A previously little-researched field of onomastics

The event, entitled “Of Sky Paths and Cloud Piercers: On the Conflict Between Indigenous and Colonial Mountain Names,” took place as part of an online colloquium organized by the Society for Name Research (Gesellschaft für Namensforschung e. V.) on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, and was open to interested parties from various universities, including students from the University of Bremen. As a speaker, Dr. Sven Leuckert from the Technical University of Dresden provided insight into his current research work on the lexicology and lexicography of so-called mountaineering English, the special language register of mountaineers.

The lecture focused on the scientific examination of mountain names, known as oronyms. This topic is not only another important focus of Dr. Sven Leuckert's linguistic research, but also shaped the theme of the online colloquium. In addition to the historical development of lexicography and the special vocabulary and linguistic structures within mountaineering communities, Leuckert offered an in-depth insight into a field of onomastics that has been little researched to date.

On the conflict between indigenous and colonial mountain names

Using the research methodology of corpus linguistics, Leuckert's presentation examined the research questions of which name variants and spellings for the mountains Aoraki/ Mount Cook in New Zealand and Denali / Mount McKinley in the United States of America, and to what extent the discussion about the naming practice of these mountains has been explicitly addressed in the New Zealand Alpine Journal.

In his presentation, Leuckert first addressed the ongoing debate about the naming and renaming of mountains, emphasizing that the use of colonial-era names remains a controversial practice to this day. At the heart of the debate is the question of how to strike an appropriate balance between recognizing indigenous traditions and honoring mountaineering achievements. Leuckert then presented the results of his quantitative analysis of the different naming strategies for Aoraki/Mount Cook and Denali/Mount McKinley in the journal under review. 

Central to the evaluation was, on the one hand, the realization that the earlier (exclusive) use of colonial names in historical development was increasingly replaced by variants that also took indigenous mountain names into account. On the other hand, the analysis showed that the discussion about the naming of mountains was only taken up irregularly in the New Zealand Alpine Journal and rarely explicitly. To illustrate this and to the great interest of the audience, Leuckert presented various excerpts from the New Zealand Alpine Journal. These examples impressively demonstrated how the naming of mountains is discussed in the journal. 

A lively exchange and new horizons for research

Following the approximately one-hour presentation, there was ample time for a lively exchange among the participants, with the discussion contributions directly related to the content of the event. Particular criticism was directed at the role of the authors of the journal articles and their individual preferences in the use of mountain names. Those present also discussed the extent to which the context of an article influences the naming of mountains and the significance of commercial interests in alpine tourism when it comes to naming or renaming mountains.

After the presentation had focused primarily on New Zealand and America, the geographical perspective was broadened in the discussion round. In particular, the focus shifted to the naming practices for the world-famous and particularly prestigious mountains of Nepal – a country that was never colonized. What other names do the mountains known internationally as “Mount Everest,” “Lhotse,” or “Annapurna” have, and how has the use of these oronyms developed historically in a non-colonized nation compared to post-colonial states?  

Overall, Dr. Sven Leuckert's lecture provided a brief and extremely insightful introduction and overview of the field of oronym research, which opens up interdisciplinary perspectives and extends far beyond linguistics.

Alea Rose and Lea Bening are both in their third semester of a Master of Education program for teaching at elementary schools at the University of Bremen. The report on the lecture was written as part of a seminar on online journalism.