The book deals exclusively with the analysis of hydronyms. The basis of the study is the hydronymicon from the Árpád Era, the author has, however, expanded the period involved in her investigation to 1350, the beginning of the early old Hungarian period – in partial conformity to the chronological limit of her references.

The book consists of three larger chapters. In the first chapter the author summarises the studies and monographs that deal with Hungarian hydronyms. In the other two chapters first she tries to outline the term river name, which is followed by a consideration of the relationship between a hydronym and its denotatum from the traditional semantic, cognitive linguistic and sociolinguistic aspect: here she primarily focuses on the issue of multiplicity of names.

In the central part of the book the author analyses river names on four levels (functional-semantic, lexical-morphological, syntagmatic and etymological), however, these aspects are not treated separately but are surveyed in their complexity. The structural analysis is carried out at the functional-semantic level, and the lexical-morphological level is plied as a complementary aspect. The reason for not discussing the latter level in a separate chapter is that the two levels are closely connected and their relations are more visible if their analyses are not separated. The etymological level is given a separate chapter the syntagmatic analysis is not, which is accounted for by two reasons. On the one hand, the author applies the syntagmatic aspect in the structural analysis where she discusses names consisting of one or two components; on the other hand this level is also present in the etymological framework, within which toponyms are analysed in terms of their syntagmatic structure.

The next section of the work is devoted to the role of river names in the formation of other toponyms (settlement names, oronyms, names of regions and castles). The last chapter is of a comparative nature: it surveys reviews the similarities and differences of river names and lake names.