Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.
FOLKLORE GENRES
The caftan made of Russian Nankeen ' 2 9 has its unique features upon entering and leaving. The young man Dedä having a lot of mates among people decided to become a Russian. On the bank of the Khurkhataan river 330 I left behind my two cows." 1 To you Ölzetä " 2 having a pale face how could I come back in the future? ' " Third song 33 4 The flowth of a narrow river 335 flows meekly [sic!] and gently; If one prays to the genius of religion, will always (in his age) be safe. The long maned gray horse looking at its herd neighs; To the mother settling at the Volga let us like male falcon fly (arrive)! The gray horse with the tendon of a young camel 334 looking to (the Mountain) Bodgo neighs; To the mother settling at Bogdo let us like sparrow fly (arrive)! Fourth song 33 7 Your quiet grey horse is pulling its woollen leading reins. 12 8 Bálint degdereji, Kalm. degdr- "'stolpern (von Pferden), flattern (von Vogeljungen), nicht gehen od. fliegen können; sich heben (mit Ansatz zum Fliegen)" (R 84); by Munijev a different meaning is given: "trjasti, trjastis'; idti melkimi Castymi Sagami" (Mun 192). Here the context indicates the meaning "to leave, to go away or to depart". 32 9 Bálint lanka bisemüd. cf. Kalm.D. langka, Kalm.T. tdngke "Nanking" (R. 251), Kalm.T. nangk "nanka (materijaf (Mun. 368); for the cultural context in the traditional material culture cf. Kalm. büsmüd, bismiid in: Pürbän p. 132; Bakajeva, E. P.: Odezda v kul 'ture kalmykov: tradicii i simvolika. Elista, GU lzdatel'skij dorn 'GereF 2008 pp 63-65. 3, 0 Bálint XurxataTn yol, Kalm. XurxätTn (?) yol, Basangova (Bordzanova) suggested: XorxätTn yol; its location is not identified yet. 33 1 Bálint xoyurxan üküräsü xotjila-bi, Kalm. xoyrxn ükräs xoljläw ; a parallel text by Ramstedt: bürütei ükerésen xolojibei "verlor seine ein zweijähriges Kalb führende Kuh" (Nr. 2. stanza 2d. Ramstedt - Balinov - Aalto: Kalmückische Lieder, pp 20-21), [yjurban üküres xulcibabi "verlor ich drei Kühe" (Nr. 12. stanza 17d. Ramstedt - Balinov - Aalto: Kalmückische Lieder, pp. 38-39). Bálint Ölzetä "Lucky", Kalm. Ölzätä is here a female proper name, cf. Khal. Öljit "id.". 33 3 Bálint xoran ( xoiran ) read xörän , also xörn "hinterwärts, weiter weg, zurück; künftighin; (mit. Abi.) nach, ab" (R. 192), xöran 2. "nazad, obratno" (Mun. 597). 33 4 Manuscript p. 17, Bálint's translation of Song Nr. 1. in Grammar p. 188. If Bálint offered a translation to the songs included in the Grammar as well, I have taken it from its Chrestomathy marked with italics. I think it is extremely important to show how he understood a particular text. When he translated his records for the Grammar, less than a decade after his field work, he must have consigned a great deal of additional information to memory. His solutions or remarks in the wordlists added to the songs in the Grammar, definitely contain a lots of facts that otherwise might remain unidentified. Where I have another suggestion for the interpretation of a particular passage, it is indicated in the footnotes. 33 5 Bálint Närin yol "Narrow river", the location of this river is not revealed yet. 33 6 Bálint batuxan bürbütä boron 7. Grammar-text botoghon börbötäi boron 7; Bálint indicated botoghon as "the young of camel" in his wordlist added to the song in the Grammar (p. 188). Here I suggest a different translation from Bálint's one - according to the lexeme given in the Manuscript: "The grey [might be interpreted as brown too] horse with a hard tendon", bat + -xan (diminutive suffix), bat means "hard, firm, solid, strong". 33 7 Manuscript p. 18; stanzas 1-2 with Hungarian transcription and melody Nomghon bora cf. Bálint: Jelentése. Without pagination. 58
