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
17. The knowledge 25 7 is tastier than sugar and honey. 1 8. The rich man who acts as a poor man is stupid indeed. 19. The man who has got little money has little to suffer. 20. If the horse is slaughtered the saddle remains, if [one] dies his name wins fame. 21. Do not become the companion 25 8 of a bad and stupid man, but get learning from a good one. REMARKS ON BÁLINT'S PROVERBS The oratory style of the earlier generations is also evident for the contemporary Mongols. They (still) enthusiastically apply many of the stylistic techniques, such as hendiadys, onomatopoetic words and proverbs, used by their predecessors Accurate composition of the subject matter, i. e. the selection of appropriate words characterises the speech and the various folklore genres of Mongols. Present-day Mongols of different ethnic groups name the proverbs by various terms (as in the case of to other folklore genres): the Kalmyk iilgiir 25 9 has the meaning "example, model", as the W.Oir. üliger. 26 0 In Khalkha the proverb is called cecen tig "wise word, wise saying", jiiir üg "example-word, example-saying", in Buryat on'hon üge "felicitous words, appropriate saying". All these designations imply that despite their brevity proverbs carry serious instructive content. Concerning their origins, Kalmyk proverbs can be divided into two separate groups: first, common Mongolian inheritance and second, borrowings from the neighbouring Kypchak Turkic groups and Russians. The proverbs - similarly to the riddles and the lyric genres - are structurally built on the framework of syntactic and semantic parallelism. In some cases, as in folk songs, the parallelism contains an external image (nature, social environment) followed by an internal image (human behaviour, feelings, judgement, views). 2" 1 At the time of completing the present analysis, I had at my disposal only a few text collections and studies of Kalmyk proverbs 26 2 which offered some variants to Bálint's records. Further field research might uncover other similar items, but undoubtedly the present rarity of variants emphasizes the uniqueness of Bálint's early material. Variant of Nr. 5. Kesn ül ezän temcdg, kecin usn yüyan temcdg. Soveräennoje dejanije imejet tjagotjenije k hozjainu (dejstvujuSőemu lieu), a voda pokatosti stremitsja v loSőinu. 2 6' 279), "nauka: gramota, uCjoba; uCenije, kanon; kniga" (Man 380-381), W.Oir. nom "otvleCjonnoje ponjatije predmeta, otvleCjonnyj, duhovnyj, svjaSCjonnyj, svjaSCjonnaja kniga, svjaSCjonnoje uCenije", nom iigei "bez bo2ij" (Pozd. 69) also (Zwick 126), but cf Bálint's use in the Manuscript, in chapter Conversation pp. 1-8, where the lexeme bears the meaning "(sub)chapter ". 25 7 Cf. the above note. 251 1 Bálint nögöce, cf. Kalm nökexe "sich befreunden, assoziieren, vereinigen" (R. 280). W.Oir. nököcökü "druíit'sja, podruiit'sja, sdelat'sja tovariäCem" (Pozd. 70). 25 9 Lőrincz, Lfászló]: La terminologie du folklore Kalmouck. In: AOH XVIII. (1965) pp 149-158, on pp. 155-156. 26 0 Pozd. 58. Zwick 105. 26 1 On the structure of parallelism in Mongolian folk songs, cf. Birtalan, Ágnes: Dsakhchin (West-Mongolian) Folksongs with Buddhist Content. In: AOH 61. (2008) pp 415-429. 26 2 Studies: Badmajev, Andrej: Kalmyckaja dorevoljucionnaja literatura. Elista, Kalmyckoje kniZnoje izdatel'stvo 1984 pp 1 1-12; Bitkejev, N. C.: Svod kalmyckogo fol'klora- Original'noje izdanije pamjatnikov narodnogo tvorCestva. In: Kalmyckij foPkhr. Elista 1985. pp. 3-16, on p. 13; Birtalan, Ágnes - Rákos, Attila: Kalmükök - Egy európai mongol nép. (TEXTerebess I.) Budapest, Terebess Kiadó 2002. |'l he Kalmyks - A Mongolian people of Europe] pp. 138-140. Text collections: Ramstedt, Gustaf John: Kalmückische Sprichwörter und Rätsel Aufgezeichnet von G. J. Ramstedt. Ed Pentti Aalto. In: Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja / Journal de la Sociélé Finno-Ougrienne. 58,2. (1956) pp 1-38; KotviC, V. L.: Kalmyckie zagadki i poslovicy. St. Peterburg 1905; KotviC, V. L.: Kalmyckie zagadki i poslovicy. Elista 1972 pp 63-91; Bukäan, Badm - Macga, Ivan (ed.): Xal'mg ülgürmüd boln tälwrtä tül's. Eist, Xal'mg ASSR-in degtr yaryaC I960. [Kalmyk proverbs and riddles] pp 17-192; Bickdiidin amn ügin bilgin antolog. Ed. Okonov, B. B. Eist, Xal'mg degtr yaryaC 1990. [An anthology of oral poetry for children] pp. 40-68; Ambekova, B. C.: Cecn bulg. Rodnik mudrosti. Elista, Aor "NPP DJ.angar" 2006. pp 123-146 Unfortunately 1 did not have the possibility to go thorough the voluminous material of the Turkestan Oirats and Kalmyks (Todajeva, B. If: Poslovicy. pogovorki i zagadki kalmykov Rossii i ojratov Kitaja Ed. Pjurbejev, G. C. Elista, RAN KIGI 2007.) as I have received it upon the closing the present analysis, but the careful study of that corpus might reveal further connections of Bálint's records. 2 M KotviC: Kalmvckije zagadki. p. 76; Kesn ül - ezän temcdg. kecin usn - yüyän temcdg. "id." Bukäan - Macga: Xal 'mg ülgürmüd. p. 57. 49
