Abstract
The etymology of toponyms has long become a favored subject of research and a matter of public curiosity. Geographical names are a mine of information about the history of an object, its location, distinctive features, significant cultural and political events, natural disasters, popular rulers, conquerors, etc. Etymological analysis remains the only way to extract reliable historical and ethnocultural information they contain. In this regard, scientific etymological searchers should be considered on par with naive (popular) etymology that captures people’s worldview reflected in the language. The latter manifests itself in folkore and toponymy, gradually eroding in collective memory and reshaping due newly occurred events associated with the past, the way it is seen by later generations. Figuratively, it functions as a “back reflection” of the folklore text. It is important to understand what stands behind that or another folk etymology, what are its social causes and consequences, what cultural meanings it retains. In recent years, the frame of scientific and folk etymology is repeatedly invaded by the so-called “armchair” (false-etymological) conceptions on the origin of toponyms, which are basically counterfactual theories unrelated to the scientific thought. Linguists are obliged to reasonably refute these fallacious views that undermine the credibility of etymological findings. The article discusses Kazakh names of the cities of Almaty, Akmola, Astana, Pavlodar (Koryakov, Kimak, Kereku), Petropavl, Semipalatinsk (Semey), Ust-Kamenogorsk (Öskemen). The authors delve into the history of astionyms to deliver their detailed etymological interpretation which allows them to distinguish between scientific, folk-ethymological, and false-etymological versions of the origin of names.