The antecedent of the book is a work by the same author entitled: Adatok a népnévvel alakult régi településneveink történetéhez [Supplement to the history of Hungarian settlement names formed from ethnonyms] (Debrecen, 2011). In it, the toponymic corpus is analysed from various perspectives. The result of the examination is the treatment of the onomastic corpus raised to a theoretical level.

The monograph consists of four chapters of considerable length. In the first one the historical development of the connection between between folk (ethnos) and folk name (ethnonym) is theoretically reviewed The aim is to clarify the aspects that have determined the circle of lexemes chosen for analysis.

The second chapter presents a general outline of the scientific problems for the solution of which this cluster of names has been used for or at least what attempts have been made to use them. This chapter also deals with the development of historical toponymic typology which can be considered a reliable basis for onomastic research but, in the author’s view, it needs completing and specifying. The study attempts to carry out this task, too, besides the analysis of the name stock. It is possible to draw several conclusions from those oikonyms which contain lexemes denoting ethnic groups: inferences can be made about the earlier lingusitic situation and historical changes of the Hungarian language as welll as about the early life of the Hungarians, history of the settlements and their population. However, the question which stands in the focus of attention is whether settlement names which contain early ethnonyms are really suitable for conclusions about the contemporary ethnic composition of the Carpathian Basin. In this chapter (and, basically in the whole essay) answers to this problem are sought.

In the third unit the short histories of those 39 peoples are presented that entered into contact with the Hungarians in that early period. The etymologies of their names are also examined if they are documented in the records of that time. documented. Only those lexemes are involved in the analysis that can be proved to have been familiar to and used by the contemporary Hungarian population in the Middle Ages.

The fourth and most voluminous chapter, which occupies nearly half of the book, includes the complex analysis of the onomastic corpus. It is the criteria of historical typology on which the description is based but these are completed with several new observations of chronological, structural and onomatogeographical nature for the most frequently occurring name types. Comparing the new conclusions with the results of previous research she completes, corrects or even refutes them if it proves necessary.