Reszegi Katalin
The history of onomastic research in Debrecen
CONTENTS, INTRODUCTION
Contents
Introduction
1. The Csűry School of Thought
2. Decline and New Momentum
3. The Doctoral School and Research Group on Onomastics (1995-present)
Bibliography
Introduction
Onomastic research has a rich past in Debrecen; achievements made initially by individual researchers and later on by the onomasticians' workgroup founded two decades ago make the city's university an important base of Hungarian onomastics.
The history of onomastic research in Debrecen can be divided into three main phases. The first phase can be dated to the second half of the 1930s, when works applying scientific norms to the study of names appeared; however, historical and political changes put an end to these promising beginnings rather quickly. During the next decade, the topic of onomastics completely disappeared from Hungarian linguistic research, just like on the national level. By the end of the 1950s, science policy decision makers yet again allowed room for onomastic research, and from the 1960s onwards, researchers at the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics at the University of Debrecen-while it was not their main field of scientific work-all took part in onomastic research to a greater or lesser extent. From the second half of the 1970s onwards, this set of issues became an ever more prominent feature of the institute's profile, but it still appeared as the achievements of individual researchers only. In this respect, a great change was brought about in 1995 with the establishment of the doctoral school of linguistics, and the subprogram of onomastics launched under its auspices. The significance of this event lies in the fact that it allowed for the gradual creation of a coherent and efficient workgroup engaged primarily in historical toponomastic research, the members of which group, in addition to their personal projects-partially built upon each other's work-also take part in research projects of a larger scale, thus contributing to the advancement of the scientific field with quite spectacular achievements. Thus, the third phase of onomastic research in Debrecen can be dated from the initiation of the doctoral program.