Wojtilla Gyula: A List of Words Sanskrit and Hungarian by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös.
II. Csoma and Sanskrit Studies
Introduction Much light has been thrown on Alexander Csorna de Kőrös' life and his work in Tibetian and Buddhist studies. As a pioneer of Tibetology he won world-wide fame for himself and for Hungarian scholarship. Generations of Hungarian and foreign scholars paid tribute to his activity in Tibetian studies , however, they wrote next to nothing about his scientific output in Sanskrit, Indo-Aryan vernaculars and comparative linguistics. It is mainly due to the fact that his achievements in this field soon became antiquated and the subject - comparative studies in Indo-Aryan and Finno-Ugrian languages caused serious concern to scholars and lead to controversial results in many aspects 2. From various references scattered over the Csorna oeuvre we know about his Sanskrit, Hindustani and Bengali studies and a List of word s in Sanskrit-Hungarian which deserves special treatment it has never received. We have to keep in mind that Csorna's work in the above mentioned subjects has a value only in its proper historical setting. His shortcomings are those of his epoch, his valuable comments prove his talent. This List of word s contains a considerable number of Hungarian vocables and verses in Hungarian. These insertions are of great value for the students of Csorna' s life and work. Somebody may challenge our determination to publish this List of word s, saying that it is an immature work, rather a draft. For him we would like to quote Csorna's own statement in his List of word s: "materiam dedi, formam habetis, quaerite gloriam, si placet - I have provided the material, you have the form; seek the glory if it pleases you." Having taken encouragement from these words we present this little volume which consists of two main parts. Part one deals with the background: the position of Sanskrit and Indo-Aryan studies and comparative philology in his age; Csorna's studies in the respective fields; a review on opinions about his activity; and a pilot study illuminating some points of his List of word s and incorporates a detailed introduction to the List of words . A facsimile edition of the same and a transcript of the Sanskrit-Hungarian Dart of the List of word s compose the Part Two of the work. We wish to thank Dr. István Rejtő, deputy director. Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for his interest in taking up the publication of this work. We are very much indebted to Professor János Harmatta, member of the Academy for his help and various suggestions. We gratefully acknowledge the great help rendered by Mrs. Dóra Fü-
