Tanulmány (study): itt

Szerző (author)

Rudolf Szentgyörgyi

Cím (title)

Greek Place Names in The Charter of Foundation of the Abbey of Tihany

Hivatkozás (references)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53644/EH.2022.2.85

Absztrakt (abstract)

The exploration of the direct Greek (Byzantine)–Hungarian linguistic relations is a long-standing debt of Hungarian historical linguistic research. In linguistic studies on Hungarian place names sparsely mentioned in the charter of foundation of the Abbey of Tihany (1055), the possibility of Greek etymologies has hardly been taken into consideration so far. This paper starts from the archeologically supported assumption that Byzantine Greek monks lived in the Tihany Peninsula in the eleventh century. This is witnessed by two place names occurring in contemporary documents. One of these is p&ra ‘Petra’, localizable near the Abbey of Tihany, and the other is tichon ‘Tihany’ itself. The Greek origin of Petra is supported by the fact, established by archaeological research, that the place it refers to was a monastery hewn into a living rock, founded by Greek monks and constructed according to their customs. In addition, the place chosen (an island) and the name (monasteries called Petra ‘rock-cavity’ can be found elsewhere in the period) both suggest rather a Greek, than a Slavic foundation. This assumption is further supported by ecclesiastical and legal historical evidence. The name Tihany, assumed earlier to be of Slavic origin and directly derived from a personal name and ultimately from the word ticho ‘silence’, was merely connected to the family of names like Tihomir, Tihoslav by folk etymology. In fact, it is the participle of the Greek verb τυγχάνω, turned into a personal name. In the Eastern Church, St. Tychon of Cyprus († 425), the Bishop of Amathus was especially revered; his active missionary
work, he may have made him particularly suitable to become the patron of a monastery founded by Greek (or Greek and Slavic) monks.

Kulcsszavak (keywords)

etymology, place names of Greek origin, petra, tichon, The charter of foundation of the Abbey of Tihany.