It is the merit of such outstanding Hungarian linguists of the first half of the 20th century as János Melich, István Kniezsa and Attila T. Szabó that studies in toponomastics became a major field of research in Hungarian linguistics. After the Second World War, however, hardly any publications in this topic appeared for a decade because of political considerations. The book demonstrates the process which made onomastics a significant and widely pursued interdisciplinary field of study in the Hungarian linguistic science.
In the introduction, the author briefly discusses the history of Hungarian onomastic research from the early 19th century to 1958. The period that followed saw the expansion of onomastic research and the appearance and establishment of its forums (conferences, committees, journals, series of publications) together with the national aspects of Hungarian toponomastics. The results achieved by general onomastic research are presented in a separate chapter, followed by a detailed presentation of the process and methodological problems of intensive toponym investigations starting from the 1960s.
A separate chapter is also devoted to descriptive research, which is relatively new. The most voluminous chapter deals with historical toponomastics, the most significant subfield of Hungarian place name studies. In this regard remarkable results have been achieved by research on the etymology of toponyms, language contact and ancient Hungarian ways of naming places. Relatively new trends of research, such as toponomatology, toponym sociology and applied toponomastics are also touched upon in a separate chapter.
It is not only the most important trends and works that are included in this historical overview, but also finer details of research and less significant works. Consequently, the book can serve as a good starting point for those who are interested in Hungarian toponomastics and can be used as a manual by university students who want to become involved in toponomastics and also by researchers working on specific topics.