Ármin Vámbéry
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Ármin Vámbéry (born Hermann Wamberger; 19 March 183215 September 1913), also known as Arminius Vámbéry, was a Hungarian Turkologist and traveller.


Early life

Vámbéry was born in 1832 in the Hungarian city of Szentgyörgy within the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
(now
Svätý Jur Svätý Jur (; ; ; ; formerly ''Jur pri Bratislave'') is a small historical town northeast of Bratislava, located in the Bratislava Region. The city is situated on the slopes of Little Carpathians mountains and surrounded by typical terraced vine ...
in
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
), into a poor Jewish family. According to Ernst Pawel, a biographer of
Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of Types of Zionism, modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organizat ...
, as well as Tom Reiss, a biographer of Lev Nussimbaum, Vámbéry's original last name was rather than . He was raised Jewish, but later became an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
. Vámbéry was 1 year old when his father died and the family moved to Dunaszerdahely (now Dunajská Streda in
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
). In his autobiography, Vámbéry says that his parents were so poor and had so many children that they were forced to stop supporting each child at a young age. He was set "adrift" at the age of 12. Vámbéry says that the constant hunger and scanty clothing of his childhood hardened his young body, which served him well in his later travels. He walked with a
crutch A crutch is a mobility aid that transfers weight from the human leg, legs to the upper body. It is often used by people who cannot use their legs to support their weight, for reasons ranging from short-term injuries to lifelong disabilities. Hi ...
under his left arm because of a congenital disorder. He attended the local school until the age of 12 and showed a remarkable aptitude for learning languages. He was forced to leave school, to support himself with work. He worked briefly as a dressmaker's assistant, but after becoming tutor to the son of the village innkeeper, he was enabled by his friends to enter the of Szentgyörgy (). By the age of 16, he had a good knowledge of Hungarian,
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
,
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, French, and German. He was also rapidly acquiring English, the
Scandinavian languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is al ...
, Russian, Serbian, and other
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...
. In 1846, he went to Pozsony (now
Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
), where he remained for three years. Later he studied in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...
, and
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
.


Diplomatic work

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of Types of Zionism, modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organizat ...
enlisted Vámbéry to consult on diplomatic work in the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
(despite Herzl's reputation for working alone). Vámbéry was a professor of Oriental languages at the University of Budapest. Herzl said of Vámbéry:
edoesn't know whether he is more Turk than Englishman, writes books in German, speaks twelve languages with equal mastery and has professed five religions, in two of which he has served as a priest...He told me 1001 tales of the Orient, of his intimacy with the sultan, etc. He immediately trusted me completely and told me, under oath of secrecy, that he was a secret agent of Turkey and of England.


Travels

Vámbéry was especially attracted by the literature and
culture of the Ottoman Empire The culture of the Ottoman Empire evolved over several centuries as the ruling administration of the Turkish peoples, Turks absorbed, adapted and modified the various native cultures of conquered lands and their peoples. There was influence from t ...
including
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. By the age of twenty, Vámbéry had learned enough
Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...
to enable him to go, through the assistance of Baron József Eötvös, to
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
and establish himself as a private tutor of European languages. He became a tutor in the house of Huseyin Daim ''
Pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...
'', and, under the influence of his friend and instructor, Ahmet Efendi, became a full Osmanli, serving as secretary to Fuat Pasha. About this time he was elected a corresponding member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...
in recognition of his translations of Ottoman historians. After spending about a year in the Payitaht, he published a German–Turkish dictionary in 1858. Later, he also published various other linguistic works. He also learned some 20 other Turkish languages and dialects. Returning to Budapest in 1861, he received a stipend of a thousand
florin The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a pu ...
s from the academy, and in the autumn of the same year, disguised as a
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...
, and under the name of "Reshit Efendi", he set out from the capital city of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. His route went from Trebizond on the Black Sea to
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
in Persia, where he joined a band of pilgrims returning from
Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
, spending several months with them traveling across Central Iran (
Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...
, Zanjan, and Kazvin). He then went to
Shiraz Shiraz (; ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the popu ...
, through
Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...
, and in June 1863 he reached
Khorezm Khwarazm (; ; , ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the east by the Kyzylkum Desert, on the south by t ...
(Central Asia). Throughout this time, he succeeded in maintaining his disguise as "Reshit Efendi", so that upon his arrival at the
Khanate of Khiva The Khanate of Khiva (, , uz-Latn-Cyrl, Xiva xonligi, Хива хонлиги, , ) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarazm, Khorezm from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Afsharid Iran, Afsharid occupat ...
he managed to keep up appearances during interviews with Khan Sayyid Muhammad. Together with his band of travelers, he then crossed Bokhara and arrived at
Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...
. He described the main monuments of Samarkand including the citadel of the city. Initially, he aroused the suspicions of the local ruler, who kept him in an audience for a full half-hour. Vámbéry managed to maintain his pretences, and left the audience laden with gifts. Upon leaving Samarkand, Vámbéry began making his way back to Istanbul, traveling by way of
Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...
. There he took leave of the band of dervishes and joined a caravan to
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
, and from there, via Trebizond and
Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...
, to Istanbul, arriving there in March 1864. This was the first successful journey of its kind undertaken by a European; and since it was necessary to avoid suspicion, Vámbéry could not take even fragmentary notes, except by stealth. After a long and perilous journey he arrived back at Pest in May 1864. He went to London to arrange the English-language publication of his book about the travels. ''Travels in Central Asia'' and its Hungarian counterpart were published in 1865. Thanks to his travels Vámbéry became an internationally renowned writer and celebrity. He became acquainted with members of British social elite. The Ambassador of
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
in London gave him a letter of recommendation to the Emperor, who received him in an audience and rewarded Vámbéry's international success by granting him professorship in the Royal University of Pest. Vámbéry became known also as a
publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for work or a project such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...
, zealously defending British policy in the East as against that of the Russians. He was widely celebrated at his 70th birthday in March 1902, receiving greetings from academic institutions all over Europe. The British king
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
appointed him an Honorary Commander of the
Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...
, his house order, followed by a letter where Vámbéry was appreciated as "so good and constant a friend to England". In 2005 the
National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...
at
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...
made files accessible to the public, and it was revealed that Vámbéry had been employed by the British
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
as an agent and spy whose task it was to combat Russian attempts at gaining ground in Central Asia and threatening the British position on the Indian sub-continent. He advocated the theory of close Turkic- Hungarian linguistic and ethnic relationship, and his publications on the subject provoked a harsh scientific and public debate in Hungary, remembered as the "Ugric-Turk War". Vámbéry argued that the large number of similarities between
Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
and Hungarian pointed to a shared origin of these languages and peoples in Northern Asia. His strongest evidences were the large corpus of ancient Turkish words in Hungarian word-stock (300–400 for a minimum, and even more with good alternative Turkic etymologies), and the strong typological similarity of Hungarian and Turkic languages. In his opinion Hungarian is a
contact language Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact with and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Language contact can occur at language borders, between adstratum ...
, more precisely a
mixed language A mixed language, also referred to as a hybrid language or fusion language, is a type of contact language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. ...
, and a fruit of the intermingling of early Hungarians with Turkic peoples; as a result of this merger, the Hungarian language got a unique, distinctly dual (Ugric ''and'' Turkic) character. (The intriguing problem of Turkic-Hungarian language relations is far from settled even after centuries of research.) Vámbéry was not the first to suggest such mixed origin; the German linguist and Orientalist (1802–1889) was a proponent of Finn-Turk-Hungarian kinship, and considered the Hungarians (and their language) a mixture of Turkic and Hyperborean, for example Saamic or Samoyedic, elements. Nonetheless, Vámbéry's theory was opposed by proponents of the
Finno-Ugric Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic languages, Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in ...
theory of the origins of Hungarian, who gradually triumphed in Hungary but not in Turkey. In Turkey, Hungarian and Turkish are still considered as two branches of the same language family, the Ural-Altaic. Vámbéry was acquainted with
Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...
, during a stay in London, and Stoker claimed him as his consultant, and as relayer of Balkan folklore inspirator of main antagonist character
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
and, of course, the book's title. The character of Professor Van Helsing in Stoker's novel, ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
'', is sometimes said to be based on Vámbéry, though Stoker was likely inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's Dr Hesselius. In the novel (chapters 18 and 23) Van Helsing refers to his "friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University". His son, Rustem Vambery, briefly served as Hungary's ambassador to the United States after World War II.


Publications

* "Deutsch-Türkisches Taschenwörterbuch" (Constantinople, 1858) erman-Turkish Pocket Dictionary* "Abuska," a Turkish-Chagatai dictionary (Budapest, 1861) * "Reise in Mittelasien" (Leipzig, 1865, 2d ed. 1873) ravel in Middle Asia* "Cagataische Sprachstudien" (ib. 1867) hagatai Language Studies(''Ćagataische sprachstudien, enthaltend grammatikalischen umriss, chrestomathie, und wörterbuch der ćagataischen sprache;'') * "Meine Wanderungen und Erlebnisse in Persien" (ib. 1867) - ''Wanderings and Adventures in Persia'' y Wanderings and Experiences in Persia* "Skizzen aus Mittelasien" (ib. 1868) - ''Sketches of Central Asia'' * "Uigurische Sprachmonumente und das Kudatku-Bilik" (Innsbruck, 1870) * "Uigurisch-Türkische Wortvergleichungen" (Budapest, 1870) * "Geschichte Bocharas" (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1872) - ''History of Bokhara'' (1873) * "Der Islam im Neunzehnten Jahrhundert" (Leipzig, 1875) slam in the Nineteenth Century* "Sittenbilder aus dem Morgenlande" (Berlin, 1876) - ''Manners in Oriental Countries'' * "Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Turkotatarischen Sprachen" (Leipzig, 1878) tymological Dictionary of the Turko-Tatar Languages* "Die Primitive Cultur des Turkotatarischen Volkes" (ib. 1879) - ''Primitive Civilization of the Turko-Tatar People'' * "Der Ursprung der Magyaren" (ib. 1882) - ''Origin of the Magyars'' * "Das Türkenvolk" (ib. 1885)- ''The Turkish People'' * "Die Scheïbaniade, ein Oezbegisches Heldengedicht", text and translation (Budapest, 1885) * "Story of Hungary" (London, 1887) * "A Magyarság Keletkezése és Gyarapodása" (Budapest, 1895) * "Travels and Adventures of the Turkish Admiral Sidi Ali Reis in India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Persia During the Years 1553-1556", a translation from the Turkish (ib. 1899) * "Alt-Osmanische Sprachstudien" (Leyden, 1901) ld-Ottoman (Turkish) Language Studies* Western Culture in Eastern Lands; A Comparison of the Methods Adopted by England and Russia in the Middle East''. (1906) On political subjects, Vámbéry wrote: * "Russlands Machtstellung in Asien" (Leipzig, 1871) ussia's Power Position in Asia* "Zentralasien und die Englisch-Russische Grenzfrage" (ib. 1873) entral Asia and the English-Russian Border Question* "The Coming Struggle for India" (London, 1885) He wrote his autobiography under the titles "Arminius Vámbéry, His Life and Adventures" (ib. 1883) and "Struggles of My Life" (ib. 1904). Many of his works have been translated into other languages, especially French. He also published numerous articles and books, mostly in German and Hungarian. His travels have been translated into many languages, and his ''Autobiography'' was written in English. "Meine Wanderungen und Erlebnisse in Persien" has been translated into Persian, by the Iranian film director Khosrow Sinai.


References

Attribution: * *


Sources

* ''Herzl, King of the Jews: A Psychoanalytic Biography of Theodor Herzl'', by Avner Falk (1993), pp. 395ff. has a detailed discussion of Vámbéry's biography and of his relations with Herzl.


External links

* *
Jewish Discovery of Islam
by Martin Kramer, includes discussion of Vámbéry.
Books
of Ármin Vámbéry in the Hungarian Electronic Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Vambery, Armin Explorers of Central Asia Turkologists Hungarian book and manuscript collectors Hungarian explorers Hungarian Jews Hungarian orientalists Jewish orientalists Linguists of Hungarian People from Svätý Jur 1832 births 1913 deaths Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery People of the Great Game Honorary commanders of the Royal Victorian Order