The article gives a survey about a new manual to the Celtic languages in Western Europe. Its author is the German linguist Herbert PILCH (university of Freiburg). As a book of reference the title is especially recommended to students of Onomastics as well as to readers with interests in Celtic names or names of Celtic origin in other languages. It stands in sharp contrast to a pseudo-scientific tendency of explaining anthroponyms and toponyms in Eastern Germany with the help of “Celtic roots' based on an old obsolete publication with a large following in recent times. The main argument there is the statement German people spoke Celtic based dialects up to the Middle Ages and thus all names have only been horribly bent by adapting to the modern German language. The book Die keltischen Sprachen und Literaturen is therefore of especial importance to refute unscientific opinions and intentions.

The article aims at demonstrating problems in connection with the process of reconstructing Old-Sorbian place names in the area of Upper and Lower Lusatia. On the basis of two books published in 2006 and 2008 by the well known onomast Walter WENZEL (Leipzig) and a critical contribution by the Sorbian linguist and specialist in etymologies Heinz Schuster- Šewc(Bautzen/Budysin) several important and necessary points of view regarding the past of more than thousand years in the tradition of place names are described and discussed.

In this article the dialect form and its history of a German place-name is discussed. Although this dialect-form has already been found to be of Slavonic origin according to a leading linguist of Sorbian languages this article adds another comparable Sorbian vernacular form of an other place-name unconsidered up till now. In this way two dialect forms are the sources in character and value of primary Old-Sorbian place-names formed in the Middle Ages and have been existing thus without any written traditional forms for many centuries.

In 2001 the first edition of the “Historical Dictionary of Toponyms for Saxony” was published, the new edition of the “Lexicon of Places in Saxony” was released in 2006. The present article compares both standard works of Saxon regional history and historical cultural studies, describes synergies and draws the model of a common knowledge system in the digital world.

In our 'Upper Lausitz Book of Place Names' the Slavic place names are given on eight colered maps with reference to soil value, in order to be able to determine the historical classification of the types of Slavic place names more precisely and to draw conclusions concerning the history of land-settlements. As a result it appears that the patronymic place names ending in -ici and -owici, as well as the habitative names ending in -jane and -y only occur where the soil was good, with values ranging between 50 and 70 points on a scale of 10 to 100. Other place names, including those ending in -jb, -ow, -in etc. also appear in rare instances here, but occur predominantly in areas of poor quality soil with values ranging between 20 und 50 points. They are therefore to be considered as later formations. Thus the oldest areas of land-settlement can be defined quite accurately and separated from later land-settlements. Our article presents a summary of the section in our book of place names dealing with the history of land-settlement and is illustrated with two new maps.

The article deals with an apparantly clear and uncomplicated place name: Pobershau in the central Erzgebirge region. By examining the early history of the settlement and the documentary records of its name, the author questions the different ways of interpretation put on it previously. He has his doubts about the name's pattern of word formation. To his mind Pobershau does not contain the root -hau which in comparable toponyms of the region generally denotes clearings of woodland for farming. Instead, the name is closely connected with the key role of mining. To all appearances, a similar but obscure dialect word, denoting a dilapidated house or shed, was adapted to other names of the type ending in -hau. - With his argumentation the author brings not only a new etymology of Pobershau up to discussion but at the same time turns our attention to the importance of dialect words for a closer linguistic approach to later place names.

The paper deals with the techniques of sanctifying space through the toponym Łysa Góra [Kahlberg] and similar names. Originally, these forms illustrated the mythology of former residents living in a territory and their system of beliefs. According to these beliefs, hilltops and peaks of mountains represent the cosmological heaven, the centre of the local space (the pre-sacred). In the secondary way, the considered proper names are an example of the influence that new Christian religion exerted upon the inhabitants of the given space. During the Counter-Reformation this religion consolidated the awareness of the force of the infernal power (the anti-sacred).

The study provides an outline of the most important results of personal name research in Hungary. Its main objective is to assist colleagues who have no information about research projects in Hungary because to date they have hardly been dealt with in summaries published in the main world languages (English, German, and French).

Berufe und Namen. – Allgemeine Betrachtungen zum Verhältnis Berufe und Namen (mit dem Hinweis auf eine Tagung im Oktober 2016). Kurz behandelt werden insbesondere die Aspekte Satznamen, Beruf und Herkunft, Berufsbezeichnung als Personenname, doppelte Berufsnennungen, Namensyntax, indirekte Berufsbezeichnungen, Berufe in Ortsnamen. In Exkursen werden punktuell behandelt (1) die Steuerliste aus dem Jahr 1365 aus Mons, (2) die mit ferrum und faber gebildeten Familiennamen Italiens, (3) Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbruderstiftungen. / Occupations and names. – General considerations on the relation between occupations and names (with reference to the corresponding conference in October 2016). The aspects syntactical names, occupation and geographical origin, occupational designation as personal name, person with two occupational designations, indirect occupational designations, occupational names in place names are briefly discussed. Appendixes deal with (1) the tax list of the year 1365 in Mons (Belgium), (2) Italian surnames based on ferrum and faber and (3) the House books of the Nuremberg 12 Brothers Foundation.

Die deutschsprachige Schweiz verfügt über eine herausragende und ziemlich flächendeckende Ortsnamenforschung, aber eine wenig existierende Personennamenforschung. Schweizer Familiennamen wurden vor allem etymologisch untersucht.