Creating the dictionary under discussion is justified by the recent decline of cultural, historic sensitivity and knowledge in Hungary, caused by the often distorted 20th-century cultural policy and ideologies. Up until the beginning of the 1990s, the usage of Hungarian place names beyond the borders of the present-day Hungary was limited; such names were not allowed to be used in the mass media, or in public administration. The main goal of the author's nearly 25 years of research has been to

more »

... ollect and identify all the historical place names and the names of castles in historical Hungary, including all the old, new, foreign and Hungarian name variations. The main text was based on the 1913 gazetteer, but in addition, the author considered all the onomastic variations of the names. Collecting and arranging all the data, especially comparing sources in problematic cases was a considerable task (even with the help of several experts). To re-introduce partly forgotten historical place names was important because these names are part of Hungarian history, culture and language. The 76 maps were created in collaboration with cartographer IMRE FARAGÓ, and our primary goal was to create maps with relevant pieces of historical information.