Oldal 70 [70]
JÓZSEF ZSENGELLÉR
— exemplified the Hungarian usage of articles.”° He used the radix of the verbs
invented by Reuchlin, and, as he wrote in the preface, he followed the practice
of Hebrew grammars in taking third person singular first in the conjugation.”’
The first and second types of the “first —uac ending” conjugation of the verbs
were equated (respondat) to the Hebrew Qal and Hifil.”* The particula of the
Hebrew grammars used without any comment for the uninflectible class of
words,” since this category was already well known in Hebrew grammars. The
last Hebrew phenomenon of his grammar was pronomen affixum, the special
form of the Hungarian expression of genitive.
The next Hungarian grammarian of considerable achievement was Ist¬
van Geleji Katona (1589-1649) who studied in Heidelberg and wrote a short
Hungarian grammatical work in 1645; this was the first time a grammar was
published in Hungarian: Magyar grammatikatska.* This is not a systematic
grammar but a collection of observations on problems with spelling rules,
usage and the constructions of words.*" It is divided into two parts; the first is
dealing with the correct orthography and spelling, the second with the correct
pronunciation.
As regards our topic, it is worth considering Geleji Katona’s introduction.
He begins his book by saying: “Hungarian is one of the Oriental languages,
which is obvious from the fact that it has no kinship to any other language
but Hebrew.”* Geleji Katona thought this because of the unique letters used in
writing Hungarian, different from anything in the Greek or Latin alphabets;??
26 Ibid., 32.
” “in conjugationibus verborum nore Hebraeorum Grammaticorum tertiam personam, quam
radicem esse cujuslibet verbi deprehendi, primo loco posui...” Ibid., 22. Concerning the
innovation of radix (shoresh) see Law, Vivien, The History of Linguistics in Europe from Plato to
1600, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 247-250.
28 SZENCZI MOLNAR, Novae grammiaticae, 93, 98.
On this phenomenon see VLADAR, Zsuzsa, Szenczi Molnar Albert grammatikajanak forditasi
kérdései, in Novae Grammatica Ungaricae, (facsimile ed.), Budapest, 2004, 9-26. especially
21 and 25. See also her reference on SCHENKEVELD, Dirk M., From particula to particle — the
genesis of a class of words, in I. Rosier (ed.), L'héritage des grammairiens latins de l'antiquité
aux lumières, Louvain-Paris, Peeters, 1988, 81-93.
GELEJI KATONA, Istvän: Magyar Grammatikatska, avagy az igaz magyar irasban és szollésban
kevantato nehany szükseges observatio, Gyula-Fejir-Väratt, typ. principis, 1645.
31 This short work was bound together with his other book: GELEJI KATONA, Istvän, Titkok titka,
Gyula-Fejir-varatt, typ. principis, 1645.
“A magyar nyelv egy az Orientalis lingvak közzül, melly meg-tetszik mind e’böl, hogy az igen
kivált képpen valo és semmi egyéb nyelvekvel, az egy Sidon küvöl (hogy tudjam) rokonsága
nintsen..."
",.. tulajdon faját régi bötüi vagynak, melyek sem a’ Sido, sem a’ Görög, sem pedig a Deák bötükvel
semi hasonlatosságok nintsen..." He is referring to the cuniform letters used by Hungarians
(székely rovásírás) before the tenth-twelfth centuries.
+ 68 *