has a further ambition to consider the relation between the Pre-Christian onymic features and their names by words from a later culture. The names of Pohanský hrad, Pohanský vrch had basic functions of proper nouns when they were created in the Slavic language environment and its nearest vicinity – identification, orientation, denomination and reference, i.e. expressing relations of those features to an extinct social identity. In this case, it is related to the population of the Urnfield culture or protohistory.