Very many of the place names in the caves derive from natural, architectural and other familiar objects such as animals, birds, plants, rain, parts of churches, curtains and human anatomy. Other are pure descriptive. Some result from likeness to specific places. Then there are people (saints, emperors, heros, and explorers).
370 individual places in the Postojnska jama cave system have been given names over the centuries, usually in three or more languages. The tabulated list forming the main body of this book lists all these names, together with locations and the period for which each name is known to have been used, derived from examination of original sources – cave plans, guidebooks, travellers’ records, unpublished archives and contemporary pictures. More than half the sources are from before 1900. Often the names have changed; sometimes they have ceased to be used at all. The total number of names now current is much less than of old. Reasons for these changes are discussed and a comprehensive index allows places to be identified from every one of their names.