The Russian geographical term griva in the toponymy of Buryatia

The author reveals some semantic characteristics of the Russian geographical term griva in the toponymy of Buryatia. The meaning of figurative terms is often conditioned by landscape. This fact is showed in the article by the term griva. The relevance of the research is connected with more accurate description of place names in toponymic dictionaries which often neglected semantic shifts. Geographic approach made it possible to reveal different meanings of the term griva in the toponymy of Buryatia. More often it is used in the meanings ‘a low chain of mountains’, ‘an oblong ridge’, ‘a flank of hill’, widespread in Siberia and Urals. Besides, it has been discovered an area of place names where griva is used as ‘a narrow strip of wood’ and ‘an oblong dry place on a bog’ widespread in Northern and Central Russian dialects.