Leibniz and the Finno-Ugrians

• Authors: Hegedus J.
• Languages of publication: HU

Abstracts

EN

Leibniz, one of the most prominent scholars of his time, was interested not only in natural sciences, mathematics, philosophy, etc. but in linguistics as well. As is known, he was presumably the first to declare the close linguistic connection between the Finnic languages and Hungarian. In accordance with his precursors and contemporaries, he was deeply immersed in the 'primeval' Scythian and Celtic (or Scytho-Celtic/Celto-Scythic) languages; he considered them as chronologically distant ancestors of the German(ic) language(s). Lots of words were thought by him to have come from Celtic languages (e.g. Kelt > Germ. Held). Leibniz was a determined proponent of the Finnlanders and Lapponians being the original settlers populating the Scandinavian Peninsula. Interestingly enough, there are present-day Finnish linguists claiming that the Finnish people have not come from Asia; that they represent the original population living in the same region from times immemorial. As to the Hungarians, Leibniz was convinced that their original homeland might have been near the vast Volga - Caspian Sea region. Leibniz's Scythian theories have left deep resonances on Hungarian language comparisons. Even today we find paracomparative writings focusing on the almost mythical Scytian origins of the Hungarian language in spite of the fact that the Finno-Ugrian origins of Hungarian have long been proved.

Keywords

EN

COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS; FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGES; HUNGARIAN; LEIBNIZ

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Society of Hungarian Linguistics
• Journal: Magyar Nyelv (Hungarian Language)
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 100
• Pages: 385-395
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Hegedus J.

• J. Hegedus, no address given, contact the journal editor

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

05HUAAAA00581494