Starting from the analysis of numerous similar place names, on the one hand, and, on the other, of a large volume of documentation on archaeological sites and local traditions, this study explains the name of the most important megalithic monument on the Iberian Peninsula, [Cueva de] Menga (Antequera, province of Malaga). The name is based on an anthroponym which denoted a mythical female creature, to whom the Castilian settlers that had arrived in the late Middle Ages attributed the construction of dolmens. This constitutes an onomastic mechanism based on popular traditions spread over large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, and even over large parts of Europe.

The article aims to give an overview over the author’s work on the oldest layers of toponyms and hydronyms in Central Europe (including a short detour to Italy). In the course of almost one decade some three dozen names were treated. More often than not, the scientific standards of modern Indo-European linguistics were applied for the first time in etymologizing these names. In some cases arguments for new etymologies could be brought forward, in many cases more precise etymologies could be offered – but in some cases it also had to be stated that the formerly given ‘one and only’ etymological solution had to be discarded of in favour of an array of (sometimes four, five or even more) viable solutions. But in spite of such (to some readers maybe discouraging) results, it should become clear that only this modern way of Indo-European linguistics will lead to results so reliable that further research can be based on them. In the second part of the paper several tables will give a compact overview comparing old solutions and new findings concerning a number of river-names.

East-Thuringian Magdala and Ma(g)del, but Maina and Moinwinida? Critical reflections on some geographical names and their history. ‒ The linguistic origin of the hydronym Magdel in connection with the toponyms Magdala and Madelungen is analyzed in this article, based on the historical forms from the 9th century. Various spellings from the Middle Ages will be discussed here. Special focus is also put on the question whether the name Maina can be connected with the only historical form Moinwinida. With the help of other geographical names in an important historical documentation there can be given a final answer as well as a proposal for identification of some up till now only once documented historical names in Thuringia. The resulting conclusions about those names with the element –winida are relevant for the complete Central German region around the year 1000.

Vacha, a small town and Faschau, a deserted site near Meiningen, are both situated in southwestern Thuringia, just 35 km apart. Some researchers of regional history occasionally held the opinion that the first official record of Vacha in c. 817 in a deed of donation might refer to this place Faschau, now deserted. The following study will interpret the deserted place name Faschau and elucidate that the deed of donation of 817 applies to what is now Vacha.

In this paper the anthroponymic system in XVIII century in Galicia is analysed. The corpus consists of data from the Catastro del Marqués de Ensenada, a main resource for the population at that time. The medieval system has changed, as the -ez suffix is not patronymic anymore and the surname is becoming hereditary, a second surname begun to appear, and new first names are emerging, all of them from saints of Catholics, as part of the strategy after the Council of Trent. Furthermore, as the Galician language has been removed from the written texts, the Hispanicization of proper names begun, translating the first names and translating or garbling the surnames.

No description available.

Dass sich Namen und Recht in einem Schnittbereich befinden, wird dann besonders deutlich, wenn man von Namengeboten und Namenverboten, z.B. bei der Benennung von Personen oder Waren, betroffen ist. Erstaunlich ist, dass weder die Rechtswissenschaft noch die Onomastik sich mit dem Schnittbereich gemeinsam und interdisziplinär auseinandergesetzt haben. Dieses Manko wollte die Tagung „Namen und Recht in Europa“ am 16. und 17. April 2015 in Regensburg, gemeinsam veranstaltet von der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Namenforschung und dem Arbeitskreis Sprache und Recht der Universität Regensburg, beseitigen.

No description available.

Humans order their world by assigning names, that is, by means of “designation”. We name children, fellow humans, animals and plants according to our respective language. And we can just as easily extinguish a name if it strikes us as the appropriate thing to do. This is the also the task of philosophy: to grasp the world via the right “concepts”, a reduction of complexity through naming. To “grasp” the world also means to master it. In this respect, the assignment of names and titles as well as the strict connexion of a name with a bodily person (identity) is a characteristic means or instrument of domination tied to the modern state.]

Contrasting company names such as, e.g., HeidelbergCement AG or Vivacon AG and trademarked brand names for products and services such as, e.g., Labetrunk für Magenleidende (trademarked in 1894) or Maaloxan (a current name for a remedy against stomach complaints) is interesting from the perspective of law, economy and language. On the legal side, there are opposing requirements for the motivation of such names, i.e. for the possibility of inferring characteristics of the company or the product. For product names, motivation should be as low as possible. What would be ideal in this respect would be completely unmotivated, but maximally distinctive “labels” without any relation to other names or other existing words. Company names, in contrast, at least until the change in trade law in the year 1998, had to be strongly motivated with regard to the associates / owners / founders as well as to the object and location of the company. For economic reasons, however, companies prefer medium degrees of motivation for both names types, to a certain extent describing the company and its products positively or at least creating positive associations. The linguistic means available to the name creators for solving this problem are presented in a systematic way in this paper. The data basis is the Waarenzeichenblatt, later Warenzeichenblatt, today Markenblatt, in which since 1894 until the present all newly protected brand names are published. This historical material allows for investigating the use of the relevant linguistic means in brand names from the beginnings until the first decade of the 21st century. With the 21st century and the “Third Reich”, two epochs are in focus which clearly demonstrate the dependence of the linguistic form on extralinguistic factors deriving from the domains of law, politics, economy and society