Etymological Dictionary of Hungarian (EDH)

1. Preliminary remarks
ALFRÉD TÓTH : ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF HUNGARIAN (EDH)
2. Introduction into Sumarian-Hungarian research
2. Introduction into
Sumerian-Hungarian research
Sumerian-Hungarian research has at least four drawbacks: First, there is – unlike in Finno-Ugristics and
Uralistics - no complete bibliography of Sumerian-Hungarian studies, although the literature is
enormous. Second, because during the communist era Sumerian-Hungarian research was forbidden in
Hungary, many publications had to appear abroad in more or less ephemeral journals and obscure
publishing houses. Third, the majority of these publications – again unlike FU- and Uralistic studies -
are written in Hungarian, so they are not understandable for most non-Hungarians. Fourth, there are
not only pearls amongst the Sumerian-Hungarian studies. Especially in linguistics, many works have
been written by non-linguists, even by non-academics. Therefore, this introduction has also the
purpose of leading the beginner to the scientifically valuable publications.
2. History of Sumerian-Hungarian research
The standard work that gives an overview of the beginnings of Sumerian-Hungarian research is:
● Érdy, Miklós
The Sumerian, Ural-Altaic, Magyar Relationship: A History of Research
A sumír, ural-altaji, magyar rokonság története
Part I : The 19th Century
I. Rész: A 19. század
New York 1974
This work has the advantage, that it is bilingual (Hungarian and English), but the disadvantage, that
Part II (concerning the 20th century) never appeared. A relatively short, but reliable “substitute” for
Part II with a long bibliography is the following article:
● Dombi, Charles (Károly)
The controversy on the origins and early history of the Hungarians
In: www.hunmgyar.org/tor/controve.htm
Here we learn the names of the decipherers of Sumerian who also connected it immediately to the
“Turanian” languages (the former name of the “Ural-Altaic” family), especially Hungarian: Edward
Hincks (1792-1866), François Lenormant (1837-1883), Jules Oppert (1825-1905) and Henry C.
Rawlinson (1792-1866). The decipherment of the Cuneiform writing, in which the two basic languages
of ancient Mesopotamia, Sumerian and Akkadian, were written between ca. 3000 – 400 B.C., was
started by Georg Friedrich Grotefend as early as in 1802, but only in 1850, Rawlinson finished it.
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