György Györffy (26 September 1917 – 19 December 2000) was a Hungarian historian, and member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

( hu, MTA).

Biography

Györffy was born in Szucság (Suceagu, today part of Baciu, Romania), Hungary the son of

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 ...

István Györffy and Anna Papp. He finished his secondary schooling in the St. István

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary sch ...

in 1935. Between 1935 and 1939 he studied at the Peter Pázmány University (now

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

) under the historian Sándor Domanovszky, Elemér Mályusz, and the

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. Lingui ...

and

turkologist Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative conte ...

Gyula Németh. Towards the end of this time he took a

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...

around the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

, Finland and Lapland. When he received the news of the start of World War II he returned to Hungary, arriving back in October 1939. In June 1940, he was awarded a Doctorate in Hungarian Cultural History with his thesis ("

Pecheneg The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პაჭ ...

s and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...

"). From September 1940 until the end of 1941 he worked in the university library as a trainee. From 1942 he was a trainee in the Department of Historical Research within the Pál Teleki Scientific Institute, where he later became a lecturer. From 1945 to 1949 he was the Head of the Department of

Ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

at the Institute. At the end of 1951 he received an offer for the position of Senior Lecturer at the University of Debrecen but he refused it because of the serious political situation in Hungary at that time. At the Department of History of the

(MTA) he became a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher educatio ...

, a Senior Fellow and then a Consulting Fellow. In 1987 he started using a computer to ease editing his work. He used it to process details of Pozsony (

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

), but this work was left unfinished. In 1988 he retired and became a Fellow Emeritus. He died in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, aged 83.

Awards

* 1952 – of Historical Science. * 1969 – Doctor of Historical Science with his thesis ("Early History of Hungarian Cities and the Evolution of Budapest") * 1988 –

Herder Prize The Herder Prize (german: Gottfried-von-Herder-Preis), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Sou ...

* 1990 – Associate Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences * 1991 – Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences * 1992 – Széchenyi Prize * 1997 – His work became a part of the ("Hungarian Heritage").

Work

Györffy's work concentrates on Hungarian history, such as the Great Migration from the Far East into Hungary, the

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' ...

Dynasty, the exploration of the Far East,

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

, and ancient

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

s and settlement names. He excelled in

linguistics 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. Ling ...

and was a Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He contributed to the Academy's learned journal ("Hungarian Language"). In 1957 he introduced ideas that would later make up his ("History of Hungarian Geography during the Árpád Dynasty"). In this work he recorded regional geographical names, settlement names, names of areas and borders, rivers, hills, forests and so on, and a great number of given names. He recorded the names in the original

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...

. He recorded the names of trees in the border regions and other features of the landscape. His work is important in Hungarian linguistic studies.

Selection of notable works on linguistics

(All works are in Hungarian; the translations of titles are not published English book titles.) * ("Studies of the Evolution of Hungary. From Roots to Shire Counties, from Clans to Country. Lord

Kurszán Kurszán (died 904), was a kende of the Magyars in the dual leadership with Árpád serving as a gyula - according to a mainstream theory. While ''kende'' probably corresponded roughly to the Khazar title ''khagan'', Kurszán's role equated to th ...

and his Castle.") Budapest, 1959. * ("History of Hungarian Geography During the Árpád Dynasty.") I–IV. Budapest, 1963–1998. * ("Discovery of the Far East. Dispatches of

Friar Julian Friar Julian ( hu, Julianus barát) was one of a group of Hungarian Dominican friars who, in 1235, left Hungary in order to find those Magyars who — according to the chronicles — remained in the eastern homeland. After travelling a gr ...

, Plano Carpini and Rubruk.") Budapest, 1965. * ("Hungarian Ancestry and the Great Migration. Contemporary and Chroniclers' Dispatches.") 2nd edition, enlarged. Budapest, 1975. * ("Friar Julian and the Exploration of the Far East.") Budapest, 1986. * ("

Anonymus Anonymus is the Latin spelling of anonymous, traditionally used by scholars in the humanities for any ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Such writers have left valuable historical or literary records through ...

. Mystery or Historical Resource?") Selected studies. Budapest, 1988. * ("Eastern Hungarians.") Budapest, 1990. * ("Chroniclers and Hungarian History. Old Questions – New Answers.") Budapest, 1993. * ("Evolution of Pest and Buda. History of Budapest from the Great Migration until the End of the Árpád Dynasty.") Budapest, 1997. * (" King Stephen and his work.") 3rd edition, enlarged and revised. Budapest, 2000.

Sources

''Magyar nyelv'' ("Hungarian Language")

External links

A biography of Gyöffrey {{DEFAULTSORT:Gyorffy, Gyorgy 20th-century Hungarian historians 1917 births 2000 deaths Historians of Hungary Herder Prize recipients People from Cluj County