SYSTEM OF PERSONAL NAMES IN FOLK TALES OF TRANSCARPATHIA

Abstract

Among the favourite memories of our childhood are the moments when we can fly into the world of imagination on the wing of a tale. As a researcher I re-read these tales, it is interesting to observe the proper names in them. It is important to examine the naming motivation of folk tales looking back on the Hungarian past, wit we can get to know the naming habits of the Hungarian people. Several people dealt with the collecting of folk tales in Transcarpathia. Outstanding are the collections of Péter Lizanec and Mária Punykó, László Sándor, in which we can find several typical folk tales created by the Hungarians of Transcarpathia. The naming peculiarity of Péter Lizanec's tale collection of Three Golden Arrows is special, it illustrates the Transcarpathian mentality and way of thinking. Almost all types of proper names can be found in them, but typically the largest number are speaking names, and this is probably because they give us a better understanding of the essence of the message of the tale, not to mention making the works more colourful and cheerful. The name and signifier of folk tales form a unit. The names themselves can also wander from one tale to another. It can be observed in the Transcarpathian folk tales that the traditional names return over and over again. It is a peculiar tendency in these tales to point out why the character is called in some way or other. The beginning of the tale often starts with children, adolescents or just in general, characters that are not adults yet. Firstly, we can say that the names in the folk tales of Transcarpathia strengthen the fictional nature of the tale. Secondly, we can say that in these tales, we can find a reflection of 19th century hungarian names. We can also find carefully coined “fantasy”- names. Naming of the tales is definitely interesting and requires a lot of attention. Finding and organizing of the tales is a very important and timely project.