New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-20


PITFALLS or THE MAGYAR TONGUE
MISS browning learned to speak Magyar but ii
was With infinite trouble and through ,oucn en-
barTassineat She remarks that there Is no other
language under the sun-unless II be Chinese
in which foreigner finds so many, ni.rous of
pronunciation. AZ the same word with a differ
'h' ac''ht on the vowel sound means half-a
-" '"hSS' the stranger In making what he
believes to be the most innocent speech is ant TO
say thinss that fill him with horror when they
are explained to him. 1t is particularly well
adapted to oratorical purposes. is capab BILE OF the
herCest lnVective the most touching appeal. 1T
is incredibly rich in idiomatic expressions and
mas vocabulary that seems endless although
IL heither possesses verb to have yet
gender for the distinction OF sexes In the di-
Versity or its verbal formations, however, It
passes every other European language yet it
mas scarcely any real declensior for objective
terms So far as photography goes, II appears
truly awful at first sight. because there is always
such paucity of vowiels and such a preponder-
ance OF consonants in the majority of the words:
but when you have once learned to distinguish
between the sounds Of the gys, ssz. gyt U.s. Sc
cs. c. tvs. and dozen other combinations of
consonants. you find it easy enough to spell any
word The difficulty is to pronounce it when
spelled Some of the words are fearful and won
derful to behold. Take. for instance. Legellenal-
MISUNDERSTANDING izyonultak.' Was there ever
such word in any other tongue? 1t is the mode
or grammatical construction that is accountable
for their abnormal length. In this wise: Let us
take the word YER which is blood and the
word no. which is woman Now to form the
word sister you must take both these and ioin
them together. mover II you wish TO say my
SISTER. 1t Is necessary to subjon the possessive
pronoun en- when it becomes 'noverem' to
make 1t plural you add the ending Elk making
novcremek.' At or by my sisters is 'noverem-
nd
House that Jack Built The construction of
verbs. which may be called the bones and
sinews' OF any language is equally peculiar.
equally unlike any other European language"
The author points out that this language has
never lost its essentially Turanian character or
it's ancient syntax in spite OF the fact that the
Magyars have been established in Europe and
subject to Aryan influences for ten centuries 1t
is we'll. perhaps In consideration of this grabbed
tongue. that the HunSarianS are not reading
nation. They have few cheap editions of any
thing except of the best known historical
novels and the lyrics Of Petofy. the peasant poet
AS for the higher classes. the women are
Francomaniacs. the Anglomaniacs The
little girl has French nurse acquires a perfect
French accent and grows up into 'grande
dame" to whom Paris is the metropolis Of the
world. Her brother gets all his clothes in Lon
don well as his dogs and his guns. The great
amusement in country house and city mansion
about in their pockets in order to play at any
odd minute they play in the railway train in
bed. between the acts at a theatre sometimes.
and between the courses at a dinner table. A
countess will sit down and play cards for hours
with her maid and her cook when there is no
body else available. There is always a trifing
stake in these games to make them interest
ing" AS for smoking. everybody does that after
sixteen. Men and women leave the dinner table
together and so straight to the smoking room
and their olga rettes. 1t does not seem to affect
the good looks OF the women. a little glass OF
liQueur follows the little cup Of dinner cof-
Fee and this found favor with the author; but
when her hosts offered her q flask for her private
consumption at odd moments the young lady
recoiled aShast. They apologZed." she says
and explained that English ladies of good birth
were supposed (by them) always to keep a bran
dy flask on the toilette table in order to take a
nip whenever they needed it. 1 endeavored to
disabuse them OF this notion. but not very sue
ceSsfuily- They concluded that I was the excep-
ton that is popularity supposed to prove the
rule"
III.