Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
János Ugrai: „THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL ADVANCEMENT” 1777-1849 - The last Renaissance man of Patak? - Isván Nyíry
actively involved in the dissemination of Hungarian culture, having twice been the editor of the Hungarian Hírmondó (News Chronicle) in Pozsony (Bratislava at present), first in 1784 and then in 1786. Following that, he ended up being one of the persons most caught in the crossfire of the neology movement. It was no accident that in arriving to Patak to take up employment, he was served notice by the church district that “teachers should not neologize”. Regardless of this, he enthusiastically threw himself into the “manufacturing of words”. Being a devoted believer in the necessity of creating new words, he basically applied himself to resolving ground-breaking tasks whose countless attempts he published well before the formulation of rules pertaining to word construction. As a consequence, his peers considered him to be among the the greatest of deviants. Kazinczy reacted to Barczafalvi Szabo’s ideas with harsh ridicule and even misguidedly accused Barczafalvi Szabó of being unversed in classical literature. Moreover, he called him to account for overlooking rules which later he Kazinczy himself did not consider as needing to be unconditionally respected. Undoubtedly, Barczafalvi Szabo’s numerous suggestions (e.g. renczés, rotoklyás, zuhajdász) did not stand the test of immediate acceptance and today these words no longer have any meaning. He become the subject of public ridicule because his transcribed version of “The Peril of Sziget” made frequent use of words similar to these. At the same time, there are many words in the Hungarian language which, unknown to us, are the product of the eager neologizing of this professor of Patak, examples of this being:: ábra (image), alap (foundation), átló (diagonal), belváros (downtown), bőrönd (suitcase), cikk (article), csontváz (skeleton), elmélet (theory), előzmény (antecendent), estély (soirée), felelet (answer), festmény (painting), gyám (guardian), körülmény (circumstance), lépcső (stairs), mellény (waistcoat), nyomtatvány (form), önkényes (authocratic), tünemény (phenomenal), választmány (board), etc. István Harsányi, a renown, latter-day teacher of the College in Sárospatak, lists one hundred ten similar innovative words well-established in common parlance which can be directly associated with the name of Barczafalvi Szabó. Sándor Takáts, in referring to this incidentality issuing from the clashes associated with neology, ultimately absolves Barczafalvi Szabó: “Poor Dávid Barczafalvi Szabó! He is the virtual initiator of the so-called great neology struggle, he is the pioneering figure of word creators, the very first master of word manufacturing, and still he is the only one, who never in his life was granted a word of acknowledgment or heard an impartial voice, and whose name, moreover, is usually mentioned with a certain mockery and derision. Yet, he is the one who should least deserve this unfair judgment.” THE LAST RENAISSANCE MAN OF PATAK(?) - ISTVÁN NYÍRY The 19th century was also the period when an ever-increasing disjunction between the different disciplines became more pronounced. Thus, the familiar phenomenon of earlier times when certain professors taught subjects which seemingly were very different from each other became less common in this period. István Nyiry was perhaps the last veritable example of this type of professor in Patak, especially in the light of him not only teaching these disciplines but also 101 v. XÖJ0GTAN. V 8ZÉPSEH1 TERMÉSZETI JÓSAINAK ALAPTUDOÍ IRTA NTÍBT ISTVÁN, B. T. i. 5. Az emberi nem’ elismert szebbik felének, az eredeti I ’s fájdalom a’ természet’ társjogi alkottatása’ szenved nőnemnek, tulajdon és őrök természeti jósairól okai ndjusokat ugyan, valamint minden törvényadás fcifl népjusai ’s kötelességei közzé beszőtte: úgy alig va tomány, mellybcn az asszonyi különös hazai jusoka törvényekből ki ne szedegették volna. De ez az értek előadni: mire kell figyelni a történyadónak, mikor a sasiig' jusai közzé szerkezted, hogy azon örök történi szerint a nőnemet a természet a maga bájos gazdálko társaság-alapit ót beszőtte, ne hibázzék. Nehéz az én munkám! ’s tudom, hogy,ha a’ mi kélyeket a női nemben tisztelt hajdani görögökhöz íi ’s charisokhoz való fohászok hozzám illenének. — szépeihez meghallgattatásomért, tüdős joghatőságair méltán folyamodom. 2. §. A' jog' fogalma. A’ kényszerítést nem szenvedő belső szabadakar (miilyeneknek vall az erkölcstudomány minden küteli M. T. T. KVK. ra. 2. István Nyíri was a versatile scholar
