Personal name systems of the V4 region

Timetable

Oct 6, Oct 13, Oct 27, Nov 10, Nov 24, Dec 1

9.00-12.15 a.m.

Module aim (aims)

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the personal name systems of all the four countries of the V4 (Visegrad) region - Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary - in a historical and comparative perspective, offering besides theoretical knowledge also useful scholarly and practical advice for own research related to personal names. The course will be attended online by students from V4 countries and will be taught by university specialists in onomastics from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary), Czech Language Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague, Czechia), Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia) and Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznan, Poland).

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Minimum B2 knowledge of English

Syllabus

No.	Topic
1.	Introduction into the course, information about the historical-cultural background
2.	Introduction to onomastics
3.	Pre-Christian personal names
4.	Given names after Christianity: adaptation of the international stock, decline of pagan anthroponyms, the transformation of the name stocks
5.	Given names in modern times; name-giving and name use today
6.	The emergence, origins and classification of surnames
7.	Foreign surnames, surname change
8.	Feminine surnames and marital names: ways of creation, sociocultural background
9.	Personal names and the law, name policy, names in culture
10.	Unconventional personal names: nicknames, bynames, pseudonyms
11.	Case studies for one’s own research
12.	Case studies for one’s own research

Reading list

TBA