Honza is a very common

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

name which may be informally used interchangeably with Jan (). It comes from

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Johann(es) → Hans → Honza. Possible diminutives are Honzík or Honzíček. In Czech every Jan can be called Honza. In fact, virtually no Jan is called Jan by friends - usually Honza or Jenda is used. Honza may be translated as

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John (given name), John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly ...

. Honza is often a Czech

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

, sometimes called Hloupý Honza (Stupid Honza), Líný Honza (Lazy Honza) or Chudý Honza (Poor Honza). In original uses, ''Líný Honza'' is the ''lazy'' and inept son of village farmers. His parents send him "to the world" to take care of himself and get experience. On his way, he meets seemingly impossible obstacles (often involving a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

) but outsmarts them all and returns home with fame, riches and a princess as his wife. While sometimes called ''Hloupý Honza'' (''Dull Honza''), he is not really dull and in more modern fairy tales he often loses other negative characteristics too. Such figures became

national personification A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda. In the first personifications in the Western World, warrior deities or figures symboliz ...

– often suggested as mirroring the national character of Czechs (the nation had unexpectedly risen up, from low classes, struggling to establish itself as an independent entity). Comparison of "dull" Honza with lot of "

common sense Common sense () is "knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument". As such, it is often considered to represent the basic level of sound practical judgement or know ...

" (as opposed to knowledge obtained by studying) with

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

portrayed by princes which are unable to overcome obstacles Honza did overcome might also refer to fact that for big part of history (most of) Czech aristocracy was separated from people and often not really Czech (but

and

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 ...

n).

Examples

Literature

* Chytrý Honza z Čech (The clever Honza from Bohemia), collection
third book annotation from top * Český Honza (Czech Honza), collection,

Theatre

* How Simple Honza Went Out into the Worl

Films

Honza málem králem ''Honza málem králem'' is a 1976 Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak film. The film's cast includes Jiří Korn, Naďa Konvalinková, and Josef Kemr. Cast * Jirí Korn * Nada Konvalinková * Marie Glázrová * Valérie Kaplanová * Josef Kemr * Zd ...

Z pekla štěstí Z, or z, is the twenty-sixth and last Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet. It is used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, in the alphabets of other Western European languages, and in others worldwide. Its usual names ...

() * O chytrém Honzovi aneb Jak se Honza stal králem () * Princové jsou na draka ()

References

{{Authority control Culture of the Czech Republic Czech fairy tales Literary archetypes Fictional Czech people Archetypal fools Slavic folklore characters Dragons in fairy tales

Examples

Literature

Theatre

Films

See also

References