diff --git a/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp b/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
index 8645bf544..b5d2797a5 100644
--- a/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
@@ -35,15 +35,14 @@
 
 
 #include "lib/symbol.hpp"
+#include "lib/symbol-table.hpp"
 #include "include/limits.h"
 extern "C" {
 #include "lib/safeclib.h"
 }
 
 #include <boost/functional/hash.hpp>
-#include <unordered_set>
 #include <cstddef>
-#include <utility>
 #include <string>
 
 using std::size_t;
@@ -59,20 +58,19 @@ namespace lib {
   const size_t STRING_MAX_RELEVANT = LUMIERA_IDSTRING_MAX_RELEVANT;
   
   
-  namespace { // symbol table implementation
+  namespace { // global symbol table
     
-    /** @warning grows eternally, never shrinks */
-    std::unordered_set<string> symbolTable;
+    SymbolTable symbolTable;
   }
   
   
   /**
    * create Symbol by symbol table lookup.
-   * @note identical strings will be mapped to
-   *       the same Symbol (embedded pointer)
+   * @note identical strings will be mapped to the same Symbol (embedded pointer)
+   * @warning potential lock contention, since each ctor call needs to do a lookup
    */
   Symbol::Symbol (string&& definition)
-    : Literal{symbolTable.insert(forward<string> (definition)).first->c_str()}
+    : Literal{symbolTable.internedString (forward<string> (definition))}
     { }
   
   
diff --git a/src/lib/symbol-table.hpp b/src/lib/symbol-table.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..39ffb3f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/symbol-table.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/*
+  SYMBOL-TABLE.hpp  -  registry for automatically interned symbol string tokens 
+
+  Copyright (C)         Lumiera.org
+    2017,               Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
+
+  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
+  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
+  the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+*/
+
+/** @file symbol-table.hpp
+ ** Registry table for automatically _interned strings_.
+ ** The implementation of the lib::Symbol token relies on unique string pointers,
+ ** such as to create one distinct identity for each distinct "symbol string". The idea
+ ** is to generate unique and distinct numeric token IDs, while still holding onto a human readable
+ ** string. Which in turn requires us to manage a registry of already known symbol strings; when
+ ** a Symbol object with such an already known string is created, it will thus connect internally
+ ** to the known token ID.
+ ** 
+ ** @todo as of this writing (4/2017), it is neither clear if we really need such a facility, nor
+ **       do we know enough to judge the implementation approach taken here. It might well turn out
+ **       that a mere hash over the symbol string would be sufficient. Just the general vision for
+ **       Lumiera indicates that we're going to rely heavily on some kind of symbolic or meta processing,
+ **       involving a rules based query system, and in the light of such future developments, introducing
+ **       a distinct lib::Symbol datatype seemed like a good idea. When we started to generate command IDs
+ **       systematically, just literal c-string constants weren't sufficient anymore, leading to this
+ **       very preliminary table based implementation.
+ ** 
+ ** @see symbol-impl.cpp 
+ ** @see Symbol_test
+ ** @see Symbol_HashtableTest
+ ** @see SessionCommandFunction_test multithreaded access
+ */
+
+
+#ifndef LIB_SYMBOL_TABLE_H
+#define LIB_SYMBOL_TABLE_H
+
+#include "lib/sync.hpp"
+#include "lib/symbol.hpp"
+
+#include <boost/noncopyable.hpp>
+#include <unordered_set>
+#include <utility>
+#include <string>
+
+
+namespace lib {
+  
+  using std::string;
+  using std::forward;
+  
+  
+  /** 
+   * Table for automatically _interned strings_.
+   * This table is used to back the lib::Symbol token type,
+   * which is implemented by a pointer into this registration table
+   * for each new distinct "symbol string" created.
+   * @warning grows eternally, never shrinks
+   */
+  class SymbolTable
+    : public Sync<>
+    , boost::noncopyable
+    {
+      std::unordered_set<string> table_;
+      
+    public:
+      Literal
+      internedString (string && symbolString)
+        {
+          Lock sync(this);
+          auto res = table_.insert (forward<string> (symbolString));
+          return res.first->c_str();
+        }
+    };
+  
+  
+  
+} // namespace lib
+#endif /*LIB_SYMBOL_TABLE_H*/