Page - xi - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

xi Note on Language Use, Terminology, and Geography Geographic or personal names were markers of identity and belonging in the nineteenth century (and remain so to some extent today) and thus were contested as elements of nationalist discourse. In many cases, individuals, especially those indifferent to nationalism, changed their names based on the context; for scholars who published in both the Cyrillic and Latin alpha- bets, changing transcription and translation rules mean that the names under which these scholars are currently known differ from those used during their lifetimes. To avoid unwieldy formulations, this work uses the English names currently in use when appropriate. For the sake of precision, in the case of cities that belonged to different states at different times, the name is given in the language of the given state at that time. Alternative names for people and places in other languages are noted at the first appearance of the name. This also applies to designations that are mentioned in the text and is used consistently for all the languages involved. Cyrillic names occasionally appear in the main text, which seems justified because many of the persons, places, and organizations dealt with here are in fact hard to identify if only a Latin transcription is provided. For the sake of historical accuracy, this text includes a few terms that might be new to scholars not familiar with the Habsburg Empire of the nineteenth century or with the scholarly system of the time. Special terms referring to Habsburg universities (Privatdozenten, Utraquisierung, etc.) have been explained in the text or notes at their first appearance and, if pos- sible, are replaced with English terms in the main text. The local geographic terms are best explained by means of a short overview of nineteenth-century central Europe.