Language and Literature paper by Zsemlyei, Borbála
The complete thesaurus of the old Hungarian language used in Transylvania
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
The motto of this year’s conference refers to exactly what the editors of the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania have tried to achieve throughout the long decades ever since the first volume appeared in 1975, that is: preserve the language of the past and make it accessible for future generations.
The aim of the paper is to present the past, present and future of the monumental work, which is the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania.
The past refers on the one hand to what the dictionary represents: it is the complete thesaurus of the (spoken and written) Hungarian language used in Transylvania in the period of the 16th–19th centuries (and from this perspective it is a unique lexicological work). On the other hand the history of the dictionary itself is quite long, as Szabó T. Attila started thinking about the idea of such a work as early as the 1920’s, 50 years passed until the first volume was published in 1975, and now, in 2013 the last volume is about to appear.
The present is in fact another historical moment, as the final editorial touches are made on the last volume.
The future refers to the future plans we have with the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania and that is its complete digitalization. This is very important because in this way scholars all over the world will be able to use this extremely rich database.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Zsemlyei Borbála is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Hungarian and General Linguistics, Babeș‒Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She completed her university degree in Hungarian language and literature and English language and literature at Babeș‒Bolyai University in 2000. She continued her studies at the same university and recieved her master’s degree in Hungarian linguistics in 2002. In 2009 she defended her PhD thesis with the title Diminutive suffixes in the old Hungarian in Transylvania. Her main field of research is the old Hungarian language used in Transylvania. She presented the results of her research in numerous national and international conferences. She is one of the editors of the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania (Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár).