1. Hungarian and less familiar terms

(Words preceded by an asterisk are treated in separate entries)

‘absolute rhyme’ see tiszta rím.

Absolutism, Era of (önkényuralom). The period between the end of the *War of Independence in 1849, and the opening of the Diet of 1865, which ended önkényuralom and led to the *Settlement of 1867.

alispán. The principal officer of the *megye administration, who is elected for a term in office. See also főispán.

almanachlíra. Poetry published in literary annuals and magazines in the 1830s and 1840s, and influenced by German Sentimentalism (F. Matthisson and others). The popularity of almanachlíra rapidly declined with the debut of Petőfi and with the growth of the *népies trend.

Ármány. A pseudo-mythological deity, introduced in Zalán futása (1825) by Vörösmarty; an evil spirit, the opposite of *Hadúr.

Aurora Circle. Writers who rallied around the annual Aurora included Bajza, Czuczor, Kölcsey, K. Kisfaludy, Toldy, P. Vajda, and Vörösmarty.

Ausgleich see Settlement of 1867.

Bácska. A fertile region of the *Lowland between the Danube and the Tisza, south of Szeged, the greater part of which belongs to Yugoslavia.

Balassi stanza. A type of stanza first employed by Balassi in the 1580s, which consists of 9 (occasionally 6 or 12) lines, and is divided into 3 units by the use of the rhyme-scheme: AAD BBD CCD. The lines in each unit contain 6-6-7 syllables. It is generally accepted that Balassi developed the form from a three-lined stanza of unusually long (19 syllables) lines, by breaking up the lines with the introduction of internal rhymes.

Ballhausplatz. A square in Vienna, near the Burg, often used figuratively for the joint Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

bán. 1, the highest-ranking dignitary in Croatia and Slavonia; 2. a military governor in Southern Hungary in the Middle Ages; 3. in Katona’s use: Palatine; 4. in general (now obsolete) use: ‘a great lord’. First recorded in a Latinized form (banus, 1116), its etymology may derive from Bajan, a sixth-century, local Avar ruler. See also Bánát.

Bánát (or bánság; derived from *bán). A territory under the jurisdiction of a *bán. In modern usage the Bánát always refers to the (former) territory of the Bánát of Temesvár, a region of the *Lowland, between the rivers Maros, Tisza, and Danube. Its NW part belongs to Hungary, N. and E. parts to Romania, and W. and S. parts to Yugoslavia. See also bán.

betyár (‘an outlaw’). In nineteenth-century Hungarian fiction and verse some betyárs (e.g. Sándor Rózsa or Jóska Sobri) acquired a romantic halo. These latter-day Robin Hoods sided with Kossuth in the *War of Independence, and in the 1850s and 1860s were associated with the spirit of resistance and national independence by the peasants of the *Lowland. Most of them were successfully rounded up by Royal Commissioner Gedeon Ráday who put an end to their plunderings. See also csárda.

bordal (‘a drinking song’). Originally sung during merriment, in nineteenth-century Hungarian poetry bordal became popular with poets who used the genre for expressing philosophical thoughts or patriotic emotions (e.g. Csokonai, Kölcsey, Vörösmarty, and Petőfi).

Centralists (centralisták). Intellectuals in mid-nineteenth century Hungary who advocated the idea that the power of the central authority of the state should be increased.

Classicist Triad. József Rájnis, Dávid Baróti Szabó, and Miklós Révai who, in the late eighteenth century, used classical metres effectively for the first time in Hungarian poetry.

Coalition Period. The years between 1945 and 1949, when the Communist Party ruled Hungary in a coalition with other parties (Smallholders, National Peasant Party, and the Social Democrats) until Rákosi, by the effective use of *salami tactics, achieved monopoly of power for the communists.

Compromise see Settlement of 1867.

Conquest (honfoglalás). The conquest of Hungary by the Hungarians at the end of the ninth century. The traditionally accepted date for the Conquest is an 896. See also Millenium.

Corvina, Bibliotheca. The library of Matthias I (1458-90), which was dispersed during the Turkish wars, is estimated to comprise over 2000 codices and a few incunabula, of which 208 are known to exist in 49 libraries all over the world. 50 Corvinae are in Hungarian libraries; in England the British Library, and the libraries of Oxford University (Bodleian) and Cambridge (Trinity College) possess specimens of Corvinae.

csákó (English ‘shako’). ‘A military cap in the shape of a truncated cone, with a peak.’ (OED).

csángó. A member of a Hungarian-speaking ethnic group east of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania.

csárda. A road-side inn on the *Lowland, featuring prominently in nineteenth-century Hungarian (and German) Romantic literature, usually as a meeting-place of *betyárs. (The adjective formed from csárda, csárdás, ‘of, or pertaining to a csárda’ is first recorded in 1835, in the sense of ‘a type of peasant music or dance’.)

cs. és kir. (German K. u. K., ‘Imperial and Royal’). Both the Hungarian and German abbreviations are common colloquial references to the *Dual Monarchy, 1867-1918.

csikós (from csikó ‘a colt’). An employee on a horse-breeding farm. Popularized in nineteenth-century Romantic fiction and verse, csikós, like *betyár, became a standard figure in ‘tourist folklore’.

Cumania (Hungarian Kunság). A region of the *Lowland, consisting of Kiskunság (between the Danube and the Tisza) and Nagykunság (East of the Tisza), formerly inhabited by Cumanians.

Cumanians (Latin comani or cumani). A nomadic people who settled in Hungary in the Middle Ages. Their language became extinct in the eighteenth century.

délibáb (literally ‘noon-appearance’ i.e. ‘a mirage’). First recorded in 1707, it was a dialect word current on the *Lowland until popularized in literature by József Gaál, Vörösmarty and, in particular, by Petőfi. The adjective formed from délibáb, délibábos, is today used figuratively in the sense ‘illusory, unreal, unrealistic, wishful’.

Délvidék see Vajdaság.

‘deviation’. Marxist euphemism for a departure from the currently approved policies, or ideology of the ruling faction of the Communist Party. See also sectarianism.

Dormant National Spirit, Age of. The period between the end of the *War of Independence led by Rákóczi and the beginning of the era of Enlightenment, 1711-72, was called ‘the age of decline’ by Toldy (1854). This idea was generally accepted by nineteenth-century historians of literature (e.g. ‘unnational age’ Beöthy, 1877, ‘the age of the dormant national spirit’ Bodnár, 1891; ‘the age of decadence’ Riedl, 1906). Revision of the concept took place in the 1930s; Farkas called the period between 1711-72 ‘the age of gathering strength’ (1934) and Alszeghy rejected the label ‘unnational’ (1942). Szerb employed a term borrowed from the history of art: Baroque (1934), a term which is also widely used in Marxist scholarship. The period was not devoid of ‘national feeling’, nor was it unproductive; what it lacked, however, was a wider horizon. The Hungarian nobility lived in a ‘fool’s paradise’, in a state of illusory happiness and contentment. See also Extra Hungariam.

Dualism, Age of. The period between 1867 and 1918 in Hungarian history.

Dual Monarchy. One of the customary names of the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1867 and 1918.

‘East versus West’. The apparent antagonism between the eastern origin of the Hungarians and their adopted, Western culture. This was a Romantic notion in nineteenth-century literature, but in the inter-war period it became a prime factor in nationalistic and racialist theories. See also Turanism.

egyke. A *Transdanubian dialect-word meaning ‘only child’. The word gained currency through the sociological reportages of the *népi writers (e.g. Illyés, Kodolányi) in the 1930s.

exportdráma (‘a play for export’). Originally a somewhat derogatory label for the plays of Molnár, Lengyel, and others, which became popular on the stages of Vienna, Berlin, and especially on Broadway, between the 1910s and 1930s. The expression is usually attributed to A. Szerb (1934); it was, however, J. Révai who first called Molnár’s plays ‘an export article’ (Today, 1917).

‘Extra Hungariam non est vita, si est, non est ita’. This saying is ascribed to L.C. Rhodiginus (1516) and was often quoted in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Humanist scholars. By the eighteenth century it was widely known and quoted in Hungary, and it expressed the patriotic feelings of the Slovaks and Germans of *Upper Hungary for their native ‘Hungaria’. It was only at the end of the nineteenth century that the saying became an emblematic expression of the contentment of the eighteenth-century Hungarian nobility, and it was now permeated with nostalgia for ‘the good old days’ of the eighteenth century. Historians, since Szekfű, quote the saying as an example of the parochial mentality of eighteenth-century public thinking in Hungary, and this is how the saying is used in modern works on eighteenth-century Hungary. See also Dormant National Spirit.

falukutatók (‘village explorers’). A radical group within the *népi writers (I. Kovács, Z. Szabó and others) who devoted their energies to surveying the living conditions of the peasantry in the mid-1930s, using the methods of modern sociology.

fejedelem. The proper Hungarian term for 1. Latin ‘dux’ as used in the chronicles for the sovereign of the Hungarians before Vajk was crowned King Stephen I; 2. ‘prince’ when referring to any one of the ‘princes of Transylvania’ (e.g. Prince Francis Rákóczi II for II. Rákóczi Ferenc fejedelem).

Felvidék see Upper Hungary.

Fenntebb stylus (‘elevated style’). The style-ideal of Kazinczy. (Tövisek és virágok, 1811)

Fiatal Magyarország (‘Young Hungary’). The name was first used in a somewhat derogatory sense, on the analogy with Das junge Deutschland, by P. Csató (1839) but was later proudly accepted by Petőfi (in a letter to Arany, 1847) as a fitting name for the democratic and radical young intelligentsia to which he himself belonged. See also márciusi ifjak.

főrangú lirikusok (‘poets of aristocratic origin’). A common name for those poets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who have the title of a count (barons are often also included). In addition, some histories of literature include the sixteenth-century Baron Bálint Balassi, and nearly all histories include István Gyöngyösi who was neither a baron nor a count. The adjective főrangú is now obsolete, except in the phrase főrangú lirikusok, a term which is not used by Marxist scholars.

főispán. The titular and political head of the *megye, appointed by the Crown. See also alispán.

Fradi. The popular colloquial name of the once famous football-team of Ferencváros (District IX of Budapest).

Frontier(s)land see Végek.

generation ’56. A term introduced to cover those young writers who left Hungary in the aftermath of the revolution of 1956, and who first established their reputation in *’Western’ Hungarian literature.

gimnázium. The main type of secondary school in Hungary, which developed from the Church schools of the Middle Ages. Before the dissolution of the Society of Jesus (1773), over half of the gimnáziums were in Jesuit hands. The language of instruction was Latin, and the curriculum heavily leaned towards the classics. Gimnáziums were several times reorganized; first by Maria Theresia (Ratio Educationis, 1777). Article II of the Act of 1844 changed the language of instruction in secondary education entirely to Hungarian, and grades and curricula were several times reshaped in the nineteenth century, modelled on the German Gymnazia. In its most advanced form, a gimnázium had eight grades for the age-group from 10 to 18, and studies were concluded by an érettségi examination.

In 1948 all gimnáziums were nationalized, and the lower four grades were transferred to the primary school system (which is compulsory). The upper grades (5-8) now became grades 1-4. Its general character, shaped by the traditions of the great teaching orders (e.g. Scholae Piae of the Piarists), has been changed, and today’s gimnázium apart from its name has little in common with the nineteenth-century gimnázium, which was a nursery of modern Hungarian literature.

‘glorious past’ see régi dicsőség.

góbé (or kópé). A Székely dialect word of unknown etymology meaning ‘a crafty fellow’. He is a prominent figure in the works of Nyírő, Wass, Tamási, and other Transylvanian writers.

Göcsej. A small region to the south of Lake Balaton, with a distinctive dialect of its own. Of the major writers, Zrínyi wrote in the Göcsej dialect.

Great Hungarian Plain(s). One of the standard names in English for Alföld. See *Lowland.

gulyás (from gulya ‘a herd of cattle’). 1. An employee of a cattle-breeding farm on the *Lowland, ‘a herdsman’, ‘a cowboy’. Together with *csikós and *betyár, the character was popularized in nineteenth-century fiction and verse, and became a standard figure in ‘tourist folklore’. 2. A stew of beef seasoned with paprika. (English: ‘goulash’.)

Hadúr (‘God of Hosts’). According to popular misconception it is the ‘God of the Hungarians’; in fact, it is a pseudo-mythological deity created by S. Aranyosrákosi Székely (Haddur, 1823) and brought into general use by Vörösmarty in Zalán futása (1825), modelled on one of the names of Jehovah in the Old Testament. See also Ármány.

hajdú. Originally cattle-drovers (from the verb hajt, ‘to drive’), later a body of special foot-soldiers who were settled on the eastern *Lowland with special privileges. The English ‘heyduck’ is the plural of the noun (hajdúk). From about the eighteenth century it is also used to denote 1. a servant of a squire in special uniform serving as a doorman, valet, coachman, or bodyguard. 2. A liveried attendant in the office of the *megye who may have the duties of a doorman, coachman, and occasionally of a bailiff.

Hajdúság. A region of the *Lowland between *Hortobágy and *Nyírség, in which *hajdús were settled.

halandzsa (‘meaningless speech’). A pseudo-language devoid of conventional semantic content, popularized by Karinthy who probably coined its name (1912).

harmadik út (‘third road or way’). A key political concept and slogan in *népi ideology, this very loosely applied term describes a utopia of the Hungarian kind; in L. Németh’s words, it is a külön magyar út (‘a special Hungarian way’). The advocates of harmadik út proposed a set of radical social reforms to produce a ‘cross-breed’ between capitalism and socialism, specially tailored to the needs of Hungarian society. Harmadik út was strongly opposed in the late 1930s by the Marxist Left who claimed that on the eve of a possible confrontation between the Third Reich and Soviet Russia a third road was not feasible. Still, népi intellectuals found hard to reconcile their utopia to the type of socialism which was forced on Eastern Europe after World War II, and the concept re-emerged in the *Coalition Period in a somewhat modified form. One of its chief exponents was political philosopher István Bibó (1909-1979). After the revolution of 1956 a theoretical study group of the Hungarian Communist Party analyzed the socio-political influence of the concept harmadik út and found it ‘outdated, primitive and deviating from the basic tenets of socialist society’. Briefly, harmadik út has been found nationalistic, and hence ‘inimical to progress’. See also Transylvanism.

határőrvidék (German Militärgrenze; English military frontier). A ‘buffer-zone’ between Turkey and the Austrian Empire in the south of *‘historic’ Hungary under direct military administration from Vienna.

históriás ének (or krónikás ének). A type of narrative poetry which flourished in the second half of the sixteenth century, in which contemporary or historical events were narrated in a song with musical accompaniment. The first narrative poem which may be regarded historiás ének is Szabács viadala (1476). The most popular author of historiás éneks was Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos, and the term was probably first used in print by A. Göröncsi (1570). Many historiás éneks were collected and published by G. Heltai (Cancionale, Kolozsvár,1574). See also széphistória.

‘historic’ Hungary. Hungary with its pre-1918 frontiers. When used in the sense of ‘the Lands of the Holy Crown’, it usually includes Croatia.

honfoglalás see Conquest.

honvéd (literally ‘a defender of the homeland’). Although the word was already used in the 1820s, it gained wide currency only when Kossuth began to set up his army in the *War of Independence. Very soon the army was generally named Honvéd army. In the *Dual Monarchy, from 1869 units of honvéd batallions were organized, as distinct from the common, Austro-Hungarian army. (Its Austrian counterpart was the Landwehr.) In the inter-war period the Hungarian Army was officially called Honvédség.

Hortobágy. A region of the *Lowland west of Debrecen.

‘Hungarian alexandrine’ (magyaros tizenkettes). A twelve-syllabled four-beat line, halved by a caesura. Its main variants are:-’---/-’-//-’---/-’- and-’--/-’--//-’--/-’--, and combinations of these. As the stress always falls on the first syllable of the beat, it is descending, unlike the alexandrine proper which is ascending. In sixteenth-century poetry four lines make up a stanza, and its rhyme scheme is AAAA *’absolute’ rhymes. The rhyme scheme was reformed at the end of the eighteenth century: AABB or ABAB. According to some authorities it is not alexandrine at all, since the length of the syllables is of secondary importance compared with the significance of the stress. ‘Hungarian’ alexandrine was the most common type of line in Hungarian poetry until the end of the eighteenth century; Zrínyi used it extensively, and Gyöngyösi was a virtuoso of its technique.

Hungarian Guard. The bodyguard of Maria Theresa, set up in 1760. It consisted of noble Hungarian youths and was instrumental in the reception of the ideas of the Englightenment, and in the birth of modern Hungarian literature. See also testőr writers.

Hungarian national anthem (‘Himnusz’). Written by Kölcsey (1823), and set to music by F. Erkel (1844), it has been the official national anthem ever since.

‘Hungarianness’ (magyarosság). That elusive, mystic quality of the language which is claimed to be (beside clarity and conciseness) essential for good Hungarian style by nineteenth-century textbooks of rhetoric.

‘Imperialist’ Party. In contemporary English tracts and books *labanc Hungarians, and the troops of the Emperor of Austria, are called Imperialists.

irányregény (German Tendenzroman). A novel calculated to advance a political cause. Its classic example in Hungarian literature is A falu jegyzője (1845) by Eötvös.

irodalmi Deák párt (‘literary Deák party’). Writers who supported Ferenc Deák in his political aims after the *Settlement of 1867 included first of all Zs. Kemény, Arany, and Gyulai. These writers firmly believed that after the successful *passive resistance, and having reached a compromise in the *Settlement, Hungarians have been given a chance for social progress and economic growth. In literature they felt their main duty was the preservation of specific national values. See also National Classicism.

irodalmi iró ‘a writer’s writer’.

irodalmi tudat (‘consciousness in literature’). First used by J. Erdélyi, a disciple of Hegel, (irodalmi tudalom, 1855), irodalmi tudat was conceived by J. Horváth (1908) as a device by which the idea of continuity in literature may conveniently be traced. Both tradition and innovation guarantee the growth of literature, but innovation-which brings about originality-may only be forthcoming if an awareness of the accumulated traditions exists. This awareness is expressed in a healthy literary life, in which writers are not isolated, but have established contacts with one another and with their readers and in which there is a framework for literary activity. Irodalmi tudat is a sense of belonging, of being part of a tradition.

Iron Gate. (Vaskapu) A passage in the gorges on the lower Danube, near Orsova.

istenes ének. A term for a type of religious poetry, which is Protestant in inspiration, and expresses a restless search for God rather than a simple religious devotion. The most remarkable specimens of istenes poetry were written by Balassi and Ady.

jobbágy (‘a serf’). Serfs were emancipated in stages. 1785: Joseph II allowed greater personal freedom by lifting restrictions on migration and on choosing a career. Law VII of 1840 lifted restrictions on redeeming mortgage. Law IV of 1844 permitted the acquisiton of noble estates and, finally, the revolution of 1848 declared the general and common sharing of the burden of all taxes, tolls, and other public expenses by all classes, and abolished all feudal dues.

kalapos király (‘hatted king’). A nickname of Joseph II.

Kárpátalja (‘the sub-Carpathian district of the Ukraine’). This part of *’historic’ Hungary belonged to Czechoslovakia from 1920 and 1938. As a result of the First *Vienna Award (1938), it was re-occupied by Hungary, and since 1945 has been part of the Soviet Union.

Kazinczy’s Triad of Pest consists of I. Horvát, P. Szemere, and M. Vitkovics.

képarchitektúra (‘picture architecture’). Kassák’s expression for a type of ‘two-dimensional’ constructivism.

képvers (‘picture-poem’). Kassák’s word for a type of avant-garde poem with unusual typography.

kerülgető stílus (‘meandering style’). A literary device employing retardation (seemingly irrelevant details, anecdotes) in the course of the narrative in order to increase suspense. Mikszáth was a master of kerülgető style.

két haza (‘the two homelands (i.e. of the Hungarians]’). Hungary proper and *Transylvania, the unification of which was demanded in the revolution of 1848.

kiegyezés see Settlement of 1867.

Kisfaludy or Himfy stanza. A twelve-lined stanza invented by S. Kisfaludy in the late 1780s, written in trochaics with the rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EE FF.

könyvhét (‘a book-week’). A book-fair lasting for a week in the early summer, during which books are sold on open stands in the streets of every major town in Hungary, and for which publishers bring out new books and special editions of classical Hungarian and foreign authors. It was introduced in 1952, replacing *könyvnap.

könyvnap (‘a book-day’). An open-air book-fair, which was introduced in 1927 at the suggestion of G. Supka who argued that quality literature fared badly in the over-commercialized book-trade, and deserved promotion. After the nationalization of the book-trade in 1949 the idea of könyvnap was whole-heartedly espoused by the state as an excellent occasion for reaching wide sections of the population.

kopjafa (‘a wooden head-post’). Decorated with carvings, kopjafas were used in *Székely cemeteries; the tradition may go back to ancient times when the grave of a warrior was marked by a spear (i.e. kopja).

kubikos. An unskilled temporary labourer employed on construction-sites, and in building roads or railways, paid by the cubic öl (a unit of earth).

k. u. k. see cs. és kir.

Kunság see Cumania.

kuruc (first recorded 1679, of unknown etymology). A Hungarian who opposed Habsburg rule, and took part in the * War of Independence led by Ferenc Rákóczi II. At the end of the seventeenth century kuruc movement produced significant poetry, and Ady revived the cult of the kurucs in his poetry. In modern, colloquial usage it means a person who is against foreign rule in Hungary.

labanc. A Hungarian who was loyal to the Habsburgs and who fought the kuruc army; an *’imperialist’. In modern use it means loyal to the establishment.

‘lesser’ (or ‘common’) nobility (kis- or köznemesség). For historical reasons Hungarian nobility was disproportionately large in number in comparison with the rest of the population, a situation similar only to that in Poland. Most members of the lesser nobility, however, lost their estates by the middle of the nineteenth century, but jealously guarded their privileges and status in society. By the end of the nineteenth century these privileges were a thing of the past, and their social position had radically changed, but the claim to nobility prevailed in people of noble origin who were by then either employed in the growing civil service, or who stayed put in the countryside as gentleman-farmers, but whose economic position was hardly better than that of well-to-do peasants. A semi-pejorative, half-joking epithet applied to these gentleman-farmers was hétszilvafás, referring to the size of their estates which would probably be large enough to support only seven plum-trees. One of the main reasons for the pauperization of the lesser nobility was *ősiség (the law of entail).

Literary Deák Party see irodalmi Deák párt.

Lowland(s). Strictly speaking it consists of Nagy- and Kisalföld, the former being the Lowland proper, or the *Great Hungarian Plain, the vast *puszta East of the Danube stretching to the foot of the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps, and in the south into Yugoslavia. Its chief regions are: Kis- and Nagy*kunság, *Nyírség, *Hajdúság, *Hortobágy, the *Bánát, and *Bácska. Kisalföld is in Western Hungary by the Danube and includes the island *Csallóköz.

Maeotis. The Sea of Azov in medieval Hungarian chronicles, known since Herodotus (iv: 86); it was in the marshes of Maeotis that the ‘wondrous hunt’ took place.

March Front see Márciusi Front.

March Youth see márciusi ifjak.

Márciusi Front (‘March Front’). A combined anti-fascist platform of the opposition established by *népi and other radical intellectuals in 1937. The name is an allusion to the March revolution of 1848.

márciusi ifjak (‘The Youth of March’). Young radical intellectuals (writers and students) who were instrumental in the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, followers of the Society of Ten. See also Fiatal Magyarország.

magyaros iskola. The ‘traditionalist trend’ at the end of the eighteenth century, which followed the traditions of Hungarian poetry as ‘codified’ by Gyöngyösi and generally resisted innovation in literature. Politically, it opposed the reforms of Joseph II. The chief representatives of the trend were A. Dugonics, J. Gvadányi, and Á. Pálóczi Horváth. The term was widely used in nineteenth-century histories of literature, but has not been adopted by Marxist scholarship.

megye (short for vármegye; Latin comitatus). An administrative unit of the country, the origins of which go back to the earliest centuries of the Hungarian Kingdom. The megye retained a certain amount of independence against the central power of the kings, and was the stronghold of opposition to the Habsburgs at the time of the national awakening, in the late eighteenth century. The *Centralists demanded the curtailment of the independence of the megye, in which they saw the greatest danger to the authority of the central government. The megye system survived into the present century, and with some territorial rearrangements still forms the largest unit of local administration. In the nineteenth century there were 63 megyes, in today’s Hungary there are 19. See also alispán and főispán.

Mezőség. A region in the central Transylvanian basin.

Migration, Age of (népvándorlás kora from German Völkerwanderung). A term for a period in East European history which largely corresponds with the early Middle Ages in West European history.

Millenium. Refers to the *Conquest of Hungary, celebrated in 1896.

‘misera plebs contribuens’ (‘the wretched, tax-paying people’). The phrase is attributed to Werbőczi, and it usually refers to the serfs, as the nobility was exempt from taxes.

mohácsi vész (‘the disaster at Mohács’). The battle of Mohács, fought on 29 August 1526, in which the army of Louis II was completely destroyed by Suleiman at Földvár (near Mohács), the consequence of which was the loss of independent statehood.

‘Muscovites’. Communist writers who spent the inter-war years in exile in the Soviet Union and returned to Hungary in the footsteps of the Red Army in 1945 and who occupied key positions in intellectual life before the revolution of 1956.

nádor (short for nádorispán; Latin comes palatinus; ‘lieutenant-general’). One of the highest-ranking dignitaries, usually second only to the king.

National classicism (népnemzeti trend). The dominant trend in the second half of the nineteenth century whose ideals embodied *népies features and a national system of values as represented by the works of Arany, Petőfi, and to a lesser degree by Kemény and Erdélyi. The chief arbiter of taste and guardian of traditions in the népnemzeti trend was Gyulai, and later Zsolt Beöthy whose history of Hungarian literature for schools was published in fifteen editions between 1877 and 1928.

National Council (Nemzeti Tanács). Formed on 31 October 1918, this body, by the vote of its twenty members, severed Hungary’s ties with Austria, an act which officially terminated the existence of the Austro-Hungarian *Dual Monarchy.

National Poet (nemzeti költő). In East European literatures a major poet (e.g. Petőfi) who aspires to be an indisputable spokesman of ‘the people’.

national Romanticism. A variety of the Romantic movement, noted by its excessive use of national subject-matters (e.g. Jókai).

németes iskola (‘the sentimentalist trend’). A group of writers, followers of German Sentimentalism, which include G. Dayka, Kazinczy, Szentjóbi Szabó, Verseghy, Batsányi, and Kármán. The term is now regarded a misnomer and is no longer used.

nemzethalál (‘the extinction of the nation’). A vision of the Romantics (Kölcsey, Vörösmarty, Széchenyi, and Bajza) in the 1830s of the extinction of the Hungarians as a separate ethnic group. The spectre of nemzethalál was revived in the 1930s on account of the declining demographic trends (*egyke), and in the late 1970s, because of rising suicide, divorce, and abortion rates, which produced negative population growth.

nemzetőrség (‘National Guard’). A body of armed citizens, which was organized during the War of Independence (Law XII of 1848) as a ‘territorial army’ in order to supplement regular *honvéd troops.

népi kollégium (‘People’s College’). People’s Colleges were established in 1945 in order to provide (communist) education for talented peasant youths; they were closed down in 1949.

népi (or populist) writers. The adjective népi (‘of the people’) was adopted by twentieth-century Hungarian populists so as to distinguish themselves from the *népies trend, which had become thoroughly discredited by the end of the nineteenth century. The populist writers with their radical ideology of social progress, were nevertheless heirs to the *népies trend, since intellectuals in traditional, peasant societies turn, from time to time, to ‘the people’ for inspiration, strength, and traditional values. See also harmadik út, őserő and populism.

népies trend. Népies (‘of, or pertaining to the people’; first recorded in 1835) is perhaps the most indiscriminately used adjective in Hungarial literature for any type of adaptation or imitation of the language, oral traditions, and unwritten literary products of ‘the people’ (i.e. the peasantry). The origins of the népies trend go back to Faludi and the *magyaros iskola in the eighteenth century. Népies literature became dominant with Petőfi and Arany in the mid-nineteenth century, and it became discredited mainly by the excesses of the *népszínmű and the extreme conservatism of the *népnemzeti trend around the turn of the century.

népnemzeti [i.e. népies nemzeti] trend see National classicism.

népszínmű. A special play, popular in the second half of the nineteenth century, which treated the problems of the peasantry in a light, romantic fashion. See also népies trend.

nyelvújítás (‘reform of the language’). A movement of writers and scholars between c. 1780-1820, which standardized the spelling of the language, coined new words, and generally restrained the influence of German over the Hungarian language.

Nyírség. A region of the *Lowland, north of the Upper-Tisza.

Nyugat (‘west’). The most influential Hungarian periodical in the first half of the twentieth century which gave its name to a major movement in modern Hungarian literature, and which looked for inspiration to modern German, French, and English writers.

önéletírás (‘autobiography’). Used primarily for the memoirs of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Transylvanian authors, as distinct from önéletrajz, the standard word for autobiography.

Óperenciás tenger. In folk-tales, the boundless main at the end of the world. The etymology of Operenciás (first recorded in 1773) is unconvincing.

Ormánság. A region in S. W. *Transdanubia with distinctive customs and a dialect of its own.

Őrség. A region partly in S.W. *Transdanubia and partly in Burgenland, Austria, with a dialect of its own.

őserő (‘ancestral or primeval strength’). The cult of őserő occasionally with latent sexual overtones was at its height in fiction in the 1920s.

ősi nyolcas (‘ancient eight-syllabled line’). One of the most common types of line in folk-poetry, consisting of two beats, with descending rhythm: -’---/-’---.

ősiség (Latin aviticitas). The law of entail, which prevented the free disposition of property outside the clan. As mortgagees were unable to take possession of land which was entailed, it was impossible to borrow for improvement, and the gentry was unable to produce goods at competitive prices; it was a prime factor in the pauperization of the nobility. See lesser nobility.

őstehetség (‘natural genius’). The cult of primitive talent in poetry was a by-product of the *népi movement in the 1930s.

ötágú síp. A metaphoric expression coined by Illyés in the late 1960s in order to convey the discord among the various Hungarian literatures written in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and in *’Western’ Hungarian literature. The metaphor conjures up a pipe which is blown by five different pipers; five different, dissonant tunes are being played at the same time. In general use the meaning of the metaphor is reversed: ötágú síp now stands for a harmony of the five tunes, the unison of Hungarian literature wherever it is written.

Ostyak (or native Chanty). A small Finno-Ugrian tribe living in the Chanti-Man’si National Region of the Soviet Union, linguistically closely related to the Hungarians. See also Vogul.

palóc. A dialect spoken in the north of Hungary.

parttalan realizmus (French ‘réalisme sans rivages’, R. Garaudy, 1963; ‘unlimited realism’). A Marxist term which extends the ‘limits’ of realism in order to include writers who were formerly unacceptable (e.g. F. Kafka) as ‘realists’. The concept was first postulated by J. Barta (1960) and it played an important part in the liberalization of Hungarian literary life in the 1960s.

passive resistance. A policy adopted by the Hungarian nobility of opposing Austrian rule after the *War of Independence. The idea was advocated by Zs. Kemény’s Pesti Napló, and Jókai gave a romantic description of passive resistance in Az új földesúr (1863).

Pauline Order (pálosok). A religious order founded in Hungary by Canon Özséb of Esztergom. Named after St. Paul of Thebes (the hermit), and approved by Pope Urban IV in 1262, the Order was disbanded by Joseph II in 1786.

Peasant War (parasztháború). A peasant revolt in Hungary in 1514, led by the Dózsa brothers. It was the subject of numerous literary works since its first treatment by I. Taurinus in a Latin narrative poem (Stauromachia, Vienna,1519).

pentatonic scale. Consisting of five notes (doh-soh-ray-lah-me), the pentatonic scale contains no semitones. Besides being a characteristic scale of Hungarian folk-music, it is widespread in the folk-music of many Asiatic peoples. It is also known in Irish and Scottish melodies and according to musicologists is Celtic in origin.
People’s College see népi kollégium.

personality cult (személyi kultusz). Originally a Marxist euphemism for the dictatorship of Stalin, coined after his death in 1953, the phrase in Hungarian refers to Rákosi’s years of power in the early 1950s, which were equally characterized by an unashamed adulation of the dictator in art, literature, and public life.

Petcheneg (or Patzinak, Hungarian besenyő). A warlike tribe in the Age of *Migration. Groups of Petchenegs settled in Hungary in the centuries after the *Conquest, as testified by place-names.

petőfieskedők. Crude imitators of Petőfi in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was Gyulai who first called attention to the excesses of the so-called ‘Petőfi School’ in 1854.

polgári humanisták (‘bourgeois humanists’). A Marxist term for those writers of the inter-war years who were immune to right-wing ideologies, but did not side with the communists.

Populism (népi(es)ség). The concept of populism may be traced back to the teaching of Herder who believed in the simple virtues and uncorrupt mores of ‘the people’, and held that ‘the people’ are the only true carriers of ethnic identity. From the German völkisch movement to the Russian narodniki there are as many widely different models of populism as there are ethnic groups or brands of nationalism in Eastern Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For this reason the Hungarian adjectives *népi and *népies have been preferred when discussing Hungarian populism.

prédikátor írók (‘preacher-writers’). A common name for Protestant pastors who were engaged in literary activity between c.1530 and 1610.

‘pure rhyme’ see tiszta rím.

puszta (English Puszta, 1842, OED: ‘barren land, desert’). Usually refers to the *Lowland, which was already called ‘deserta Avarorum’ in German chronicles (e.g. Regino, AD 908). Popularized in nineteenth-century romantic fiction and poetry (e.g. Petőfi), puszta is today a standard feature in ‘tourist’ folk-lore. In Hungarian it is also a small hamlet, or a farmstead in Transdanubia (cf. Gy. Illyés: Puszták népe).

ragrím (‘rhyming suffix’). The simplest type of *tiszta rím, the most common rhyme in old Hungarian poetry. The rhyming syllables are identical verbal or nominal suffixes. The most primitive ragrím is . . . vala / . . . vala.

Raids, Age of (kalandozások kora). A period of Hungarian history from the *Conquest to the middle of the tenth century. Of the episodes preserved in the chronicles concerning the Age of Raids, the story of Botond and the Horn of Lehel have attracted many literary adaptors.

Reform, Age of (reformkor). A period of Hungarian history from the first ‘reform’ diet (1825) to the *War of Independence.

reformkor see Reform, Age of

rege. A type of narrative poem based on local traditions. A rege may concern persons, natural phenomena or any other types of local monda (‘saga, oral tradition, myth’). S. Kisfaludy and Tompa wrote popular reges.

regényes életrajz (French vie romancée; ‘fictionalized biography’). A biography of outstanding historical personages or men of achievement which may or may not be based on original research, written in the form of a novel.

régi dicsőség (‘ancient glory’ or ‘glorious past’). The opening words of Vörösmarty’s epic, Zalán futása (‘Régi dicsőségünk, hol késel az éji homályban?’), which became an emblematic expression of the Romantics’ preoccupation with the past.

Regionalism (German Heimatkunst). A neo-*népies trend at the turn of the century. Szeged regionalism (Tömörkény, Móra) is marked by qualities of its own.

Republic of Councils (Tanácsköztársaság). The official name of the first Hungarian communist state during the 133 days of its reign (21 March-1 Aug. 1919).

‘Royal’ Hungary. A convenient name for the part of * ‘historic’ Hungary, which, by right of succession, belonged to the Habsburgs during the Turkish wars, after the fall of Buda (1541) and before the final expulsion of the Turks. The territory of ‘Royal’ Hungary often changed. See also ‘Turkish’ Hungary, Transylvania, végek, végvár.

salami tactics (szalámi politika). A colourful metaphor coined by Rákosi to describe the elimination of opposition parties and the achieving thereby of monopoly of power (in the *Coalition Period).

Sarló (Sickle Movement). A movement of young Hungarian intellectuals in Czechoslovakia 1928-34, led by Edgár Balogh, which was in close contact with the *népi writers.

schematism, schematic. A pejorative Marxist term for a literary or artistic work, in which the tenets of socialist realism are oversimplified (i.e. reduced to ‘schemes’), and artistic plausibility and/or aesthetic value is lost. In fact, the term is now applied to all literary works produced in the years of the *personality cult.

sectarianism, sectarian. A pejorative Marxist term borrowed from the vocabulary of the Church and applied to excessive left-wing zeal, * ‘deviation’ from the officially approved policies of the Communist Party.

sérelmi politika (‘gravaminal’ policy). 1. In the strict sense this refers to the course of action taken in pre-1848 Hungarian history by the nobility against the king when the king infringed the constitutional rights of his subjects. The Diet objected in a felirat against the ‘gravamen’ and petitioned its legal redress. In the last resort the estates relied on *passive resistance. 2. The broad meaning is a general political attitude founded on moral indignation over political ‘injustice’. It assumes a belief in moral rights and wrongs in politics, (b) a belief that what is morally right will ultimately prevail, and (c) an acceptance of the status quo, a subservient attitude which implies the rejection of the use of force as a last resort. In this expression of the emotional politics of the man in the street, political ‘injustice’ must be remedied by whoever is responsible for committing it, provided that it is proved that the injustice concerned is morally wrong.

Settlement of 1867 (kiegyezés; German Ausgleich; Compromise). Law XII of 1867, which settled the constitutional relationship between Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, and the Kingdom of Hungary; Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary and was thereby accepted legitimate sovereign by Parliament; in exchange, he undertook to reign in accordance with the Hungarian constitution.

székely (‘a Szekler’). A member of a Hungarian-speaking ethnic group living in S.E. *Transylvania whose origins have never been satisfactorily explained.

Székelyföld. A region in S.E. *Transylvania, the home of *székelys. It was an autonomous region of Romania between 1952-67.

széphistória (Italian bella istoria). A type of narrative poem, which flourished in the second half of the sixteenth century; széphistória lacked didactic aim or moralizing purpose, and was written for sheer enjoyment.

Szilágyság. A region in northern Transylvania.

szolgabíró (Latin judex nobilium; literally ‘a judge of the servants’). An elected official of the *megye administration, a judge of the *common nobility. (Noblemen were called the ‘servants of the king’: servius regis.)

szöveg (‘text’). A recent term for an intermediary genre, a mixture of prose and poetry. See also vendégszöveg.

táltos (‘a shaman’; first recorded 1211). The word, one of the few reminders of the pagan religion of the Hungarians, has been preserved in documents as a proper name.

támogat tűr és tilt (‘supports, tolerates, and prohibits’). A slogan which is said to have governed Hungarian cultural policies since the late 1960s; it increases the choice of the official courses of action towards the arts by introducing tolerance of non-socialist works.

tanya (‘an isolated farmhouse’, ‘a homestead’).

természeti kezdő kép (literally ‘an initial image of nature’). A device frequently employed in the opening lines of folk-poetry in order to create contrast with the rest of the poem.

testőr writers. Writers who served in the Royal *Hungarian Guard in Vienna in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and whose literary activities fostered the birth of modern Hungarian literature. Their leader was György Bessenyei.

thaw (olvadás). A short period of relaxation of the strictures governing literary life in East Europe between 1954.

tiszta rím (‘pure’ or ‘absolute’ rhyme). All *ragríms are absolute rhymes, but poets tend to avoid the use of *ragríms since the Romantics, as their numbers are limited and consequently little poetic invention can be shown in their application. A good ‘absolute’ rhyme consists of two or three rhyming syllables, of which the last one must contain identical vowels and consonants, the preceding one or two syllables may be assonances. Among the moderns, Kosztolányi was a master of tiszta rím. (e.g. . . hallana / . . . . Ilona).

toborzó ének (‘recruiting song’). First mentioned by A. Bonfini and A. Verancsics (1514), toborzó is an old military song or dance. Anonymous songs of toborzó were popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Since the nineteenth century it has been used in the sense of verbunkos.

Transdanubia (Dunántúl). The region lying on the right bank of the Danube in Hungary, corresponding with the larger part of the ancient Roman province of Pannonia. (In medieval chronicles the name Pannonia was generally used as a synonym for Hungary.)

Transylvania (Erdély; ‘the land beyond the forest’). In general, contemporary use ‘that part of "historic" Hungary which now belongs to Romania’; in strict, historical use, the territory under the sovereignty of the Princes of Transylvania in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries or the province of Transylvania in the eighteenth century under the direct rule of Vienna.

Transylvanism. The concept of Transylvanism underwent several changes. It was Count Miklós Bethlen who first advocated an independent Transylvanian state (Columba Noe, 1704) as an alternative to the idea of an independent national kingdom. Since the princes of Transylvania, Gábor Bethlen in particular, were able to maintain a semblance of independence in the shadow of the two great empires-the Habsburg and the Ottoman-Transylvanism made an appeal to Hungarian intellectuals in the 1930s when Hungary existed in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin. Similarly to *harmadik út, which offered a third possibility besides capitalism and socialism, Transylvanism, embracing neither the Third Reich nor Soviet Russia, expressed a third possibility: neutrality. Transylvanism and *harmadik út thus became synonyms for national independence. For Hungarian intellectuals who lived in Romania in the inter-war years Transylvanism stood for regional independence for Transylvania. It had all the appeal of an ‘eastern’ Switzerland.

Turanism. Turanism advocated the brotherhood of all non-Aryan peoples of Asia; in a sense, it was a twentieth-century counterpart of pan-Germanism or pan-Slavism. Being a racialist theory, it was soon discredited.

‘Turkish’ Hungary. The larger, middle area of * ‘historic’ Hungary which was under Turkish occupation from the middle of the sixteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century. See also ‘Royal’ Hungary.

turul (Turkish togrul; medieval Latin astur). An unidentified bird of prey mentioned in the chronicles. The native word has been preserved by Kézai (1282). Turul is a mythical bird in the totemistic legend of the House of Árpád; probably a falcon or an eagle.

Upland see Upper Hungary.

Upper Hungary (Felvidék). The name of Slovakia in *‘historic’ Hungary.

urbánus (‘an urbanite’). Writers who opposed the *népi movement in the inter-war years, particularly in the 1930s, and preferred the common European cultural heritage to national and/or traditional values. The so-called *polgári humanisták were urbánus writers.

úriember (‘a gentlemen’). The ideal of, or pertaining to, the Hungarian gentry’s life-style and values.

Vajdaság (Voivodina; from vajda, first recorded AD 950, which is derived from Old Church Slavonic ‘voivode’, ‘warlord’, ‘chieftain’). An autonomous region in northern Yugoslavia, largely overlapping with *Bácska and part of the *Bánát, with a sizeable Hungarian population.

végek (Latin confinia). The frontierland between *’Royal’ and *’Turkish’ Hungary, defended by a network of fortresses *végvárak. Végek featured prominently in contemporary poetry (Tinódi, Balassi, and Zrínyi), and enjoyed a revival of interest in the nineteenth century (Arany or Gárdonyi).

végvár (‘a frontier fortress’). (First recorded as végház by I. Magyary in 1602.) In its heyday, the network of végvárs consisted of about 150 fortifications of varying strength, with some 18,000 regular troops, two thirds of which were Hungarians, the rest foreign mercenaries. After the end of the Turkish wars most of the végvárs were demolished by the Habsburgs.

vendégszöveg (‘borrowed text’). Any type and length of text, quotation from poetry or standard authors, incorporated in an avant-garde literary work.

Vienna Awards. The First Vienna Award made by the Axis Powers (1938) returned to Hungary the southern part of Czechoslovakia, which is densely populated by Hungarians, and *Kárpátalja. The Second Vienna Award (1940) returned Northern Transylvania to Hungary.

világgá megy (‘goes out into the wide world’). A motif in folk-tales. The hero of a folk-tale may have acted contrary to the accepted mores of his community, or may have to prove himself in order to show his worthiness; in both cases he világgá megy and carries out superhuman tasks, or overcomes great obstacles. On his return, either he is readmitted to his community and all is forgiven, or he gains the object of his desire (usually the hand of a girl who is socially his superior). Petőfi made exemplary use of this motif in his János vitéz.

village explorers see falukutatók.

virágének (‘flower-song’). The earliest type of Hungarian love-poetry of which a few specimens in fragments have been preserved. There is evidence that virágének was popular in the Middle Ages.

Vogul (or native Mansy). A small Finno-Ugrian tribe living in the Chanti-Man’sy National Region of the Soviet Union, linguistically closely related to the Hungarians. See also Ostyak.

War of Independence. The customary translation of szabadságharc; it usually refers to the war waged against the Habsburgs by Kossuth and his followers in 1848-9. Less frequently it may refer to an earlier war, also against the Habsburgs, waged by Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II in 1703-11.

‘Western’ Hungarian literature. Hungarian literature written in the diaspora (i.e. outside *’historic’ Hungary) since 1945.

Young Hungary see Fiatal Magyarország.