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.

In cognitive linguistics, a paragon is described as an individual member of a category who represents either an ideal or its opposite. Paragons make it easier for us to identify a complex content, and we therefore have a great deal of interest in experiencing paragons. Lady Gaga is, for example, a paragon name in the field of pop music; Lehman (Brothers) is a paragon of the biggest bank failures in history and is used by many people to comprehend the unfolding of the late-2000s global financial crisis. Shared knowledge and socio-cultural backgrounds of language users are especially important when paragons from different fields or disciplines enter today’s business discourse. Examples include the Lady Gaga of the Contract Manufacturing Business, the Lehman of Livestock, the Donald Trump of sweeping up or the Apple of Hollywood. The comprehension process involves metonymic and metaphoric relationships which highlight or hide particular aspects of the paragon. The present paper attempts to show that the information conveyed by the paragon serves primarily to indicate the speaker’s or writer’s attitude towards the referent rather than being intended to help the hearer identify complex economic issues. It is argued that the use of a paragon leads to a somewhat bleached or reduced conceptualisation of the referent. The paper will also address theoretical and methodological challenges presented by studying paragon names in their respective discourse environments. The focus will be on qualitative rather than quantitative results. The data are all attested examNamen als Erklärungsmodelle im Kontext der Wirtschaft 383 ples collected from the Internet, unless otherwise stated. In addition, results from a survey carried out with students at Magdeburg University will be used for comparison.

The oldest forms of the place-name Leipzig, i.e. Libzi, Libiz vel sim., are now generally assumed to be Slavic, i.e. Old Sorabian derivatives of an older river-name, probably of Germanic origin. At the basis of this river-name is thought to be an enlarged root PIE *lei̯‑bh‑ ‘to flow, drip’. As the concept of root enlargement is somewhat problematic and should thus better be abandoned, it is claimed here – based on a recently published idea for the etymologization of the name of the river Elbe – that this assumed Germanic river-name is a derivative of an unenlarged root with the suffix PIE *‑bho‑. This suffix was used to form colour adjectives on the one hand and action nouns vel sim. on the other. Theoretical proto-forms of the river-name are PIE *h2lei̯H‑bho‑ or *h2liH‑bho‑ ‘making/being dirty/filthy’, PIE *lei̯H‑bho‑ or *liH‑bho‑ ‘nestling up against, winding itself’, PIE *lei̯H‑bho‑ or *liH‑bho‑ ‘pouring out’ (→ ‘flowing’?), PIE *lei̯h2‑bho‑ or *lih2‑bho‑ ‘dwindling, disappearing’, PIE *(s)lei̯H‑bho‑ or *(s)liH‑bho‑ ‘blue(ish)’, and PIE *(s)lei̯‑bho‑ ‘slippery, slimy’. A further theoretical possibility is the reconstruction as PIE *lei̯p-o‑ ‘sticky’ vel sim. (> ‘muddy’?). And finally, a reconstruction seems possible regarding the whole name not as a derivative, but as a compound with PIE *‑h2p-o‑ (the zero-grade of PIE *h2ep- ‘water’) as the second member. In this case, the same roots which form the bases of the derivatives are used as the first members of these compounds. All proposals show semantics acceptable for the formation of river-names. Thus no final decision between these proposals is possible.

To date, toponomastic surveys in the German speech area were mainly etymological. Now, a recently engineered prototype of a cartographic programme provides new possibilities for analyzing settlement names in Germany to follow morphological, phonological, and graphematical questions. This paper aims at illustrating the benefit of this programme by the example of settlement names with differing addendums. They can be written with hyphen (e. g., Groß-Zimmern), with space (Groß Grönau), or in compound spelling (Großopitz). Unexpectedly clear regional preferences for these types of spelling appeared: Settlement names with space are found in Northern Germany, whereas the compound spelling is preferentially used in the South. In Hessen and Rheinhessen, the writing with hyphen is predominant. These conventions of spelling must have developed during the last 200 years.

Research on theonyms constitutes the onomastic component within theolinguistics, the universal science dealing with the communication about the divine. It is demonstrated in detail that god (Greek theos, Latin deus, German Gott) is both a nomen appellativum (theolexeme) as well as a nomen proprium (theo-onym). With the help of a checklist it is illustrated in which linguistic fields characteristics of theonyms compared to other types of names can be observed and where further research is needed. For example, etymology can reveal the naming motive of the theonyms Zeus, Iupiter and of the theolexemes theos, deus, Slavonic bog und English god / German Gott.

In den Namenkundlichen Informationen 99/100 stellen Harald Bichlmeier und Andreas Opfermann – nach harscher Kritik an den Deutungen des Flussnamens Unstrut von Jürgen Udolph und Albrecht Greule – einen eigenen Vorschlag zur Etymologie des Namens vor. Sie greifen auf die traditionelle Segmentierung Un-strut zurück, fassen auch -strut im traditionellen Sinne auf (bieten allerdings auch zwei abweichende Erklärungsmöglichkeiten an). Der Unterschied zur klassischen Deutung des Flussnamens besteht vor allem in der Erklärung des Vorderglieds un-. Sie schlagen vor, un- als „das schwundstufige Allomorph von uridg. *(h1)en ‘in’“ aufzufassen. So bestehe „nun die Möglichkeit, urgerm. *un-strōdV- als sog. entheos-Kompositum zu interpretieren.“ Als die wahrscheinlichste Deutung für Unstrut schlagen sie vor: ‘Sumpfgebiet an sich habend’ bzw. ‘[der Fluss,] in/an dem [= an dessen Ufer] Sumpfgebiet/Gebüsch ist’ (Bichlmeier / Opfermann 2011: 179). Die von Bichlmeier / Opfermann angenommene Bildungsweise mag, vom Indogermanischen her gesehen, formal möglich sein. Ob allerdings das Germanische, dem sie den Flussnamen zuordnen, die Möglichkeit zur Bildung sogenannter entheos-Komposita überhaupt (noch) hatte, scheint doch sehr fraglich zu sein. Die Verfasser führen mit ae. umbor ‘Kind’ ein singuläres Beispiel an, um eine solche grammatische Erscheinung im Germanischen nachzuweisen. Eindeutig ist das Beispiel meines Erachtens keineswegs.