The geography of historical personal names as a research area of geolinguistics. Part 2

Name geographic methods in dialectology

Abstract

The geography of historical personal names as a research area of geolinguistics. Part 2: Name geographic methods in dialectology  

The paper demonstrates how the results of research into Hungarian family name geography could be applied in dialectology, using personal names as examples. Name geographic research into Hungarian historical family names originating in common nouns may lead to conclusions regarding the history of Hungarian dialects. The paper examines family names derived from the word gólya ‘stork’ the name for the bird, or from its synonyms (Gólya, Czakó, Gagó, Eszterág), and the family name Gerencsér in this respect. The changes and connections – over the span of several centuries – between maps presenting the geography of a lexeme and those depicting the geography of a family name derived from the lexeme are illustrated with the help of the form variants of the family name Fazekas.