Antal Reguly ( hu, Reguly Antal, 1819–1858) was a
Hungarian linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and
ethnographer
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
notable for his contribution to the study of
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
. In 1843-4 he became the first ethnographer to visit the
Mansi (Vogul) people to collect data on their language and folklore. Reguly's
field work
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...
among the Uralic peoples of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
ruined his health, and he died young, leaving much of the material he had collected to be edited by his successors, including
Pál Hunfalvy. Reguly also visited
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
and translated parts of ''
The Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...
'' into Hungarian.
The Reguly Antal Memorial Library and Reguly Antal Ethnographic Museum and Folk Art Workshop is in the town of
Zirc
Zirc (german: Sirtz) is a town in Veszprém county, Hungary. It is the administrative seat of Zirc District.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Jews lived in Zirc. In 1910, 92 Jews lived in Zirc, Some of them ...
, in
Veszprém county
Veszprém ( hu, Veszprém megye, ; german: Komitat Wesprim (Weißbrunn)) is an administrative county (''megye'') in Hungary. Veszprém is also the name of the capital city of Veszprém county.
Veszprém county
Veszprém county lies in western ...
, Hungary.
Mount Reguly in the Research Range is also named for him.
See also
*
Matthias Castrén
Matthias Alexander Castrén (2 December 1813 – 7 May 1852) was a Finnish Swedish ethnologist and philologist who was a pioneer in the study of the Uralic languages. He was an educator, author and linguist at the University of Helsinki. Castré ...
, Reguly's Finnish contemporary who conducted similar field work among the Uralic peoples of Russia
Sources
* ''The Uralic Languages'' ed.
Daniel Mario Abondolo (Taylor & Francis, 1998)
*
References
1819 births
1858 deaths
Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery
19th-century Hungarian people
19th-century linguists
Linguists from Hungary
Hungarian Finno-Ugrists
People from Veszprém County
{{Hungary-linguist-stub