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 Com-mission 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 Brus-sels (Hertogstraat 1, rue Ducale) on 28 January, 27 May and respectively 4 November 2013. There were six section meetings: each time two of them on 28 January and 27 May; further in the Flemish section on 28 October, and on 4 November in the Walloon section. A plenary meet-ing was held on 28 January; and a meeting of the board took place on 27 May 2012.
Lectures held at the plenary meeting
Jozef VAN LOON & Wouter SOUDAN, De Nieuwe Förstemann (het antroponymisch woorden-boek) van de historische Lage Landen.
Pierre VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN, Anciens toponymes et vieux chemins de Ganshoren
Lectures in the Flemish section
Jan GOOSSENS, Met Kloeke op de fiets in het Zuiden
Jacques VAN KEYMEULEN, De Woordenbank van de Vlaamse dialecten
FRANS DEBRABANDERE, Het woord standvink: ‘staande steunbalk’.
FRANS DEBRABANDERE, Epenthesis in familenamen.
Lectures in the Walloon section
Marie-Guy BOUTIER, Détermination des formes grammaticales et localisation des textes. L’origine du pronom régime tonique moyen français régional lie, wallon lèye
Jean GERMAIN, Répartition et typologie des noms de famille
Esther BAIWIR, Quelques clés pour comprendre le Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom)
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 and Publications
The Bulletin LXXXV (2013) counts 270 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). 30 copies are placed at the disposal of re-searchers and students at the scientific centres of the Belgian universities.
Number 26 of the series Mémoires of the Walloon section of the Royal Commission for Ono-mastics and Dialectology was sent to print at the end of 2013 and will be published in 2014. This article by Jean LOICQ, member of the Commission and professor emeritus of Liège University constitutes the first comprehensive overview of the names of bodies of water (hy-dronyms) in the Walloon Region of Belgium. The dictionary offers a scientifically justified etymological explanation, a listing of the older attestations and of the relevant reliable literature.
Bibliographic data: Jean LOICQ, Les noms de rivières de Wallonie y compris les régions ger-manophones. Dictionnaire analytique et historique. 2 tomes. Mémoire 26 de la Commission Royale de Toponymie & de Dialectologie, Section Wallonne. Éditions Peeters, Louvain-Paris. LII + 470 p. ISSN 0774-8396. ISBN 978-90-429-3051-3.
Within the framework of its mission and its collaboration with its French colleagues – the Walloon section of the Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology organised the XVIth Colloquium of the Société d’onomastique française. This event took place from 6 to 8 June 2013 in the Palais des Académies – Paleis der Academiën in Brussels (Hertogstraat 1, rue Ducale).
With regard to street names the Commission was consulted by numerous Belgian local au-thorities in 2013. The Commission further continued the linguistic adaptation of the geo-graphical names of the ordnance survey maps published by the Nationaal Geografisch In-stituut – Institut National Géographique.
The Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology has been represented by its mem-bers at several international scientific meetings, which allowed them to maintain contacts with their colleagues in Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cuba, Estonia, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa and Switzerland.