New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-08-21
Hungarian Pronunciation.

Ract m KNOWING row 10 pronounce the names ~
H8ngsrian men and places. w ca have 50 much
aoounded "a the papers since The commencement
Of the Magyar War OF Independence 4. any
,ate We have from time 20 time heard such names
90 pronounced, by Intelligent snd even educated
persons education aud Intelligence DO not always
~ t0geth er.l that their owners would never sus
poet who or what vas meant by them. One great
reason of such confusion Is plain. The characters
ot tn Roman alphabet, IS used by the Hanssri-
ans, stand for cerfsin sounds 0hIch either s-e no;
luud q our suggsgo. or a-e differently represent.
ID Beside as 10 Ensi,h the same letter usy
represent hali-a dozen different sounds-as the
'ettera for example has one sosni In faf another
DO FIRE. another DO tai another 10 rra't. and 50
on-who can tell which Of these sounds u stands
for in an unknown foreign word The great .fi
Guilty, as " see lies 10 the sbsurdites ani contrs
diciions OF our alphsbef which can only be rene
died hy substituting for i- ph1uetic alphabet, in
which every sound OF spoSen language shall have
irs proper letter, and each let'er shall stsnd for ne
sound alone. The want Of such phabet t
make the * isnatons we give below at best only
partially useful bat we must DO as we can with
the means At hand. So, let those who who wish
TO learn Hungarian pronunciation take their places
| TOR lesson:
Kossuth is pronounced az If written Kosh-oot
40 as ia moon Go-gsy is not like George the
dimnityc OF George bu, a. If written g syur CAV
~ least thst the best way think Of for
convey lug an idea OF the vowel sound 10 the first
syllable the vowel itself we have not ia English
The nsme is sometimes spelt Georeey which is to
tally wrong If you wan % spell 1t after the Ger
man fashion 1t must be Goergey &C Gothic is some
times written Goethe.
The name OF Couat Wa,s the envoy in this
country $ pronounced vosh that Of Nadgy Ssl-
r, the fsmou Magyar cavalry officer is Nod
Shandor, the n in the second name which by the
way is the christian nsme,-the Hungarians always
put the surname hrst.-and means Alexander. J
being pronounced as in far; Macy is Mod-ysr ;
Acs IS ike arch with the left out Deoreczen
| ,hs is the true spelling Of the wori though the
G srnans from " HON we generally copy write the
asst syllable with is Debret sane Miskolcz is
Mish kolch Bisziricz & the Germans write it Bis
tricz IS Bistri,s Seeker is Sake Ter sIegedin
Is segedin. Csoma is Chorns saros is Sharos7
a as IN far. Pesth is properly Pesht, but the
German pronunciation, Pest, universally prevails
in other countries.
Bs-ska is Batch-ka Ia as IN far Kecskemstis
Hetch- ne mste. Cseged is Cheg-ed. Perczel is
Perisel, the in the first syllable being SO in the
first syllable Of derry. Bekes is Bay-kaysh.
| Aszod is Ah-sods. Temesvsr is temesh-vsr tine
rs IN far Gy6ngyos is-a stumper and defy
any man 70 describe the way It is pronounced. so
that another can pronounce il aright from the de-
scription. Those who can't find any one to teach
them the sounds orally. must content themselves
with provisional pronunciation till they can
SONY IL not So much unlike Sisneyi as barn
door but then 1t IS by no means the same thing
God6lo is something like Gay de-eh. bat not ex
actly
There are good many German names in Hus-
gary, both OF men snd places, which are pro-
nounced according 20 German rules, az for in
stance, TAe.ss pronounced Tee the Magyar
name OF that river Is TisEa, Tea-saJ There are
slso good many SolRvonc names which also have
their own rules. as for instance Jellscic, which IS
pronounced yellatch-itch With the emphasis on
the second syllable Kossgth j. also scavonic
name, but has been Macy arized. Knieianin is
Kun -uch-ysn-in.
That IS enough Of examples let Us now have
small portion Of principles. The vowel a Is
ike our In are . like a IN jar Is Ike or
DO 81. ike our 10 fdtS or Ike the French {.
Ike eur in M like in rose Ike the Ger
man o. as In Gothe the Hunssrisns have also
ssotner similar vowel TOR which We have no type
Ia IL an o with TWO upright dashes or accent marks
over &C. or with two dots ard one dash betvee
;aem j, represents longer ana sharper sound
! . - nur 80 In ke Il ID
ige, or like the French and thea Priassd
either with two dAshes, or with two cots ami
dash between them, representing onger snd
sharper sound OF the same Kind.
- much Tor the vowels and now Tor the conso-
nants. Those we DO not mention are essentially
the same 10 Esglish
q IS always hard except when iol.oys e. by
nuAl. 6 e never used, except with or cs
like our G.. In church O.: Ike Is 10 5;s or ike the
German has the force Of IN gear OF 81 -
Of IN son Is ike the French ? gssis, though
rather harder, sad sIso Ike our IN azure Is and
q sre. as are es and c. respectively ike et In
church and &, Ia bus 6 IS never used a. al
Beside these, there are the sounds -, y, ~ and
fy vhi,h puzzle the present teacher badly as, 70
tell the truth, ne hardly knows bow 10 describe
| AON--- DC y A-At-f -tfrs - ~-~ 7cfe'e ~
ters a pee-.lA-ly sois G1litola. sound. Ike Inst
heard in the French 3, noaiAe, or the spanish =,
or the Italian 90 in SigH0re the addition Of 70
Aso mobiles il BY minslins with i something
Of The sound OF cur d. 80 that i has much the
force Of IN JsHe indeed, Bls,kwood writes
| Mala- a. ths easiest wsy Of getting Magyar cor
ree,ly over English lips y IS much though BY no
means exactly, Ike 2 10 the French word rsreils
or the spanish word LAM ~ hks gH IN siga0rs
q, Ike no sound that we can think o; In any
other language. though In or word rtrise the
n OF the ina 5, liable has resemblance 70 Il.
The difference, however between, these sounds
in the Magyar or in other languages Is that in the
Magyar they CONSTANTLY occur at the end Of words,
whereas in other languages they are always IN
The middle, which renders them easy 70 pro-
no1nee. The exact Magyar pronunciation ofthem
an only De leaned from 4 Asi1- teacher, AMI then
i tAAes pretty keen ear and flexible tongue -
get Il correctly.
-Inere, that will DO FOR one lesson and now
we Sfs''e Al parties no piqus themselves on
pron 'uncins every word in the world with per.
feet precision, 70 preserve this essay and profit bv
IL As much ~ Gsy ca.