International conference "Names and Professions"

Names and Professions

International scientific meeting

20th and 21st October 2017

Leipzig, Universitätsarchiv

Invitation and call for papers

Probably more than any other category of words and/or names, the professional or occupational designations as well as the denominations of the official and social status are situated between general vocabulary (designation) and personal names and their social environment (proper names). They are object of two fields of research: (historical) lexicography and “realia” and onomastics. Their interrelation can be summarized as Wörter und Namen, in the case of occupational names maybe even more than in “delexical” surnames in general.

The interest in the correlation between occupations and personal names possibly is more pronounced from the onomastic point of view, as the matter goes far beyond its lexical function. However, to explain names the precise knowledge of word history is indispensable. Lexicographers focus rather on the name documentation than on the function of the designation going beyond the appellative context.

This meeting aims at inciting a dialogue between the two fields of research. The starting points are, among others, the project the „Glossar der altromanischen Berufs- und Standesbezeichnungen (GlossProf)“ or the 5th volume of the “Deutscher Familiennamenatlas”.

In the following, possible subject areas (which can obviously be extended or refined) that serve as an initial approach and structure of the conference, are listed. If you want to submit a paper/ talk/ lecture, please specify the chosen subject area.

A. Onymic documentation (individual mention vs. name lists)

B. Lexical occupational names vs. individualizing surnames (including the transition towards a hereditary „family name“)

C. Upper case and lower case spelling of „speaking“ surnames (historical documentation and editorial principles)

D. Occupational names in place names (collective names)

E. Onomastic treatment of occupational names in onomastic dictionaries

F. Naming after occupation and social history

G. Historical and morphological creation of professional and occupational names (specially deverbal, denominal, and syntactical word formation)

H. The lexicographic treatment of occupational designations and occupational names

I. Modern classifications of occupations: national directories vs European nomenclature

The organizers invite all interested parties to forward the topic of their talk with a short exposition to kremer@uni-trier.de until 31 December 2016. The speakers are requested to limit the time of their talk to 20 minutes, the print version may be more detailed. The print manuscript should be submitted on 30 November 2017 at the latest. The documents will be published in the series Onomastica Lipsiensia in spring 2018. Details regarding the submission of manuscripts will follow in due course.

The working languages will be German, English, French and Spanish. We kindly ask you to distribute this first announcement.

For mor information about occupational surnames see most recently Dieter Kremer, „Berufe und Namen“, in: Namenkundliche Informationen 103/104 (2014) 413-479, und Konrad Kunze / Damaris Nübling (Editor): Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Volume 5: Familiennamen nach Beruf und persönlichen Merkmalen, von Fabian Fahlbusch, Simone Peschke, Berlin/Boston 2016 („The surnames in the present volume are therefore not exclusively based on non-onymatic material, nouns, adjectives or verbs, as The surname in this volume therefore based solely on non-onymischem material on nouns, adjectives or verbs, as they were in use in the spoken language of the late Middle Ages.. Thereby, this present volume represents a new source for language history, particularly from an areal perspective (…)“, XXIII).