The topic of the present volume is methods of etymological practice. The first part of the volume consists of texts by Eva Havlová (1929–2010), one of the leading figures of Slavonic etymology.

In these texts, the author thought over some general aspects of etymological work. The second part of this volume contains four papers concerning practical questions of etymology. They originated in connection with work on long-term etymological dictionaries: Etymological Dictionary of the Old Church Slavonic Language (Ilona Janyšková), Concise Etymological Dictionary of Serbian (Aleksandar Loma), Etymological Dictionary of Old High German (Rosemarie Lühr), and Romance Etymological Dictionary (Eva Buchi).