本ブログでは，「名前」を扱う言語学の分野，固有名詞学 (onomastics) に関する話題を多く取り上げてきた．人間の社会生活において名前が関わらない領域はほとんどないといってよく，名前の言語学は必然的に学際的なものとなる．実際，この分野には，昨今，熱い視線が注がれている．今回紹介するのは，この限りなく広い分野をエキサイティングに導入してくれるハンドブックである．
私はまだ Hought によるイントロを読んだにすぎないが，すでにこの分野のカバーする領域の広さに圧倒されている．以下に目次を示そう．
Front Matter
1. Introduction
Part I. Onomastic Theory
2. Names and Grammar
3. Names and Meaning
4. Names and Discourse
Part II. Toponomastics
5. Methodologies in Place-name Research
6. Settlement Names
7. River Names
8. Hill and Mountain Names
9. Island Names
10. Rural Names
11. Street Names: A Changing Urban Landscape
12. Transferred Names and Analogy in Name-formation
Part III. Anthroponomastics
13. Personal Naming Systems
14. Given Names in European Naming Systems
15. Family Names
16. Bynames and Nicknames
17. Ethnonyms
18. Personal Names and Anthropology
19. Personal Names and Genealogy
Part IV. Literary Onomastics
20. Theoretical Foundations of Literary Onomastics
21. Names in Songs: A Comparative Analysis of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire and Christopher Torr's Hot Gates
22. Genre-based Approaches to Names in Literature
23. Corpus-based Approaches to Names in Literature
24. Language-based Approaches to Names in Literature
Part V. Socio-onomastics
25. Names in Society
26. Names and Identity
27. Linguistic Landscapes
28. Toponymic Attachment
29. Forms of Address
30. Pseudonyms
31. Commercial Names
Part VI. Onomastics and Other Disciplines
32. Names and Archaeology
33. Names and Cognitive Psychology
34. Names and Dialectology
35. Names and Geography
36. Names and History
37. Names and Historical Linguistics
38. Names and Language Contact
39. Names and Law
40. Names and Lexicography
41. Place-names and Religion: A Study of Early Christian Ireland
Part VII. Other Types of Names
42. Aircraft Names
43. Animal Names
44. Astronomical Names
45. Names of Dwellings
46. Railway Locomotive Names and Train Names
47. Ship Names
End Matter
Bibliography
Index
800ページ超の大部ではあるが，それでも名前に関わる分野を網羅しているとは言えなさそうだ．それくらいに広い分野だということだ．固有名詞学，恐るべし．
・ Hough, Carole, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Oxford: OUP, 2016.