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Can you, please, come up with some term that would be directly related to geography, but would have no relation to toponymy?

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  • Why do you want to know? I mean, the criterion seems a bit odd… Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 6:11
  • Well, I just had a kind of argument with one guy who was trying to persuade me that since toponymy studies geographical names, any term related to geography would also be related to toponymy. Just wanted to check the validity of that statement.
    – brilliant
    Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 6:22

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Google finds two definitions of toponymy, one of which is:

Toponymy is the scientific study of place names, their origins, meanings, use and [sic]. The word 'Toponymy' is derived from the Greek words tópos (τόπος) ('place') and ónoma (ὄνομα) ('name'). Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy

So, any geographical terms not related to place names meet the bill. That said, many of the more common physical geographic terms have been used in place names (hill, mountain, lake, fen, marsh, field, ...), so they're out. More esoteric terms - morraine, perhaps - have seldom been used in place names (at least, in English-speaking countries).

Any geographical terms related to economic geography are relatively unlikely to come under toponymy.

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