Loránd Benkő’s oeuvre from an ethnographical point of view

Abstract

Loránd Benkő first and foremost was an eminent scholar of Hungarian language. His first publications discussed the problems of toponyms and linguistic geography. As a university professor and as a member of the academic team working on the Atlas of Hungarian Dialects, he familiarised himself with various dialects of the Carpathian Basin and Moldavia (Romania) during years of fieldwork. Loránd Benkő summarised the historical lessons and research objectives of linguistic geography. He wrote a university textbook on historical dialectology. He also published a pioneer monograph on early Hungarian proper names, and pointed out the emergence of two-unit proper names and family names in the late medieval period (from the end of the 13th century to the 15th century). Based on the research methods of onomastics studying and systematising the etymology and typology of place names, and taking data of historical dialectology into consideration, he explored the phases of the settlement of the Székely people in Transylvania and the history of the Moldavian Csángó groups. He also analysed with these research methods the history of settlements and ethnic groups in the region of the river Pinka (nowadays a province in Burgenland, Austria). Loránd Benkő played an important role in the organisation and supervision of the compilation of two etymological dictionaries: Historical-Etymological Dictionary of Hungarian Language (in Hungarian, 3 volumes, 1967–1976) and Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen (2 volumes, 1993–1996). His works provide a solid basis for the study of the history of Hungarian folk culture as well. As a teacher and organizer of scholarly research, Loránd Benkő made a long-lasting impact on a number of related academic disciplines within humanities. He was also a good friend of Hungarian ethnography.