At the end of the last century, Vasyl Chernetskyi, one of the founders of Western Ukrainian local history, noted that when in 1424 Prince Zymovyt sold a Kraków burgher Mykola Shonals* and his descendants a manor in Sokal, he allowed him to start a filvarok, build a mill on Buza, establish a brewery, and hunt animals and birds with the exception of falcons, fishing with a net in Buza, building forges…
It would be possible not to dwell on this document, if the remark in it about the ban on hunting falcons in the surrounding area did not later lead to the legend that the name Sokal supposedly comes from the word “falcon”, because these birds used to roam here. Vasyl Chernetsky is not involved in this legend. It was created by others.
This maxim also appeared in the local history essay “Sokal” (L. 1961), and the reference to it is “History of towns and villages of the Ukrainian SSR, Lviv region” (K., 1978), although in the first Ukrainian-language edition of this local history collection (K ., 1968) it is noted that the name of the city probably comes from an ancient Russian name.
M. Yanko expressed an almost identical opinion regarding the name of Sokal in the “Toponymic dictionary-handbook…”. He also believes that it is of anthropological origin and is connected with an ancient Russian (ancient Ukrainian) name. But a more plausible hypothesis regarding the appearance of the toponym Sokal can be found in Yu. Kruglyak’s book “The Name of Your City”. He notes that in the old Ukrainian language the word “sokal” was used in the sense of “kitchen”, “dining room”. Therefore, it is assumed that on the territory where Sokal was founded in ancient times, there was a tavern for travelers, from which the name of the city came. Such motivation is quite logical. After all, Volodymyr Dahl’s “Interpretive Dictionary of the Great Russian Language” also mentions the words “sokalchiy” (cook) and “sokaltsa” (kitchen), referring to books written in the city of Ostroh in the 16th century. This confirms the probability that the city, which was later founded here, took its name from the “falcon”, “falcon” (kitchens, eateries), which in those ancient times could be located on the banks of the Bug or at the crossing point.
But we have another hypothesis. Although less known, it is quite convincing.
In 1934, the scientist M. Levitsky substantiated the version that the name Sokal is of Turkic origin and connected it with the Polovtsian prince Sokal, which means “bearded”, “dignified”.
Almost at the same time, the historian Teofil Kostruba was also studying the origin of the name Sokal. In his book “Belz and Belz land from the earliest times to 1772”, he takes us back to the 11th century and also proves that the name Sokal came from the Polovtsian prince Sokal. At the same time, T. Kostruba notes: “at the time of writing my work, the view of M. Levitskyi was unknown to me, but now I see a professional confirmation of my hypothesis.”
Teofil Kostruba substantiates this hypothesis by referring to an entry in the “Tales of Bygone Years” for the year 1061. I submit it according to the Russian chronicle:
“The Polovtsy came to the Russian Land for the first time to fight. Vsevolod then went out against them on the second day of February. And there was a battle between them, and the Polovtsians defeated Vsevolod, and, ravaging the land, left. This was the first calamity for the Russian land from bad, godless enemies. Their prince was Sokal.”
If we take into account that our princes more than once gave the opportunity to steppe people to settle in their possessions, then it is quite possible that the Polovtsian superior Sokal could also settle on the banks of the Bug and establish his home here.
As we can see, the closest to the truth are the hypotheses of Yuri Kruglyak and Teofil Kostruba. So far, they only have a scientific argumentation, and, therefore, a perspective for a deeper and more thorough study of the mysterious name that the city on the Bug took for itself in ancient times.