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 Hungarian-language applications could be considered.' i,f i On 13 June 1885 an article appeared in the local newspaper reporting that the procession on Corpus Christi Thursday had been disturbed by a group of approximately fifty persons. "The decent Hungarian procession in the Upper Town had vanguards croaking in German disturbing the Hungarian singing by mumbling incessantly heilig , heilig, immer heilig under the protection of their banners inscribed hitt' für uns." m In the same year the Municipal Board submitted a petition to the Episcopate that the use of German be abolished in the Church altogether because "Hungarian had now fully occupied its deserved place in all strata of society and the continuing use of German in the Church could only be explained by the force of habit". In December the relevant Church authority abolished the use of German in the Roman Catholic Church.™ The census of 1880 recorded a German population of 3.2 percent while the ratio of Hungarians was 95.9 percent. This shows that the assimilation of the Germans was complete. 7 1 It is common knowledge that the reliability of censuses is sometimes open to question. At this time, ethnic affiliation was determined variously on the basis of the impression given by the surname, the origins of the family, its religion, or the language used in everyday life. 7 7 The claim to a mother tongue was more a declaration of national loyalty, a declaration of personal identity, than a mere statement of fact, and consequently these data do not give reliable information concerning the actual use of language in everyday life. 7 . In an age of rapid Magyarization there was at least one generation whose members had already become Magyars in terms of national sentiment but who still spoke German; it was not uncommon in those days to find an ardent Hungarian patriot, even a nationalist, who would still use German in everyday life, and this was quite common among Jews too. 7 4 A friend told me of his ethnic German grandfather, who in the middle of 6 8 Farkas, Nemzetiségi..., 258. w Farkas, Nemzetiségi..., 257 ("a felsővárosi tisztességes magyar körmenetnek németül varcogó avantgárdéi is voltak"). 71 1 Farkas, Nemzetiségi..., 257-258. 7 1 Thirring, Székesfehérvár..., 216. Cf. also Farkas, Nemzetiségi..., 254-258. 7 7 Gyáni Kövér, Magyarország társadalomtörténete..., 139. It may be noted here that in his earlier works (1836-1843) Elek Fényes, the founder of statistics in Hungary, listed Jews both under religion and language, while later (1867) he expressly stated that Jews did not possess a language of their own. Elek Fényes, Magyar országnak, 's a ' hozzá kapcsolt tartományoknak..., vol. I, 178; Id., Magyarország statistikája [The Statistics of Hungary], Pest 1842-1843, vol. I. 81-85, 91; Id., A magyar birodalom nemzetiségei.... 17, 30-31. The military census of 1850 found 339 "Hebrews" with regard to language among 14 971 inhabitants. Id., Mag'arország ismertetése.... Vol. 1, Section I, 106-107. 7 7 Karády, Egyenlőtlen elmagyarosodás.... 11,15-16,28-29. 7 4 Bihl , Das Judentum Ungarns..., 24. 219
