Hungarian settlement names as viewed from a 1913 perspective

Abstract

Hungarian settlement names as viewed from a 1913 perspective  

Focusing on the most prominent features, this paper presents the stock of the 1913 Gazetteer of Hungary and the heritage of the preceding project known as “the registration of Hungarian settlement names”, which fundamentally restructured the former system of Hungarian settlement names. Because of the significant reorganization of public administration in the successor states of historical Hungary after 1921, at least 20% of the 1913 name stock changed; in successor states, except for present-day Hungary, the survival of the 1913 registered names as well as the development and overall spread of Hungarian names for new settlements was restricted due to historical reasons. Contemporary Hungarian settlement names in the successor states in part are prescribed by the law, but popular scenes of name use (cf. encyclopaedias, maps, and search engines on the Internet) are affected by different dictionaries of settlement names, including non-standardized name stocks. With respect to settlement names included in legal documents as well as in dictionaries, one can claim that the purpose and the principles of the early-twentieth century settlement-name registration have been corrupted: homonymy and synonymy have reappeared; and names displaying distinct developments in their orthography, syntax and lexis have emerged again.