É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

ORMOS, István: Goldziher's Mother Tongue: A Contribution to the Study of the Language Situation in Hungary in the Nineteenth Century

GOLDZIHER'S MOTHER TONGUE of Hungary in those days, in addition to being the primary language of the Habsburg Empire and a sort of lingua franca in Central and Eastern Europe.

,

s Within the broad framework of creating a centralized modern state with a single language of administration - German from 1783 on there were official efforts to replace Jewish-coloured German with standard German - in that year Emperor Joseph II issued his Systematica gentis Judaicae regulatio" regulating Jewish educational affairs.

4" It forbade the use of Hebrew and Jüdisch-Deutsch (lingua Judaeorum vernacula, seu Judaico-Germanica vulgo Judisch-deutsch) in schools and decreed that documents in those two languages were null and void.

4

1 The years after the 1848-1849 Revolution and War of Independence, the days of Neo-Absolutism, were also accompanied by administrative steps aimed at creating a centralized empire with a single language that would facilitate effective administration and modernization, and for a transitional period - German seems to have gained increasing ground among Jews, even at the expense of Hungarian. The attitude of a segment of the Jewish population at this period is described by Max Nordau (1849-1923) in his memoirs. The language of instruction at the Jewish elementary school in Pest, which he attended, was German because "nearly all circles spoke German in Pest" in those days (c. 1855-1860), and German culture w On the multiple functions of the acquaintance with German for Jews, see. Egyenlőtlen e/magyarosodás..., 24. 3

9 Cf. Nathaniel Katzburg, Fejezetek az újkori zsidó történelemből Magyarországon [Chapters from the History of the Jews in Hungary in Modern Times], Transl. Gábor Ács. Revised and enlarged by the author, Budapest 1999. 30. 41

1 Cf. Karády, Egyenlőtlen elmagyarosodás.... 7-8. 4

1 At first sight this seems to imply quite a difference between standard and Jewish-coloured German. However, there can be no doubt that in the case of documents the differentiation of these two varieties of German was based mainly 011 the script employed in them. Sándor [Alexander] Büchler.'József császárnak a zsidókra vonatkozó rendszabálya' [The Regulations of Emperor Joseph Concerning the Jews], Magyar-Zsidó Szemle 13 (1896), 367. Cf. ibid.. p. 323-324, 367-374. With the aim of creating a modem and effective state administration, in 1787 the Emperor also made compulsory the use of German first names and surnames obligatory for those Jews who did not yet possess them, thereby replacing other forms such as traditional Hebrew names (X son of Y) or those derived from the names of localities where a person may have resided for some period. This decree became effective from 1 January 1788 in the whole Habsburg Empire. This decree aimed at the Jews because they were the most conspicuous group which did not bear the regular type of double names. Under Joseph IPs successors decrees were issued to regulate the names of other ethnic groups too. Thus the current patronymics of Greek-Orthodox Serbians were to be adopted as family names while arbitrary changes or modifications of names among Magyars were strictly forbidden. 'József császár magyar rendelete a zsidók családi neveinek tárgyában.' [The Hungarian Regulations of Emperor Joseph Concerning the Surnames of Jews], Ed. Bernát Mandl, Magyar-Zsidó Szemle 16 (1899), 371-373; Karády, Kozma, Név és nemzet..., 13-27. 211