Page 183 [183]
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LANDSCAPE IN THE RESEARCH OF ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES 181
about. (...) Many people see this as the main difference between the "Ostyak" and
"Russian" orientation: one finds his way in the forest self-evidently, the other with the
help of maps and a compass (Nagy 2021: 249).
Though it can be a highly abstract thing, the landscape is an “earthy” phenomenon
in several regards. Ethnobotany, or knowledge of the landscape, is an important
notion in ethnography. It includes the knowledge of the physical conditions
indispensable for life: the knowledge of mountains, brooks, and crop land. This
is not only topographic knowledge, but rather includes some knowledge of topology
(connections), chronology (temporal aspect) and function (utility). Excellent
examples are provided by the ethnobotanical studies conducted in Gyimes. Daniel
Babai and his colleagues registered landscape dynamism and landscape change as
recognized by the local population and described the characteristic features
perceived by the inner eye with local dialectal words and group systematization
(Babai — Molnar — Molnar 2014). In Hungarian scholarship, place names that
convey changes in landscapes and their intrinsic logic, have been ascribed great
significance since Frigyes Pesty.
Gyimöti well, Gyimöti well
‘cause Gyimöti drowned in it
Gyimöti the old first farmhand
could be a hundred and twenty years old today
(...)
In a hundred years’ time — who will know
Who did Racegrespuszta belong to?
But the Gyimöti well will be there
for Gyimöti drowned in it.
It will be there, though it’s long gone
it has long been filled up.
Now it marks a place in the fields;
the old man is reluctant to leave...
(Illyés 1961)
As Gyula Illyés’s poem reveals, work and various activities in the landscape humanizes
the environment. People attach names to important places to aid their orientation
in time and space. The rich glossaries of Hungarian gazetteers and the myths related
to geographical names in folk tradition provide abundant information about relations
of landscapes. The latter — in Bertalan Andrdsfalvy’s opinion — had a didactic purpose
as well: “the myths explaining certain place names deepened the knowledge of the
landscape with the power of artistic creation” (Andrasfalvy 1988: 78).
Thinking in terms of the landscape is of course undergoing constant change.
The Renaissance and the Enlightenment resulted in changes of quality that
modified the meaning of landscapes towards the creation of a picturesque quality,
sight, and symbols. A veritable “landscape explosion” followed. On the one hand,
diverse artistic styles redefined the ideal landscape and created new landscape
fashions. On the other, landscapes became “laboratories” of diverse geographical,
historical, biological and technical sciences. They were disassembled and reassembled
again as the outlook and interest of the sciences required. An intellectual explosion