Names of cafés in Budapest in the current of history: 1914–1919

Abstract

Names of cafés in Budapest in the current of history: 1914–1919

The author first describes the process of changing the names of cafés in 1914–15, in which many names referring to France and England were substituted by names referring to the countries of the Allies. The author also gives the functional-semantic classification of the new names emerged in the years of the First World War, comparing the frequency of their types with the frequency of name types in the previous period between the turn of the century and the First World War. The most important change: regarding the new names, the proportion of unmotivated names to motivated ones increased: almost half of the new names in the period are of a reminding function. Comparing the complete name stock (old + new names) of the years of the war with that of the previous period one can observe to a lesser degree a similar tendency of change. The author examines the frequency of the new names. Finally, the naming practices of the Republic and those of the Commune (1918–19) are treated. From this period only few names are known, but they are very characteristic of the era.