Hungarian literature

Hungarian literature is literature written in the Hungarian language, predominantly by Hungarians. Hungarian literature may also include literature written in another language than Hungarian (mostly Latin) which is significant due to its Hungary-related topic or if it includes fragments in Hungarian.

Middle Ages and before

The beginning of the history of Hungarian language as such (and so the proto-Hungarian period) is set to 1000 B.C., when ? according to current scientific understanding ? it separated from its closest relatives, the Ob-Ugric languages.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the earliest times Hungarian language was written in runic script. The country switched to the Latin alphabet after being Christianized under the reign of Stephen I (1000?1038). There are no existing documents from the pre-11th century era.

Related Topics:
Runic script - Latin alphabet - Stephen I - 1000 - 1038 - 11th century

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Old Hungarian period is counted from 896 A.D., when Hungarians occupied the Carpathian Basin, settled down and started to build their own state. Not long after followed the creation of the first written extant records.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The oldest written record in Hungarian is a fragment in the founding document of the Abbey of Tihany (1055) which contains the words feheruuaru rea meneh hodu utu rea, "up the military road to Fehérvár" (referring to the place where the abbey was built). (This text is probably to be read as Fehérü váru reá meneü hodu utu reá with today's spelling and it would sound as a Fehérvárra men? had útra in today's Hungarian.) The rest of the document was written in Latin.

Related Topics:
Tihany - 1055 - Fehérvár

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The oldest complete text is the Funeral Sermon and Prayer (Halotti beszéd és könyörgés) (1192?1195), a translation of a Latin sermon. (See also Funerary text and the links below.)

Related Topics:
Funeral Sermon and Prayer - Latin - Sermon - Funerary text

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The oldest poem is the Old Hungarian Laments of Mary (Ómagyar Mária-siralom), also a (not very strict) translation from Latin, from the 13th century. It is also the oldest surviving Finno-Ugric poem.

Related Topics:
Old Hungarian Laments of Mary - 13th century - Finno-Ugric

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both the Funeral Sermon and the Lamentations are hard to read and not quite understandable for modern-day Hungarians, mostly because the 26-letter Latin alphabet was not fit to represent all the sounds in Hungarian language, as diacritic marks and double letters hadn't been in use yet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the Middle Ages and well into the Renaissace the language of writing was mostly Latin. Important Latin-language documents include the Admonitions of St. Stephen, which includes the king's admonitions to his son, Prince Imre.

Related Topics:
Admonitions of St. Stephen - Prince Imre

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Among the first chronicles about Hungarian history were Gesta Hungarorum ("Deeds of the Hungarians") by the unknown author usually called Anonymus, and Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum ("Deeds of the Huns and the Hungarians") by Simon Kézai. Both are in Latin. These chronicles mix history with legends, so historically they are not always authentic. Another chronicle is the Képes krónika (Illustrated Chronicle), which was written for Louis the Great.

Related Topics:
Gesta Hungarorum - Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum - Louis the Great

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~