It is one of the basic tenets of historical dialectology that in contemporary dialects the different chronological phases of various phenomena may be found side by side. As a result, it is clear that contemporary dialects may represent an important source for research in historical dialectology. The assessment of contemporary data and the examination of their evidential value, however, entails certain methodological obstacles. Thus, for example, as a result of changes in phonological oppositions or due to settlement history or migration processes, the linguistic phenomena found in contemporary dialects may be used for the localization of certain early dialectal features only with limitations. In many ways, however, today’s dialectal data may provide real guidance for certain observations in historical dialectology. To illustrate this, my paper introduces various phonological phenomena in the study of which contemporary dialectal data may provide an authentic source for historical dialectology. This is followed by the examination of a specific problem, namely the question of why relying on contemporary dialectal data related to the use of the sound ö (rather than the mid ë of other dialects) when establishing the center for the use of ü in the same contexts in the Old Hungarian era might be problematic.

Keywords: historical dialectology, contemporary dialectal data, source value, labialization.

Bába Barbara
Debreceni Egyetem

The paper discusses chiefly the problem of how a biblical Hebrew syntagma containing an infinitive and a finite form of the same verb was translated in old Hungarian Bible translations, especially in the first complete one, the Bible of Vizsoly (1590, published in Vizsoly, Hungary) and its later, revised editions. In the Hebrew structures the infinitive has an emphasizing function. It was generally translated into old Hungarian either by an adverbial participle ending -va, -ve (-ván, -vén), e.g.: kérve kér ‘asking ask’ = ‘entreat’; or by a noun derived from a verb, in adverbial function: halállal hal ‘die with death’ = ‘surely die’. These biblical structures have also exerted an influence on the spoken and literary language (especially the poetry of Endre Ady †1919), and they form a special kind of figura etymologica.

Keywords: Bible translation, the Bible of Vizsoly, emphasizing function, figura etymologica, adverbial participle ending in -va/-ve (-ván/-vén), Endre Ady.

A. Molnár Ferenc
Miskolci Egyetem, Debreceni Egyetem

This paper investigates a phrase (megszakasztja a Balázs iszákját ‘break Blaise’s knapsack’) found in a 17th century play, Actio Curiosa. The phrase seems idiomatic but neither the historical dictionaries of Hungarian nor the old collections of Hungarian idioms contain it. This study shows – with a methodological outlook – how phraseme-like expressions in old texts can be identified and their meaning recovered from the context. It can be shown that Balázs iszákja was a jocular, euphemistic expression for ‘anus’. It is important to note that it is found in several 17–18th century authors, i.e. it is not from a single author’s idiolect. Its iszák component means both a ‘knapsack’ and a ‘hose’, the latter of which is an excellent cognitive metaphor for ‘rectum’. Its Balázs component is less straightforward to explain but the name is commonly used in other phrasemes for capricious people, which might be how it became part of this idiom, too.

Keywords: idioms, phraseology, historical phraseology, origin of idioms, meaning of idioms, methodology.

Forgács Tamás
Szegedi Tudományegyetem

Hungarian dialects were used orally and in writing too before the formation of standard language. For this reason, dialectal elements can be found in several literary works, not only prior to the formation of standard language but also after it. Nowadays low prestige is connected with Hungarian

dialects, but the written and spoken standard variety has high reputation (Kiss 2012: 55). However, Hungarian beyond the state borders usually has more dialectal elements than this language has in the mother country; therefore, in this case the disdain of Hungarian dialects is controversial. From the aspect of Hungarian dialects, we should revise the definition of the language of literary works and that of standard language, too, in school education. Dialectal elements of works of fiction written before the formation of the Hungarian standard language or beyond the state borders are part of the language of Hungarian literature as well.

Keywords: dialect, literacy in dialects, standard language, language of literature, transborder Hungarian language.

Pál Helén