TAMÁS FARKAS (Budapest) The conception of the personal names of the historical past Practices and examples of the imagination of posterity
PERSONAL NAMES AND CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTIONS 21–23 August 2019, University of Helsinki, Finland The topic of the paper
How to deal with • the conception, real or imaginery • of the given name pool • of the past: Middle Ages (Magyars’ [Hungarian] conquest/settlement, late 9th cent.) Various genres, periods, purposes • medieval historic sources • literary authors of national awakening • ’national given name stock’, in name dictionaries • history of science The medieval historian
The Gesta Hungarorum (The Deeds of the Magyars) • the oldest source (early 13th cent. late 9th cent.) • in Latin, by ’P. dictus magister’ = ’Anonymus’ • to justify the rights of the noble clans
The compositon of the Gesta the venue = toponyms the plot → to find out most of the characters → to create personal names Anonymus The medieval historian
Sources and methods for naming 1. Veritable historic names Grand Princes Álmos, Árpád 2. Less authentical names from oral sources Lél (lél ’breathe, blow’, using his blowhorn) Botond (bot ’stick, mace’, breaking the city gate) 3. Contempory personal names Comes Bors, Szemere The medieval historian
4. Creating personal names given character ~ similar place name ~ an event based on onomastic phenomena to validate the story in the cases of – the Magyar and Cuman tribesmen Csepel, cf. Csepel island and royal stables Huba and Szemere, father and son, cf. toponyms – their opponents Duke Zalán, cf. Zalankemen, at river Tisza Duke Gyalu [Gelu], cf. Gyalu, † (cf. 2 Samuel 6: 7-8) The medieval historian
Remarks: • place names: authentic, as to Anonymus’ time • personal names: many fictional (or, as given names) • connected to literary onomastics as well • its influence disovered in the mid-18th century treated as authentical for a long time in the age of national awakening
Gesta Hungarorum (early 13th cent.) Literature around 1800
Works of symbolic importance • Etelka, novel by András Dugonics, 1788 (+ 2 novels) • The Flight of Zalán, epic by Mihály Vörösmarty, 1825
Plot set in the age of the Magyars’ conquest • based on Anonymus’ Gesta and their own fiction • need for more personal names
András Dugonics (1740-1818) Mihály Vörösmarty (1800-1855) Literature around 1800
Sources and methods of naming 1. Anonymus’ Gesta Grand Prince Árpád, Huba 2. Other medieval sources [Dugonics:] Jolán < Jóleány (’good girl’, also ≈ Jolantha) Etele ~ Attila [the Hun] [a character from Karelia] Etelka < Etele + -ka (diminutive / male > female) [Vörösmarty:] Csongor, Szelemér Literature around 1800
3. Contemporary vocabulary [Dugonics:] Csilla (’a kind of plant’), Róka (’fox’) [Vörösmarty:] Csákány (’axe’), Darvas (’with cranes’) 4. Contemporary toponymy [Dugonics:] Világos (settlement name) [Vörösmarty:] Talabor (hydronym [or a dialect word]) 5. Free invention [Dugonics:] Hanzár [?] [Vörösmarty:] Hajna [≈ hajnal ’dawn’] Literature around 1800
Remarks: • typical representatives of the language renewal • revived old names and neologisms together • connected to various fields of onomastics
The Flight of Zalán (by Vörösmarty, 1825)
Etelka (by Dugonics, 1788) A ’national given name stock’
The renewal of the given name stock • national awakening • language reform late 18th century, then 19th and 20th centuries
’Historic names’ were involved in • revival of (supposedly) historic names • equivalents for foreign names Flóra ~ Virág (’flower’), Julius ~ Gyula [≈] • male name > female name Árpád > Árpádia/Árpádina, Zalán > Zalánka A ’national given name stock’
In name giving, in practice • trends and tendencies during the centuries e.g. in 2018, 5th: Levente, 12th: Zalán • nowadays, Given Name Committee: ‘We only recommend […] if there are authentic historic sources to prove that they were used as given names in the Middle Ages. We also take the meaning of the name into consideration […*]’ [*not recommended if negative consequences may occur]* A ’national given name stock’
Name lists, dictionaries and calendars • 1767: appendix of a Latin-Hungarian dictionary • later: in given name dictionaries • 1930s: dictionaries especially propagating ‚old’, ‚national’ names; patron saints to historic names • 1990s: renaissance of this type, in print and online
Influencing • on one another • general public, prospective parents A ’national given name stock’
The categories of names incorporated • historically authentic medieval names mostly of Hungarian and Old Turkic: Árpád, Tas (Hung. versions of Christian names: Bence, Endre) • names of fictitious historical characters Huba, Zalán • supposedly historic names of peoples, supposedly related to Magyars – may occur: e.g. Huns, Avars, Bolgars, Scythians, Sumerians • names created in literary classics or later Jolán, Etelka, Csilla A ’national given name stock’
Remarks: • the boundaries among the categories quite fuzzy • especially for laymen (see those dictionaries) • a large portion of them is not in practice • connected to folk onomastics and applied onomastics as well Various printed and online sources The scholars
Anonymus’ Gesta – and remarks: • as an authentic source, for a long time • influencing the knowledge of old Hungarian anthroponymy, the etymological approaches etc. • influenced by biased approaches And, as closing remarks…
Grand Prince Árpád and the seven leaders of the conquering tribes (Budapest; HU)
Monuments to Duke Gelu [Gyalu] (Așchileu & Gilău; RO) Thank you for your attention!Thank you for your attention