Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [150]-155) and index.

University, Diss., 2004--Bremen.

In 2009 the oldest documents concerning the place Greiz in Eastern Thuringia were published by a historian. This article now provides a linguistic approach to that publication and its interpretation of the mentioned area in Medieval times. The results may be considered as a contribution to a book of reference for place names of Eastern Thuringia. In this respect some questions have been asked, e. g. whether the region along the river Weiße Elster between the places Weida and Plauen had really been an unsettled area until the 12th century. There is hard evidence that the historian’s assumptions are wrong because of the obvious Slavonic names of settlements in this area dating from the 8th until the 10th centuries. Based on a document from 1209 – respectively its copy from 1510 – as well as on a document from 1225 several facts are discussed in detail with consequences for toponymy and history of settlement with the help of historical linguistics. Thus it becomes evident that it is necessary to exchange ideas and to communicate for representatives of history as well as linguistics. At the same time it is obvious that the publication of documents and their analysis by historians will always be very helpful for linguistic exploitation. As a result the prospective edition of a historical dictionary of place names in Thuringia or of Eastern Thuringia respectively has been asserted as dependent on the continuous co-operation between historians and linguists.

The paper deals with the German place name type of -leben and tries to give new insights to the discussion about these names using the method of typological analysis. With the classification of the personal names within the -leben names, a new typology will be designed and the subtype bipartide personal name plus primary word -leben will be represented. The analysis gives a survey of the contained root of the personal name and shows the preference and also the absence of specific name elements within the different distribution areas Unstrut- and Bodekreis. The presented analysis is completed and illustrated with a map.

The article continues to discuss the origins and the history of the Saxon place name Leipzig. Several questions are under scrutiny. Starting out from recent research which gives the oldest historical evidence of the place name Leipzig as Lib-, it deals with certain new doubts regarding explanations that try to date the origins of the place name in pre-monolingual times. The question whether one can assume an original Slavonic form to the Slavonic root *lib- is dealt with in detail. The results of this discourse are: Today’s research cannot give a satisfactory explanation that the primary place name is derived from Slavonic. Furthermore, the hypothesis of an existing pre-monolingual form is newly evaluated. In this regard also the formerly existing geographical setting of the area around Leipzig is considered as the deciding motive in naming the place.

With gaining the independence and the emergence of a new state the linguistic situation in Kazakhstan has been changed. The restoration and return of historical names, the fi xing of unifi ed rules of the transferring of Kazakh toponyms into other languages became the basis of national onomastic policy of independent Kazakhstan. After the law “On languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan” adopted in 1997 the activity on improvement of orthographic norms and formulation of new rules of transferring geographical names from Kazakh into Russian started. As a result of these acts many distorted names of inhabited localities and administrative-territorial units are gradually being put into an appropriate norm. Many of them are still to be corrected according to new “Law on Administrative - Territorial Structure of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (December 8, 1993.) and Presidential Decree (December 29, 1995.), Government Resolution (March 5, 1996.) where the rules on Russian transferring of Kazakh onyms were approved. Due to such activity to former capital of Kazakhstan Alma-Ata was returned its original name Almaty. Thus, in our article we decided to give our point of view on some issues relating to grammatical adaptation of toponym Almaty in Russian language.

Der Kurzbeitrag nimmt Bezug auf den eingangs zitierten Band. Die Verfasser haben in Anlehnung an die älteren Ortsnamenbücher der Kreise Leipzig sowie Borna und Geithain nicht nur eine Neuaufl age vorgelegt, sondern auf Grundlage neuester Erkenntnisse ein modernes Kompendium zur Namenforschung und Siedlungsgeschichte des Leipziger Landes geschaff en, ausgestatt et mit Beiträgen weiterer Autoren.1 Im Vorfeld der Drucklegung war die Autorin dieses Beitrages gebeten worden, die Liste der Herrensitze, vornehmlich für Nordwestsachsen beizusteuern (im Buch siehe S. 75 f.). Allerdings ist diese Aufl istung mit teils anderen Erwähnungen unter ihrem Namen abgedruckt worden. Daher erscheint im Folgenden eine veränderte Liste, die der Kategorie ‚Herrensitze‘ gerecht wird, mit anschließendem kurzen Kommentar. Dieser Kommentar schmälert in keiner Weise den hohen Gesamtwert des Bandes. – Eine umfassende Behandlung des Themas im Kontext der Namengebung des mitt elalterlichen Adels östlich der Saale erscheint in einem späteren Beitrag in dieser Zeitschrift.

The article discusses some place-names. These are the names of fortifications owned by vassals during medieval times (fiefdoms) and situated in the middle of Germany. The reviewed toponyms can be considered as examples for a linguistic explanation with regard to different extralinguistical and regional conditions. The article aims at demonstrating the absolute necessity of cooperation and interaction of various scientific disciplines with specialists in toponymy to avoid misjudgments. Thus it is important for vaious studies to work together in finding the correct reasons in naming of geographical phenomena in the first place.

The analysis of Duchess Augusta of Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld’s reports concerning her journeys to Italy in 1821/22 and 1823/24 shows three diff erent functions of toponymical comparisons: an explanatory function, an evaluating function and an evocative function. These functions are illustrated by several examples.

In the place names of Slavic or Slovene origin in Upper (and Lower) Carinthia and Eastern Tyrol many sound forms are to be found which are corresponding to those in the Freising Manuscripts, partly in early documents, partly in the contemporary forms also. The language of the Freising Manuscripts was an Old Slovene dialect which was spoken in the Carantanian principality (8th / 9th century) and later in duchy Carinthia.