The chronology of the English intervention in Britain has recently become controversial among population historians, but the linguistic evidence for its timing and its nature has remained largely unchanged. In this paper I set out to review once again the small amount of toponymic evidence and the almost non-existent lexical evidence for Brittonic-English contact in the earliest English centuries. This linguistic evidence has led to diverse responses among historians and archaeologists, but since it is primary evidence it is legitimate to explore again the question of what historical scenarios of ethnic contact it is compatible with: extermination, expulsion, enslavement, assimilation, cultural overwhelming or ignoring; and mass English population movement versus élite expatriate settlement from beyond the North Sea.

The place name Merseburg has been debated vigorously in academic research. On the basis of a larger number of comparable names, the authors suggest a derivation of the name which differs from previous explanations. Besides the root - burg one has to assume a basic approach *Mars~ in the determiner which can be interpreted as an -s-extension of -mar “swamp, bog, pond”, to be found in numerous names.

The old-czech text of the „Saxon Weichbildrecht“: Occasional takeover and explanatory additions. Medieval legal terms from two texts of the extensive and branched group of sources of the Saxon-Magdeburg law are at the center of our article: the early-new-high-german and the old-czech text of „Saxon Weichbildrecht”. Transmission of legal terms of the early-new-highgerman text into the old-czech one stands in the focus of interest. In addition to predominantly adequate transmission of the legal terms, there can be found occasional takeover and explanatory additions. Conclusions at the end summarize the results.

Usually, in the linguistic literature on the hydronym Inn two stems are reconstructed: PCelt. *Eno- and *Eni̯o-. These stems are thought to be derived from the root PIE *pen- ‘mud(dy), (standing) water’. It is not possible to decide, whether the name was coined in Proto-Celtic or is a celticized Pre-Proto-Celtic formation. An explanation for the parallel stem-formations was given already by Pokorny 1948/1949 and 1950/1951. His explanation seems widely to have fallen into oblivion. Both articles have hardly been quoted in scientific literature during the last quarter century. Only Greule 2014 makes use again at least of the older of the two articles, modifying their explanation, however. A root PIE *(h1)en- ‘water’, which has been used time and again to explain the river-name Inn, most probably never existed.

Places have long felt a need to differentiate themselves from each other, to assert their individuality in pursuit of various economic, political or socio-psychological objectives. This is especially true of cities, which are increasingly importing the concept and techniques of product branding for use within place marketing. This present paper examines linguistic and socio-economic strategies as they are used in city branding. The City of Magdeburg, capital of Saxony-Anhalt, serves as an example of how different media and different interactive techniques can be coordinated to increase the promotional effect. Since 2010 Magdeburg bears the slogan ‚Ottostadt Magdeburg‘, and therewith refers to its history which is connected to two great men who were both called Otto: Otto the Great, who made the city his capital and from there ruled the Holy Roman Empire, and Otto von Guericke, who revolutionised the sciences in the 17th century by establishing the physics of vacuums. The campaign itself aims to raise the identification of Magdeburg‘s residents with their city as well as to raise national and international awareness in order to attract investors, tourists and students. The aim of the study is twofold: firstly, to find out what makes city branding successful, and secondly, what happens when the residents themselves use the campaign for their own purposes, e.g. by modifying, destructing or reinterpreting slogans.

The essay deals with place name changes in the area Fulda. Although place and water names have a high degree of antiquity and continuity, names are changeable as linguistic entities. After an overview of the positions and observations on this phenomenon, represented by Wilhelm Arnold, Adolf Bach and Rudolf Schützeichel, as well as the impulses of the 1986 Bamberger Symposion on the subject of “place name change”, the term “name change” and its definitional blurring become first of all different types treated by “toponymic variation”. Finally, concrete examples from the Fulda area will be discussed and systematized.

With an altitude of 1370m, the Brenner (or Brennerpass / it. Passo del Brennero) is the lowest mountain pass of the eastern alpine ridge and connects the Austrian province of Tyrol with Southern Tyrol, which – as is well known – had to be ceded to Italy after World War I. Most likely this pass area had constituted a border already in pre-roman times, between two pre-roman tribes, the Breones and the Isarci. The border area was densely wooded, a kind of no-man’s land, and these woods existed up to the High Middle Ages. The actual border ran mitten im Wald ( “in the middle of the wood”). The oldest record is to be found in a mediaeval rent-roll, the Urbar Meinhards II of 1288, wherein a Prennerius de Mittenwalde is assessed as tributary. This would have been a man who either used slash-and-burn agriculture or worked as a charcoal burner. The farm of Heinrich Prenner became very important for the traffic using the pass, and, because of this, the farm name replaced the old geographical name Mittenwald. Since 1338, the name Brenner is used for the geographical position of the pass. Border woods and borders „in the middle of the woods“ can also be documented for other places of Old Tyrol. Prennerius is connected to the German verb brennen, “to burn” – “he who burns sth.”

The place name Libzi and its related names. The place name Leipzig, first mentioned 1015-1018 as Libzi, later Libiz, Libz, Lipczk and finally Leipzig, was previously interpreted as Old Sorbian *Liṕsk(o) ‘place of the linden trees’ as well as Germanic-Old Sorbian *Lib́c or *Lib́sk(o) ‘place in an area of abundant water’. Bernd Koenitz rightly questioned this interpretation and replaced it *Lib́čky was used in addition. Place names of similar formation and meaning in Saxony and Bohemia support this explanation. The article at hand confirms and renders Bernd Koenitz’s interpretations more precisely and places them in a broader context with regard to geographical names and historical settlements. Besides such place names as *Lib́cě there are various others which verify the immigration of Slaves from Bohemia and Moravia. Two multicoloured maps illustrate the results of this research.

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