Dear readers,
the current themed issue of Acta onomastica is this time dedicated to folk etymology in proper names. It includes thirteen papers dealing with toponyms (including urban toponyms), as well as analyses of personal names and a summary of terminology used in Czech onomastics. The National Newspaper (as of 12th June, 1906) stated that the etymology of toponyms was “a sad science with funny results”. Although we strictly disagree with the attribute ‘sad’ used here, we must admit that folk etymology does often come up with funny explanations. However, at the same time it also offers an important insight into the way the language users understand proper names and how they treat them. We hope this issue will contribute to further research into this unjustly neglected field of language and onomastics.
Pavel Štěpán, Žaneta Dvořáková, Soňa Wojnarová
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