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 ( , 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 ...

().

Biography

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

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

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

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') 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 ...

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

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and turkologist 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; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

around the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, 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 (" Pechenegs and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

"). 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 Count Pál János Ede Teleki de Szék (1 November 1879 – 3 April 1941) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 to 1921 and from 1939 to 1941. He was also an expert in geography, a uni ...

Scientific Institute, where he later became a lecturer. From 1945 to 1949 he was the Head of the Department of

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

at the Institute. At the end of 1951 he received an offer for the position of Senior Lecturer at the

University of Debrecen The University of Debrecen ( ) is a university located in Debrecen, Hungary. It is the oldest continuously operating institution of higher education in Hungary ever since its establishment in 1538. The university has a well established progra ...

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 title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

, a

Senior Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

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 (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. ...

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

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 ...

, 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 (), 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 Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...

* 1990 – Associate Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences * 1991 – Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences * 1992 –

Széchenyi Prize The Széchenyi Prize (), named after István Széchenyi, is a prize given in Hungary by the state, replacing the former State Prize in 1990 in recognition of those who have made an outstanding contribution to academic life in Hungary. Recipients ...

* 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 '' g ...

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 landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

, 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 f ...

s and settlement names. He excelled in

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

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 for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spelli ...

. 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 or Kusál (died 904), was a Hungarian (Magyar) chieftain at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, who had a crucial role in the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. He was '' kende'' of the Magyars in the dual leadership with Á ...

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, 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. 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