Summary
The Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology performs its scientific task under the high patronage of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten and the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. It is the scientific aim of the Academy to study the onomastics (toponymy and anthroponymy) and the dialectology, especially in Belgium in both Germanic and Romance areas. The Commission therefore brings out scientific studies (Bulletin, Publications) about these disciplines. The Commission is also an advisory body; the government can always ask for its scientific advice.
Meetings
The statutory meetings took place in the Palais des Académies – Paleis der Academiën in Brussels (Hertogstraat 1, rue Ducale) on 25 January, 31 May, and 25 October 2010. There were six section meetings (each time two of them on 25 January, 31 May, and 25 October 2010), one plenary meeting was held on 25 January, and two meetings of the board took place on 31 May, and 25 October 2010. In addition, the Flemish section held an extraordinary board meeting of its own on 5 March 2010.
Lectures held at the plenary meeting
Bernard Roobaert, Traductions erronées et maladroites dans les noms de rues de la région d’Enghien.
Frans Debrabandere, Het nieuwe ’Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands’.
Lectures in the Walloon section
Marie-Guy Boutier, Un modèle d’étude de toponymie urbaine “Les noms de lieux antiques et tardo-antiques d’Augustonemetum / Clermont-Ferrand” d’E.
Grélois et J.-P. Chambon, 2008.
Marie-Guy Boutier & Etienne Renard, Une charte de Carloman en faveur de l’abbaye de Stavelot (747). Analyse des toponymes.
Jean Loicq, Quelques problèmes méthodologiques en marge du “Dictionnaire des noms de rivières de la Wallonie”.
Lectures in the Flemish section
Paul Kempeneers, Oude huisnamen in Aarschot.
Jan Goossens, Het Maastrichts als doodgraver van de Zuid-Limburgse dialecten.
Jozef Van Loon, Caesar en Tacitus over de oudste Germanen in de zuidelijke Nederlanden.
Hugo Ryckeboer, Verklarend woordenboek van de Vlaamse gemeentenamen. Verslag over de voortgang in 2010 (Etymological dictionary of Flemish
Municipality Names. Progress Report 2010).
Website
The Commission has its own regularly updated website that documents the Commission’s scientific and advisory proceedings as well as the individual scientific activities, publications and international contacts of its members.
External editorial board of peer reviewers
The members of the Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology have decided to establish a new editorial board for the periodical of the organisation
(Handelingen / Bulletin). This editorial board will consist of both the Commission’s members and the following eleven international experts, drawn from the
various branches of science that are represented in the publications of the commission: Eva Buchi, Jean-Pierre Chambon, Georg Cornelissen, A.C.M. Goeman,
Ludger Kremer, Wulf Müller, Bertie Neethling, Hermann Niebaum, Damaris Nübling, Jean-Louis Vaxelaire en Stefan Zimmer.
The members of the Commission and its external editorial board will jointly guarantee the international quality and safeguard the outstanding scientific content of the journal.
External Activities
The Bulletin LXXXII (2010) counts 362 pages. It was exchanged for a number of periodicals and with scientific institutions. The publications acquired by purchase or exchange were stored in the library, which is located in the library of the Palais des Académies – Paleis der Academiën in Brussels (Hertogstraat 1, rue Ducale). Fifty copies are placed at the disposal of researchers and students at the scientific centres of the Belgian universities.
The study De Genker toonaccenten en hun geografische inbedding of Jan Goossens, member of the Flemish section, has been published as Werk 27.
Werk 28 of the Flemish division of the Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology was published in an edition of Davidsfonds Leuven as:
F. Debrabandere, M. Devos, P. Kempeneers, V. Mennen, H. Ryckeboer, W. Van Osta i.s.m. de Vlaamse afdeling van de Koninklijke Commissie voor Toponymie &
Dialectologie, De Vlaamse gemeentenamen. Verklarend woordenboek. (331 pages).
The dictionary constitutes the first comprehensive overview of all 1230 municipality names in the Flemish Region and Brussels. It offers a scientifically
justified etymological explanation, a listing of the oldest attestations and of the relevant reliable literature.
With regard to street names the Commission was consulted by numerous Belgian local authorities in 2010. The Commission further continued the linguistic adaptation of the geographical names of the ordnance survey maps published by the Nationaal Geografisch Instituut – Institut National Géographique.
The Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology has been represented by his members on several international scientific meetings in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, Ukraine and the USA.