Researches and their onomatological conclusions in the field of

surname changes in Hungary

Tamás Farkas

ELTE University, Budapest

• about the differences between the two sections of the overall stock of Hungarian family names

• also reporting of a new research project

The two sections of the overall stock of Hungarian surnames

Historic surname system• in historic centuries• arouse naturally • in the community

Official surname changes• in late centuries• established artificially• by individuals

Researching the differences:

questions on the circumstances and the ways

of their emergence

1. What time were they born?

Historic surname system• born in XIV–XVI. cent.• officially fixed 1787-

Official surname changes• allowed 1814-• in big numbers 1848/49,

1881-

Different periods:different factors of internal and external history of

language (set of linguistic elements, historic social situation, naming tastes)

2. Who is giving the surname and to whom?

Historic surname system• the community • to each of its members

Official surname changes• certain members of

society• to themselves

Differences in• social groups

• motivational basis

3. Why is that surname born?

Historic surname system• the demand of the

persons’ reliable identification

Official surname changes• adopting a more

advantageous (or less disadvantageous) name

In the name changes:• appropriate identification

• changing the image of person’s ethnic of family background• changing the connotations of the name

Different reasons

4. On what bases is the surname chosen?

Historic surname system• after characteristics of the

person

Official surname changes• conscious, individual

and subjective choice

In the name changes:

• fit in the existing surname system, legal rules

• most typical: adjusting to former surname

• name giving taste

Different motivational system

5. From what material and in what way is the surname formed?

Differences:• frequency of certain surnames

• new surnames• new styled categories

Reasons are in the differences of• stock of possibly used nouns and names

• some morphological procedures• motivations

Historic surname system is a sample for the new surnames in general and in certain names

Studying the differences in surname categories −

− will be followed

Surnames derived from• place-names (regularly formed by -i suffix)

• first names• common nouns

New typed categories

Name elements

A) Surnames from place-names

New subcategory (?): surnames from pseudo place names

Békevári ’peace castle’ + -iSíkhegyi ’flat hill’ + -i etc.

Romlaki ’ruin lodge’ + -iSzépligeti ’nice grove’ + -i

Vérkúti ’bloody well’ + -i etc.

Aranykövi ’golden stone’ + -i (cf. Goldstein)Könyvhegyi ’book hill’ + -i (cf. Buchberger) etc.

A) Surnames from place-names

New surnames: from real place-names, but non-existing in historic surname stock

Prágai ’Prague’ + -i

Rajnai ’River Rhein’ + -i etc.

Pannonhalmi

(cf. Pannonhalma: 1809-, earlier Szentmárton)

Farkasházi

(cf. Farkasháza: 1907-, earlier and later: Lupest) etc.

A) Surnames from place-names

Frequency of certain surnames:

Kárpáti ’Carpathian’

(by archaic ortography: Kárpáthi, Kárpáthy)

Kárpát ’Carpathians’

Kárpátfalvi ’Kárpát-village’ + -i

Kárpátvölgyi ’Kárpát-valley’ + -i

Kárpáthegyi ’Kárpát-mountain’ + -i

and many examples among the historically existing surnames

B) Surnames from first names

New first names

Hajna (literary origin)

Szilárdffy ’Constantin’ + ’-son’ etc.

Renewed old names

Zsolt (old Turkic-Hungarian)

Előd (old Hungarian) etc.

Died out old names

Dános (< ’Daniel’), Ódor (< ’Ulrich’) etc.

C) Surnames from common nouns

An example: surnames from ethnic names

Avar ’Avar’ etc.

Román ’Rumanian’ (1705: Román, cf. XIII. cent.: Oláh)Szlovák ’Slovak’ (1828: Szlovák, cf. XII. cent.: Tót)

(those in the brackets are common historic surnames)etc.

Svéd ’Swedish’ etc.

D) New typed surname categories by -i suffix (also as -y)

Historically with • place-names (‘from, of’)• first names (‘son of’)

Artificially also with • common nouns

Fellegi ’cloud’Pálmai ‘palm(-tree)’Regényi ’novel’Reményi ’hope’Kedvesi ’beloved’Széplábi ’nice legs’ etc.

by -fi suffix (also -fy, -ffy)

Historically with • first names (‘son of’)

Artificially also with • common nouns

Magyarfi ’Hungarian’Mezőfi ’meadow’Angyalfi ’angel’Hattyúfi ‘swan’ Hősfi ’hero’Békefi ’peace’ etc.

Name elementsSuffixes (as -i, -fi)

Nouns

1st elements: e.g. Rózsa ’Rose’

in historic surname stock Rózsa ‘Ø’, Rózsás ’with...’

in artificial surname stock onlyRózsai ’from...’ Rózsafi ’son of...’ Rózsaági ’...branch’ Rózsavölgyi ’...valley’ Rózsamezei ’...meadow’ Rózsahegyi ’...hill’

(1853: Rózsahegy settlement-name)

2nd elements: e.g. -vári ’castle’

in historic surname stock many examples...

in artificial surname stock onlyAranyvári ’golden castle’Sziklavári ‘rock castle’Romvári ’ruin castle’Szépvári ’nice castle’Hídvári ’bridge castle’Békevári ’peace castle’ etc.

place-name + -i > historical surname ↔ new surname

Koltó + -i > hist. Koltai ↔ new Koltói

Szendrő + -i > hist. Szendrei ↔ new Szendrői

Bánhida + -i > hist. Bánhidi ↔ new Bánhidai

Morphological differences

A new resarch project: Surname changes in Hungary 1867-1896

Characteristics of the research

• Period: first great age of surname changes • Sources: petitions and official documentation • Represetation: all of the cases (16.788 cases)

A new resarch project: Surname changes in Hungary 1867-1896

• all of the datas• coding all the datas

• complete• of documentay value• enabling complex

searches

A digital database

A new resarch project: Surname changes in Hungary 1867-1896

Interests of studying the surname changes

• name changes as social historical phenomenon• onomastic characteristics of name changes• other linguistic and onomastic conclusions

Thank you for your attention!

ICOS XXII - PISA 2005

farkast@ludens.elte.hu