Hungary's Language
E. Wade Hone, 2002
The Hungarian language is truly a language unto itself, and like no other. Contrary to initial expectations, the language is not Slavic-based, nor is it related to that of the Croats or Serbs. It has no connection with German. The closest connection to Hungarian is probably a language that is least expected—Finnish. Hungarian actually belongs to a category referred to as Finno-Ugrian, which includes Estonian and a handful of smaller, rarely-used languages. It also has distant ties to Turkic, Mongolian and some minor Asian languages. Despite this categorization, Hungarian fails to resemble any of these languages to a measurable degree.
Hungarian is a logical language, utilizing diacritics to assist the pronunciation and even the emphasis of different syllables in words. Nothing is left to wonder or confusion. The word is written exactly as it is pronounced, and vice versa. The diacritics even control voice inflection. The diacritic symbols follow their respective standard vowels in the alphabetical lineup.
Below are some of the most common words encountered while conducting genealogical research. Remember, you don't need to talk about the weather in Hungarian to accomplish your genealogical objectives.
| Birth- születtek, szülés | Day- nap, napja |
| Christening- kereszteltek | Month- hava, hónap |
| Marriage- házas, házasultak | Year- év |
| Death- halottak, halálozás | City- város |
| Burial- temetés, elás | County- megye |
| Son- fia | Country- ország |
| Daughter- leány, lánya | Hungary- Magyar |
| Parents- szülök | Church- egyház, templom |
| Husband- | Residence- |
| Wife- | |
| Mrs./wife of- | |
| Illegitimate- törvénytelen | |
| Family (Clan)- család | Stillborn- |
| Nobility- nemes | Single/unmarried- |
| Widow/widower- |
This list above is only an introduction. For further reference, see:
A Hungarian Genealogical Word List (This is a personal, but tremendously useful site, of which this is only one page. Look around at others while you're there!)
