The Hungarian People

The Hungarian People

Hungarian - The Ugric Branch of the Uralic Family of languages.

The Hungarian language ranks 40th among world languages as regards the number of those who speak it as a mother tongue, and 12th among European languages, while it rates 11th among the official tongues of European countries. In numerical terms, Hungarian falls around the middle, after the larger languages; however, it is interesting to note that in 1993, Hungarian was taught at 73 universities in 31 countries.

The Hungarian language belongs to those with a long-standing literary background. Its first linguistic record - in actual fact, the first known written text to include aspects of the Hungarian tongue - is the Tihany Deed of Endowment originating from 1055, while its first coherent linguistic record is to be found in the Funeral Oration written at the end of the 12th century. In this respect, there are only 15 to 20 European and Asian languages spoken today which can claim to be older than the Hungarian language. Linguists place the Hungarian language in the Uralic linguistic family, and in particular, within its largest, Finno-Ugric, branch. As a language it can be considered to have had an independent existence for the past 3,000 years.

History

The Hungarian people lived in the Ural Mountain meadows for millennia. They share common ancestry with Uralic people, which includes Samoyeds, Finns and Lapps.

Ural Mountains

Here is an old Finnish map that shows the original inhabitation of Magyars. These people, (Unkarilaiset, in Finnish) who were very mobile on horseback, started to move south in the last part of the first millennium, and after several generations, settled in the Carpathian Basin. More about the Hungarians, who are by far the most successful Uralic people in terms of population, in the future. Come back soon.

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