Examination of anthroponymic material of Jews from Bialystok shows that surnames of typically nickname charakter include surnames describing man's behaviour, his character, faults and virtues as well as surnames alluding to his physical appearance or physical infirmity. They also include insulting surnames devised by clerks to humiliate. Other surnames made on the basis of an appellative lexis usually relate to biblical events, animal, plant and material symbols and metaphors or serve to hide identity. To establish their nickname nature, unequivocal information about motivation, choice and conferment of such names is necessary.

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Der Sammelband Namenarten und ihre Erforschung bringt eine Menge wertvoller Erkenntnisse durch einen breiten Blickwinkel der analysierten onymischen Klassen. Dank der theoretischen Themen, der Hinweise auf methodologische und methodische Aspekte, der Detailcharakteristik zahlreicher Klassen von Eigennamen und der bemerkenswerten umfangreichen Bibliografie zur Onomastik überschreitet das Werk weit den proklamierten Lehrbuchcharakter. Die Übersichtlichkeit und die Handhabung des Handbuchs erleichtert die im Großen und Ganzen einheitliche Konzeption der Beiträge.

Very different opinions on the origin of Dresden's byname Elbflorenz, have been given. Based on much diverse evidence this paper explores the conditions and the genesis of this allonym in connection with comparative place-names. Local written records limit the time of origin of the byname and extensively document its widespread reception.

The author emphasizes that geonames are not a recent field pf research among German geographers. However, geographical names are very important for the perception and representation of geographic spaces. In Germany some names like 'Odenwald' and 'Eifel' are very old, others as 'Pfälzerwald' or ”Taunus' were created in the 19th century. During the 20th century, physiogeographical divisions had been created in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria. They are organized like hierarchical systems, they are very similar and compatible to one another. A high number of new geonames have been created by geographers and other specialists. Modern landscape divisions are very important contributions towards a worldwide standardization of geonames by order of the UNO. In Germany the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (StAGN) is responsible for all questions concerning geographical names.

There are not many written records of the early Middle Ages in French- speaking Switzerland. One must therefore try to enhance our knowledge by other means. The Latin word vallis, literally 'valley', is known to mean “district of the Carolingian period' in Southern France. Rather surprisingly, one also finds in Suisse romande the same meaning when vallis is followed not by a river name but by a place name. Some instances seem to be quite sure: there is not always a watercourse available in the surroundings and vallis alternates with its synonym pagus “district'.

Gegenstand diese Vortrags ist der Versuch der Darstellung lediglich zweier Formen der Aufdeckung des Sacrums in der polnischen Gewässernamenkunde und deren Funktionalität. Diese beiden Typen der sakralen Raumkreation schließen sich in dem so genannten direkten Typ zusammen. Ich beziehe mich hier auf die von M. ELIADE vorgeschlagenen Definition des Sacrums, nach welcher das Sacrum auf absolute Art und Weise vorhanden, überzeitlich ist und sich uns in einem konkreten historischen Zeitpunkt durch Mythen, Symbole und Hierophanien, also durch die Offenbarung enthüllt.

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.