THE ROLE OF LINGUISTIC DATA IN THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT REGIONAL ONOMASTICS (BASED ON THE SOURCES OF THE REGION OF THE MIDDLE OKA)
Linguistic data are the source of the study of ancient regional onomastics. They allow to interpret the available material in terms of its linguistic origin, as well as to establish the belonging of a group of toponyms to the speakers of a dialect. The paper provides a theoretical justifi cation of effectiveness of comparing the linguistic and onomastic data, and basing on the toponymic material of the Middle (Ryazan) Oka demonstrates the possibility of such correlation, indicating directions for further regional studies.