Past research carried out on place names in the Niederlausitz (Lower Lusatia) has for the most part not evaluated any archival sources. Consequently considerable gaps resulted in the verifications of many place names. The material in this publication attempts to fill in the resulting gaps, especially in respect to the 16th and 17th century. Concurrently this material together with the historical name forms excerpted from church records which have already appeared in other publications provides the prerequisites for the reexamination of earlier interpretations of the names, and if necessary for their rectification.

This article deals with the castle of Liubusua described in the chronicle of bishop Thietmar of Merseburg (975-1018). The castle was in this period a construction of eminent importance in the area around the central Elbe river. The German philosopher and historian Gottfried W. Leibniz (1646- 1716) as well as after him scholars from various other scientific disciplines tried to locate the place of Liubusua. Based on references to Liubusua in relevant primary resources since the 19th century, the locational alternatives for Liubusua from a linguistic perspective are summarized. The main part of the article comprises an evaluation of an approach by the author and colleagues to localize Liubusua in the village of Löbsal at the “Rauhe Furt' (a former crossing point of the river Elbe) near the city of Meißen. In this approach, for the first time historical and archaeological as well as linguistic findings are being taken into consideration.

Approximately from the 6th to the 14th century the north-eastern territory pf present Germany was populated by Slavs (Polabs), whose language in German has been conserved in toponyms. These toponyms could be derived from proper names, but also from appellatives denoting persons with several properties, for example: Luplow - 1292 and 1350 Lupegloue < *Glupoglovy „Fools, Blockheads'. The given appellatives exist in semantic classes; some of them are described and characterized in the article.

Examined are those names, from which are derivated the toponymics of the territory of Altmark and of the district Jerichower Land. Those placenames of Polabian origin are derived from (1) compound personal proper names (i. e. personal names of two constituents) (6%) [Vollnamen; s. Nl 77/78], (2) from those abbreviated personal names (63%) [Kurznamen; s. NI 81/82] and (3) other personal names, e. g. surnames/cognomens (31%) [Zunamen; s. NI 79/80]. Toponymics derived from abbreviated personal names are more numerous than the names derived from compound personal proper names and surnames. Toponymics derived from compound personal names, therefore belong to an earlier stratification than others. The models of derivation of abbreviated personal names are very greatly.

The author has access to the oldest book of the town of Gelnica (1432- 1605) which is situated in the east Slovakia region (published by Peter Lang, Frankfurt/M. 2002). He discusses names of the late Middle Ages. The article deals with problems of proper names (first names) in a district of the Slovakian-German contact area in the 15. and 16. centuries. It is focused on social problems of the people in later periods, such as a demographic census and plague epidemies.

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with Italian writers on literary names. The purpose of this series is to complement the indirect approach of investigating strategies of literary naming in literary texts by directly questioning those who give names to literary characters or places. The interviews are to provide evidence of tendencies in literary naming in contemporary Italian writers. General conclusions will in due course be drawn from the material to be presented in the series. The present interview with Alberto Bevilacqua was conducted in Rome on 17 January 2003.

This article draws attention to technological advances in cartography and reminds us that cartographic software makes work in modern geography of names (areal onomastics) much easier than it used to be. Especially geographic information systems (GIS) allow name students not only to present but also to interpret data.

The article deals with names of restaurants in Leipzig. First it becomes obvious that there are many more terms for such establishments: not only restaurant, also bar, café, bistro, and others. One part of the article explains the etymology of these terms. The second part contains a list with the kinds of naming. Mostly the restaurants are named in connection with their local situation (near a building, in a special street or part of the city, near or in a landscape ... ). Another big part of restaurants takes the name of persons. That can be the owner of the restaurant or a famous person (for example Johann Sebastian Bach). Another possibility to name the restaurant is the kind of food you can eat there (national or international food or special drinks). In Leipzig you also find names in Saxon dialect. To confirm the meaning of the names it was necessary to ask the owners and to visit the restaurants.

The project 'Archiv für die Gewässernamen Deutschlands und Europas' established on the 'Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz' since 1960, has ended definitivly in 2005. On this occasion the author discusses first, what the research on hydronyms in the middle of Europe has achieved in the last forty years, and secondly, what is to do in the future. Finally he recommends the foundation of a Centre for Onomastics in Germany as a partner of the other Centres of Onomastics in Europe, resident in the Academies or the Universities.

The author presents dictionaries of toponyms from the Slavic-German borderland. The conceptions of German, Czech and Polish dictionaries are presented. He considers the method of toponym-settlement identification better and more transparent than the method of establishing one entry and common linguistic explanation for names of varied origin. The author emphasizes the necessity for research of related names from the various Slavic languages.