- ELTE BTK Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies
H-1088 Budapest, Múzeum krt. 4/A
Hungary
Tamás Farkas
ELTE-BTK, Magyar Nyelvtudományi és Finnugor Intézet, Faculty Member
- Onomastics, Name Studies, Surname, Anthroponyms, Onomastic, Anthropology of Personal Names, Personal Names, Hungarian, and 11 moreSurname Changes, Applied Onomastics, Surnames, Proper Names, Language and Identity, Geonomastics, Translation Studies, Lexicography, Hungarian Cultural Studies, History of Hungarian Language, and Hungarian languageedit
- Farkas, Tamás PhD, associate professor with habilitation of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary. He is... moreFarkas, Tamás PhD, associate professor with habilitation of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary. He is the director of the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies, and the head of Department of Hungarian Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and Dialectology of ELTE Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Humanities in Budapest. He received his PhD in 2002, and completed habilitation in 2013. He is the editor-in-chief of Névtani Értesítő, the journal of Hungarian onomastics, editor of Magyar Nyelv (Hungarian Language), and the secretary of the Society of Hungarian Linguistics. His main field of research is onomastics, especially anthroponomastics, applied and general onomastics. He has published most of his papers in the framework of dimensional linguistics, studying the proper names as temporally, geographically, socially and culturally determined phenomena.
Orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-2302edit
The volume entitled Proper names and dictionaries deals with a special field of applied linguistics or more exactly, applied onomastics. Studying the lexicographic processing of proper names, its types, opportunities, and wider problems,... more
The volume entitled Proper names and dictionaries deals with a special field of applied linguistics or more exactly, applied onomastics. Studying the lexicographic processing of proper names, its types, opportunities, and wider problems, it focuses on the results of Hungarian onomastics and lexicography. The thematic chapters contain 14 peer-reviewed papers from authors who represent various scientific institutions of contemporary Hungarian linguistics.
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A kiadvány a Nemzetközi Névtudományi Társaság (ICOS) alap-vető névtani terminusokat tartalmazó jegyzékének, valamint a földrajzi nevek egységesítése során használt terminusokból az ENSZ Földrajzi Névi Szakértői Csoportja (UNGEGN) által... more
A kiadvány a Nemzetközi Névtudományi Társaság (ICOS) alap-vető névtani terminusokat tartalmazó jegyzékének, valamint a földrajzi nevek egységesítése során használt terminusokból az ENSZ Földrajzi Névi Szakértői Csoportja (UNGEGN) által össze-állított jegyzéknek a magyar változatát, illetve a hozzájuk kap-csolódó többnyelvű terminusmutatókat adja közre. Ezeket két, magyar és angol változatban közölt tanulmány kíséri a nemzetközi és a magyar névtani terminológiai munkálatokról, illetve a két ter-minusjegyzékről és magyar változatuk elkészítéséről. The volume contains the Hungarian versions of the ICOS (International Council of Onomastic Sciences) List of Key Onomastic Terms and the UNGEGN (United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names) Glossary of Terms for the Standardization of Geographical Names, accompanied by relevant multilingual term indices. The glossaries are supplemented by two studies, published in Hungarian and English on international and Hun-garian onomastic terminological works and on the original as well as the Hungarian versions of the two glossaries.
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This volume intends to give a general overview of the present situation, traditional and modern interests, achievements, research trends and future tasks of the discipline concerned. The first chapter is devoted to questions such as the... more
This volume intends to give a general overview of the present situation, traditional and modern interests, achievements, research trends and future tasks of the discipline concerned. The first chapter is devoted to questions such as the position of Onomastics within the sciences; the international context, professional forums, institutional background and social presence of the discipline; the cultivation of name studies as science. The second chapter describes the main research areas of Hungarian Onomastics: General Onomastics, Historical and Synchronic Anthroponomastics, Historical and Synchronic Toponomastics, Literary Onomastics, and Applied Onomastics. The volume ends with writings reviving the memory of Mihály Hajdú (1933–2014), a prominent figure of Hungarian Onomastics. The chapters are written in Hungarian, but English abtracts are also included.
Research Interests: Diachronic Linguistics (Or Historical Linguistics), Onomastics, Toponomastics, Applied Linguistics, Literary Onomastics, and 8 moreName Studies, Hungarian Studies, Proper Names, Hungarian language, History of Hungarian Language, Anthroponomastics, Onomastics, Personal Names, Family name research and genealogy, migration history, and Theory of Proper Names
An a tergo dictionary of Hungarian family names, with an English introduction and categorization. The corpus is based on a well-founded and rich collection of 14,101 different historical Hungarian family names, originally published in... more
An a tergo dictionary of Hungarian family names, with an English introduction and categorization.
The corpus is based on a well-founded and rich collection of 14,101 different historical Hungarian family names, originally published in Miklós Kázmér's Dictionary of Hungarian Historical Family Names: 14th-17th Centuries (Budapest, 1993, 1172 pp.). It publishes the date of the first occurrence of the name, and identifies the name category with codes. The full name lists of family name categories are published in an appendix. The work aims to be a tool to the typology-centred analysis of the Hungarian family name stock, also for researchers of other countries.
The corpus is based on a well-founded and rich collection of 14,101 different historical Hungarian family names, originally published in Miklós Kázmér's Dictionary of Hungarian Historical Family Names: 14th-17th Centuries (Budapest, 1993, 1172 pp.). It publishes the date of the first occurrence of the name, and identifies the name category with codes. The full name lists of family name categories are published in an appendix. The work aims to be a tool to the typology-centred analysis of the Hungarian family name stock, also for researchers of other countries.
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A research to comprehensively interpret the phenomenon of family name changes in Hungary, based on the methodology of Onomastics. Excerpts from the book here: the Summary in English (p. 107-111); the Introduction, Contents and... more
A research to comprehensively interpret the phenomenon of family name changes in Hungary, based on the methodology of Onomastics. Excerpts from the book here: the Summary in English (p. 107-111); the Introduction, Contents and Bibliography in Hungarian (p. 3-6, 100-106).
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The journal of Hungarian Onomastics was founded in 1979. It is a peer-reviewed journal, and deals with all fields of Onomastics. The articles are written in Hungarian, but abstracts and a table of contents are published in English. The... more
The journal of Hungarian Onomastics was founded in 1979. It is a peer-reviewed journal, and deals with all fields of Onomastics. The articles are written in Hungarian, but abstracts and a table of contents are published in English. The structure of the journal is as follows: Articles, Onomastics and Events, Book Reviews, Review on Periodicals, In memoriam, Information. It is an Open Access journal, its issues are available online (http://nevtert.elte.hu)
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Research Interests: Mathematics and Glossary
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The bibliography presented here contains only those publications in the field which are possible to study without knowledge of the Hungarian language, i.e. which were written in English or other foreign languages, or which simply publish... more
The bibliography presented here contains only those publications in the field which are possible to study without knowledge of the Hungarian language, i.e. which were written in English or other foreign languages, or which simply publish a database of the name changes. The annotations are based on the texts of the publications and the abstracts (if they were available). Naturally, there are also many additional contemporary sources and scholarly publications available in the field in Hungarian, many (lately the majority) include an English abstract
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This article presents the surname changes of the Jews as formal acts which served as a means of assimilation, and which resulted in a characteristic phenomenon of the history of Jewish communities as well as of the surrounding society of... more
This article presents the surname changes of the Jews as formal acts which served as a means of assimilation, and which resulted in a characteristic phenomenon of the history of Jewish communities as well as of the surrounding society of the majority. Surname changes as the sign of forming cultural and national identities were used for an individual crossing of a conceptual borderline between ‘they’ and ‘us’ in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Hungarian society. The paper is based on research in different fields of scholarly studies, applying multi- and interdisciplinary standpoints. It focuses on the Name Magyarization process, but also makes comparisons with the name changes of the Jews in other countries. It applies different sources to investigate the social, historical, cultural and ideological background, context and the characteristics of the nominal assimilation of the Jews. It analyzes their names as ethnic symbols, and presents the reasons that made the surname changes so...
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The existence of the category of proper names is as old as human language, and it can be considered a linguistic and anthropological universal. Names can play several important roles in the life of society, the givers, bearers and users... more
The existence of the category of proper names is as old as human language, and it can be considered a linguistic and anthropological universal. Names can play several important roles in the life of society, the givers, bearers and users of names. One of these functions is to create and express personal identity. Using names also expresses the naming community's knowledge about the world, familiarity instead of strangeness, the existence of personal connections. Name giving can be an act of humanising, or expressing ownership over the human environment. Names can be given to anybody and anything who/that can be identified and differentiated as an individual, and is considered important in any way for humans. However, there are more and less typical categories of named entities. Namelessness (or anonymity) can primarily (but not exclusively) also be looked at through these considerations. The questions listed here are illustrated in the paper by a wide range of examples for using and giving (or not giving) proper names, in a way that also portrays humans as homo nominans.
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This paper presents an overview of the current state of onomastics, but it is dedicated not to the academic problems but the international dimension of pursuing this academic field. It presents the institutional background of... more
This paper presents an overview of the current state of onomastics, but it is dedicated not to the academic problems but the international
dimension of pursuing this academic field. It presents the institutional background of international onomastics: organizations and academic forums (conferences, journals, and the most important types of resources). It also pays attention to the possibilities in international cooperation, and emphasizes its importance in the field.
dimension of pursuing this academic field. It presents the institutional background of international onomastics: organizations and academic forums (conferences, journals, and the most important types of resources). It also pays attention to the possibilities in international cooperation, and emphasizes its importance in the field.
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The goal of this paper is to continue the research on the structure of the Hungarian surname stock today, focusing on its etymological, typological and geographical distribution. The analysis is based on the one hundred most frequent... more
The goal of this paper is to continue the research on the structure of the Hungarian surname stock today, focusing on its etymological, typological and geographical distribution. The analysis is based on the one hundred most frequent surnames regionally in Hungary (in the 19 counties and in the capital, Budapest), and, additionally, in the Hungarian surname stock in Romania. Within its own limits, it provides an appropriate onomastic methodology, and a representative picture for the given surname stock, to be interpreted also in the broader context of European surname studies today.
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The paper provides an overview of the history of Hungarian given names in the context of connections between the sacred and the profane. The name stock, name giving, and name usage are examined separately. As a result, the connections... more
The paper provides an overview of the history of Hungarian given names in the context of connections between the sacred and the profane. The name stock, name giving, and name usage are examined separately. As a result, the connections between the sacred and the profane can be examined more systematically in different periods, areas and communities. The concept of the profane and the sacred are understood broadly. Alongside Christianity names from other religions are touched upon, and the sacrality of the period before Christianity is also examined. Differences between various denominations are analysed, and it is argued that a form of national sacrality can be observed. Several examples from the history of given names are listed to illustrate category changes and the possible connections of the two concepts.
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The paper examines the history of terminological studies in onomastics, how its terminology was formed through the work of scholars, and the results of these studies. Its first part offers an account of international terminological work... more
The paper examines the history of terminological studies in onomastics, how its terminology was formed through the work of scholars, and the results of these studies. Its first part offers an account of international terminological work in onomastics: the various glossaries of onomastic terminology and the major terminological projects. The second part provides a similar overview of Hungarian work processes: it enumerates initiatives that aimed to create a comprehensive and organised terminology and bringing certain Hungarian studies on terminological questions to light. The final part of the paper focuses parallels and connections between native language terminologies and international terminological work processes.
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In the age of romanticism and nationalism, personal names played a special, symbolic role. This paper presents how the new, national given names could be created, expanding the traditional given-name stock of ecclesiastic origin. The... more
In the age of romanticism and nationalism, personal names played a special, symbolic role. This paper presents how the new, national given names could be created, expanding the traditional given-name stock of ecclesiastic origin. The historical and onomastic background, the various sources and methods, and the consequences of this process are presented, in the case of the Hungarian given-name stock of the 18th–19th centuries, which had much in common with other nations and languages as well.
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The topic this paper has set out to explore wished to yield some insights into one chapter of the Romanian-Hungarian historic, linguistic and onomastic contacts from the point of view of current Hungarian research. Its topic is based on... more
The topic this paper has set out to explore wished to yield some insights into one chapter of the Romanian-Hungarian historic, linguistic and onomastic contacts from the point of view of current Hungarian research. Its topic is based on the representative historic and current onomastic sources: the presence, the history and the distribution of surnames of Romanian linguistic origin in the Hungarian surname stock. The main focus are three specific surnames (Árgyelán, Marosán, Moldován), discussing the presence, changes, distribution and variants of these names in present-day Hungary and the territory of the historic Hungarian Kingdom and Transylvania.
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The paper aims to provide a comprehensive typology of surname changes, analysed in the case of the Hungarian surname system. The typology presented here is partly language specific and characterises the given historic, social and cultural... more
The paper aims to provide a comprehensive typology of surname changes, analysed in the case of the Hungarian surname system. The typology presented here is partly language specific and characterises the given historic, social and cultural circumstances, but partly conveys more general lessons to be learned about the nature of surname change. The paper also identifies the most typical tendencies in the diachrony of the Hungarian surname stock. Some characteristics (e.g. archaic orthography, dialectal variation, morphological markedness) are treated here, affected by various linguistic and extralinguistic factors.
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The paper carries out a typological-statistical analysis concentrating on the 100 most common surnames in Hungary, focusing on certain methodological aspects, which have received less than due attention in earlier studies. The research... more
The paper carries out a typological-statistical analysis concentrating on the 100 most common surnames in Hungary, focusing on certain methodological aspects, which have received less than due attention in earlier studies. The research also aims to point out some characteristics of the surname stock in question in comparison with other European surname systems. The majority of European countries significant efforts have been, or are being made to describe the structure, composition and geographical distribution of their surname stock. The findings, unsurprisingly, show noteworthy differences, which are often linked to national borders and the historic-geographic presence of a language and its speaking community. Similar studies have to be carried out in several countries, based on the most representative name corpuses and using a similar methodology - presupposes large-scale international cooperation and coordination efforts.
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Many names were changed spontaneously in language contact situations according to the name stock of the dominant community in Hungary in the old centuries. In the 19th century, nationalism gave rise to a new linguistic ideology aiming at... more
Many names were changed spontaneously in language contact situations according to the name stock of the dominant community in Hungary in the old centuries. In the 19th century, nationalism gave rise to a new linguistic ideology aiming at uniting the 'nation'. Surnames became also ethnic symbols, thus the concepts of the assimilation of linguistic/ ethnic minorities and the changing of surnames of foreign origin joined together. The paper gives an account of the linguistic and onomastic factors of this phenomenon, and the historical, social, ideological background of the process. It focuses on the assimilation of minorities and its consequences concerning their personal names in Hungary, a lot in common with similar processes of other countries, in the 19 th and 20 th century.
A nevek megváltoztatása mint a különbségek eltörlése: A személynév mint etnikai szimbólum, a családnév-változtatások jellemzői és a családnevek magyarosítása Magyarországon.
Promena imena kao brisanje različitosti: Rođeno ime kao etnički simbol, karakteristike promena porodičnih imena i mađarenje porodičnih imena u Mađarskoj.
A nevek megváltoztatása mint a különbségek eltörlése: A személynév mint etnikai szimbólum, a családnév-változtatások jellemzői és a családnevek magyarosítása Magyarországon.
Promena imena kao brisanje različitosti: Rođeno ime kao etnički simbol, karakteristike promena porodičnih imena i mađarenje porodičnih imena u Mađarskoj.
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The study focuses on the regulations for the history of surname changes in Hungary and on their realisation in practice. It provides an overview of the historical changes of these regulations and procedures, including the factors to... more
The study focuses on the regulations for the history of surname changes in Hungary and on their realisation in practice. It provides an overview of the historical changes of these regulations and procedures, including the factors to ever-changing historical backgrounds, and devotes special attention to the related onomastic aspects, especially the changing restricions for the adoption of the new name.
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Surnames originating from ethnonyms form a characteristic part of the Hungarian surname stock, in comparison to other European nations. They make up at most 0.5% of the surname stock, yet their proportion is 7-8%. Among the 10 most... more
Surnames originating from ethnonyms form a characteristic part of the Hungarian surname stock, in comparison to other European nations. They make up at most 0.5% of the surname stock, yet their proportion is 7-8%. Among the 10 most frequent surnames, 3 are of this type: Tóth (= Slav, Slovak), Horvát (= Croat), Német (= German). In this paper an analysis is presented of this surname category: the background and motivations for their creation, their history, and the characteristics of their geographical distribution.
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[GoogleBooks link is available for the article.] In this paper I place the category of surnames within the system of personal names, then I touch upon all three major categories of Hungarian surnames, but mainly focus on the artificial... more
[GoogleBooks link is available for the article.]
In this paper I place the category of surnames within the system of personal names, then I touch upon all three major categories of Hungarian surnames, but mainly focus on the artificial surnames and their best known representatives, a surname stock created by official surname changing.
In this paper I place the category of surnames within the system of personal names, then I touch upon all three major categories of Hungarian surnames, but mainly focus on the artificial surnames and their best known representatives, a surname stock created by official surname changing.
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The paper investigates the differences between the surname stock that arose naturally in the community and the surname stock that was created artificially later via a legal procedure of surname changes. They are quite different in a... more
The paper investigates the differences between the surname stock that arose naturally in the community and the surname stock that was created artificially later via a legal procedure of surname changes. They are quite different in a number of respects: When were these surnames born? Who gives the name and to whom? Why is that name born? On what bases is the surname chosen? From what material (set of linguistic elements) and in what way is the surname formed? The most typical new surname types (semantics and morphology) are also presented here by examples and comments.
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The paper describes and analyses the characteristics and problems of Hungarian onomastic terminology, discussing how these terms and their use are affected by linguistic features, synonymy, polisemy and homonymy of terms, the everyday use... more
The paper describes and analyses the characteristics and problems of Hungarian onomastic terminology, discussing how these terms and their use are affected by linguistic features, synonymy, polisemy and homonymy of terms, the everyday use and the common meaning of words, the different approaches of name taxonomies, factors in the history of scholarship and the changes of the world. It also outlines the attempts made so far to establish a unified Hungarian onomastic terminology.
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In our paper we focus on the translating practice and translatability of surnames used in Hungarian, from the problems of translating the immediate predecessors of surnames to the questions of translating surnames today. Our main interest... more
In our paper we focus on the translating practice and translatability of surnames used in Hungarian, from the problems of translating the immediate predecessors of surnames to the questions of translating surnames today. Our main interest is in how multilingualism, language contact situations, language prestige considerations, customs, fashion and other potential factors affect the use of these names in different languages, and the translatability in a wider sense in the actual practice in Hungary and other countries. We shall look at name translation practice in medieval documents, the relevant questions of spontaneous and conscious surname changes, the changes of Hungarian surnames used outside of Hungary, and finally the questions of translating surnames occurring in fiction.
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The paper presents the history, the interdisciplinary character and the literature of the research in the field of official surname changes in Hungary. It presents a theoretical framework for the appropriate study of the complex... more
The paper presents the history, the interdisciplinary character and the literature of the research in the field of official surname changes in Hungary. It presents a theoretical framework for the appropriate study of the complex phenomenon of surname changes. It gives an account of the examination of its primary sources, and also overviews the partial and case studies on different aspects of the topic.
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This paper is a study of the use and the value of foreign surnames of minorities in a dominant linguistic and cultural context, as well as the process of the assimilation of these names and their bearers. It analyzes the different reasons... more
This paper is a study of the use and the value of foreign surnames of minorities in a dominant linguistic and cultural context, as well as the process of the assimilation of these names and their bearers. It analyzes the different reasons and the ways of spontaneous and conscious name changes, giving a special attention to the question of how the linguistic characteristics of original foreign surnames and the existing Hungarian surname stock could influence the new surnames coined by these changes in Hungarian history.
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This paper applies different sources to investigate the social, historical, cultural and ideological context and the characteristics of the surname changes of the Jews in Hungary. It analyzes the names as ethnic symbols, the assimilation... more
This paper applies different sources to investigate the social, historical, cultural and ideological context and the characteristics of the surname changes of the Jews in Hungary. It analyzes the names as ethnic symbols, the assimilation process of Jewish persons and their personal names in general, and the history of the Jewish Name Magyarization in Hungary. The characteristic features of the surnames chosen and their typical motivations are also analyzed, in comparison with those of the non-Jews in the country.
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As a result of German-Hungarian societal bilingualism German family names had been present in multilingual 19th century Hungary for centuries. Magyarizations of family names in the second half of the 19th century mostly affected the... more
As a result of German-Hungarian societal bilingualism German family names had been present in multilingual 19th century Hungary for centuries. Magyarizations of family names in the second half of the 19th century mostly affected the German and Yiddish speech communities bearing German family names. This paper explores the causes and characteristics of this phenomenon by examining the social, psychological, and ideological factors influencing the use of family names. After giving the numerical description of family name changes, the authors examine the sociolinguistic background of family name use, focusing on the situation of ethnolinguistic communities whose members bore German family names. By analysing the semantic structure of family names, the authors present how and why these family names could become tools of linguistic nationalism in contemporary Hungary, generating the claim of changing foreign-sounding family names to Hungarian ones. The political and social background of family name changes as well as social stratification of the applicants are also examined. The authors describe the movement of family name Magyarizations as a behavioural pattern of middle-class people ready to accept social mobility and willing to take part in assimilation. The aesthetic, functional and linguistic principles found behind these family name changes are also discussed. After briefly presenting the history of German family names in 20th century Hungary, the authors deduce some basic theoretical and methodological conclusions.
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Including the following chapters: Proper names in dictionaries and in lexicographic works; Place name dictionaries (Historical and synchronic collections of data and lexicographic works, Historical and etymological dictionaries of... more
Including the following chapters:
Proper names in dictionaries and in lexicographic works;
Place name dictionaries (Historical and synchronic collections of data and lexicographic works, Historical and etymological dictionaries of place names, Dictionaries of geographical common nouns);
Dictionaries of given names (The first books of given names, Historical dictionaries of given names, Characteristics of synchronic dictionaries of given names, Official dictionaries of given names, Special-purpose dictionaries of given names);
Dictionaries of family names;
Other onomastic dictionaries (Dictionaries of other name types, Practical dictionaries of foreign language proper names, Dictionaries of proper names used as common nouns).
Proper names in dictionaries and in lexicographic works;
Place name dictionaries (Historical and synchronic collections of data and lexicographic works, Historical and etymological dictionaries of place names, Dictionaries of geographical common nouns);
Dictionaries of given names (The first books of given names, Historical dictionaries of given names, Characteristics of synchronic dictionaries of given names, Official dictionaries of given names, Special-purpose dictionaries of given names);
Dictionaries of family names;
Other onomastic dictionaries (Dictionaries of other name types, Practical dictionaries of foreign language proper names, Dictionaries of proper names used as common nouns).
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This bibliography presents the publications in the field which are possible to study without knowledge of the Hungarian language, i.e. written in English or other foreign languages, or which simply publish a database of the cases. The... more
This bibliography presents the publications in the field which are possible to study without knowledge of the Hungarian language, i.e. written in English or other foreign languages, or which simply publish a database of the cases. The annotations are based on the texts of the publications and the abstracts (if they were available).
Research Interests: Ethnohistory, Jewish Studies, Hungarian, Onomastics, Nationalism, and 12 moreNationalism And State Building, Surnames, Language and Identity, Social History, 19th Century (History), Modern Jewish History, Family history, Cultural Assimilation, Assimilation, Geneology, Surname Changes, and Surname Changes
Proper names can be the sources of humour in many ways. Real names can become humorous, especially in certain situations; humorous names can be given to existing persons or places; and names can also convey humour in fiction. The common... more
Proper names can be the sources of humour in many ways. Real names can become humorous, especially in certain situations; humorous names can be given to existing persons or places; and names can also convey humour in fiction. The common meaning of proper names, their sound shape, their typical (e.g. ethno stereotypical) use in the society and specific circumstances can trigger the effect. This effect depends on linguistic, cultural, historical or even ideological factors. This chapter is focusing on different Hungarian sources to investigate this potential of proper names: jokes, anecdotes, novels or cartoons as well as non-fictive stories and corpuses of different types of existing names, idioms etc. The chapter presents the characteristic types of humour that demonstrate and illustrate the humour potential of proper names, based on their linguistic and cultural environment.