István Kniezsa
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István Kniezsa | |
|---|---|
 Kniezsa on 15 March 1953, at the Kossuth Prize ceremony in Budapest | |
| Born | December 1, 1898 |
| Died | March 15, 1965 (aged 66) |
| Citizenship | Hungarian |
| Alma mater | Royal Hungarian Pázmány Péter University (1923–1928) |
| Occupations |
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| Children | Veronika Kniezsa |
| Awards | Kossuth Prize (1953) |
István Kniezsa (1 December 1898, Trsztena, Austria-Hungary, now Trstená, Slovakia – 15 March 1965, Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian linguist and Slavist, corresponding (1939) and regular (1947) member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was one of the most significant figures in Hungarian language historical research in the 20th century, achieving significant scientific results in the study of place and personal names in the Carpathian Basin, in researching the medieval state and writing practice of the Hungarian language, as well as in the exploration of foreign words of Slavic origin. His major contribution was to the research of Slavic loanwords in the Hungarian language and toponymy. He was awarded by Kossuth Prize in 1953.
According to an investigation based on place-names in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary made by István Kniezsa, 511 settlements of Transylvania and Banat appear in documents at the end of the 13th century: 428 (83.8%) had names of Hungarian origin, and 3 (0.6%) had names of Romanian origin. Until 1400, total 1757 Transylvanian settlements are mentioned in documents which are still existing today: 1355 (77.1%) had names of Hungarian origin, and 76 (4.3%) had names of Romanian origin. (The other place names are of Slavic or German origin.)[1][2] His study was criticized by Romanian linguist and Slavist Emil Petrovici.[3]
