Agria 42. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2006)

Ujváry Zoltán: Egy tudós egri pap értekezése a proverbiumokról. Szvorényi József (1816–1892)

Életrajzhoz: VÁCZY János: Szvorényi József. In: Vasárnapi Újság, XXXIX. 1892. 870-871. Bibliográfiával: Emlékkönyv, melyet Magyarország ezeréves fennállásának ünnepén közrebocsát a hazai cziszterczi rend, 1896. 374-378. Tanulmányairól: TOLNAI Vilmos: A szokásokról. A Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság Kiadványai, 12. sz. 1910. Budapest. O. NAGY Gábor: A magyar frazeológiai kutatások története. Nyelvtudományi Értekezések, 95. sz. 1977. 61-63. Budapest. Zoltán Újváry József Szvorényi (1816-1892): An Eger Priest's Dissertation on Proverbs In the annals of folklore research József Szvorényi's name is associated with a minor epic genre, the proverb, and beyond to popular sayings, adages and parables. According to linguists he was the first person in the 19th century to examine this genre from a scientific perspective. On the occasion of his election to the academy Szvorényi wrote a dissertation on the subject of proverbs, which János Erdélyi read out at his inauguratory sitting on 23rd August 1847. The lecture was also published in that year. The dissertation presented here can be considered both a contribution to the study of folklore and linguistics. He was the first person to examine and characterise sayings from the point of view of both content and form, and it was he who first gave concrete examples showing how cultural historical and ethnographical knowledge can help researchers discover the origins of numerous word relationships. It was an initiative that opened the way to researchers in the field during the first half of the 20th century. He saw proverbs as being a folk product which was tantamount to a national treasure for speakers of the Hungarian language in which ethnographic and cultural historical references could also be found. A substantial number of the quoted examples, frequently referring to Upper Hungary, probably came from his rural community in Palócbarkó, hi his studies the accompanying ethnographical notes not only provide explanations for the proverbs, but serve as a useful source for students of folklore. 473