É. Apor (ed.): Codex Cumanicus. Ed. by Géza Kuun with a Prolegomena to the Codex Cumanicus by Lajos Ligeti. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 1.)
L. Ligeti: Prolegomena to the Codex Cumanicus
2 L. I-IGETI dology used in classical philology when dealing with Oriental philological questions. 1 His Oriental studies focus on two major subjects. The first is the history of the early Hungarians as revealed in Muslim sources. One study, the Relationvm Hungarortim . . . história antiquissima was written in Latin, while the rest of his works, the text editions, translations and comments of the .Arabic and Persian sources concerning early Hungarian history were written in Hungarian. 3 He used a similar method to elaborate Gardezi's description of the Turks. 4 The other part of Kuun's Oriental studies focuses on the problems of the Coman people and language. These include his study «Data on the History of the Crimea». 5 Two other of his writings were prompted by critical reviews of his publication of the Codex Cumanicus, one responding to the comments of E. Teza, and the other, «On the Language and Nationality of the Comans», 6 answering I. Gyárfás' paper entitled «The Coman Language of the Petrarca Codex.» 7 Géza Kuun's edition of the Codex Cumanicus created a stir among a group of Hungarian historians who maintained that the Comans spoke the Finno-Ugric Hungarian language from the earliest times on. The eminent historian, G. Pray (1723 — 1801) and also the renowned researcher of the Jazvgs and Comans, I. Gyárfás (1822 1883) shared this misconception. 1 Goldziher, I., Emlékbeszéd Gróf Kuun Géza fölött. [A Commemorative Address to Count Géza Kuun], Budapest 1906, Emlékbeszédek XIII, 4. * Kuun, Comes Géza, Relalionum Hungarorum cum Oriente gentibusque orientális originis história antiquissima. Vol. I —II, Claudopoli 1892, 1895. 3 Kuun, Count Géza, Keleti kútfők [Oriental Sources]. Edited, translated and annotated by —. In: Gy. Pauler — S. Szilágyi, A magyar honfoglalás kútfői [Sources of the Hungarian conquest], Budapest 1900, pp. 137—184. 4 Kuun, dr. count Géza, Gurdèzi a törökökről [Gurdézi on the Turks]: Keleti Szemle (Revue Orientale) li (1901) 1-5, pp. 168-181, 260-270; III (1902), pp. 32-44, 81-94, 253-261; TV (1903), pp. 14-40, 129-141, 257-287. ' Kuun, Count Géza, Adalékok Krim történetéhez [Data on the History of the Crimea], Budapest 1875. • Kuun, Count Géza, Ujabb adatok a kún Petrarca-Codexhez [New Data on the Coman Petrarca-Codex], in: M . T. Ak. Értekezések az I. Oszt. köréből IV, 12, Budapest 1892. Kuun, Count Géza, A kúnok nyélvéről és nemzetiségéről [On the Language and Nationality of the Comans], Budapest 1885, in: Értekezések az J. Oszt. köréből XII, 11. Upon the publication of the Codex see Hunfalvy, Pál A Kún- vagy Petrarka-Codex és a kúnok [The Coman or Petrarca Codex and the Comans], in: Értekezések az I. Oszt. köréből IX, No. 5, Budapest 1881; in German: Der Komanische oder Petrarca-Codex und die Kumanen, in: Ungarische Revue, Leipzig 1881, pp. 602 — 632. In his basically positive review Hunfalvy criticized Kuun for the casualness of his Latin and justly complained of the clumsiness of the Latin index. 7 Gyárfás, I., A Petrarka Codex kún nyelve [The Coman language of the Petrarca Codex], in: Értekezések a II. Oszt. köréből X, 8, Budapest 1882.
