Interpretation of data and sources in etymological research

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to emphasize the importance of source criticism in etymological research. It is widely known that the main sources for the early history of toponyms in the Carpathian Basin are the charters created in the medieval Hungarian Kingdom, because these official documents contained a large number of vernacular proper names embedded in the Latin text. However, it is important to mention that the medieval charters were produced by the chancery and places of authentication along specific principles and needs. I argue that this circumstance must always be considered during the interpretation of the data. I will show some examples illustrating that – in certain cases – we have to take into account the nature of the sources in the reconstruction of the genesis of place names. My goal is to offer a brief outline of this issue through my own investigations.