Baranyai Decsi János és régi közmondásaink
János Baranyai Decsi and Our Old Proverbs

Summary/Abstract: This little study, which has been published in the column called Rescue Excavation, looks at the first Hungarian collection of sayings and proverbs, which appeared in Bártfa in 1598. The author of this collection, Baranyai Decsi János (born after 1560, died in 1601) was a humanistic historian, who built up and extended his knowledge studying at various places in Hungary and Europe, like in Tolna, Debrecen, Kolozsvár, Wittenberg and Strassbourg. His book includes 4827 Hungarian data; more than 800 of these are sayings and proverbs, many of which are used even today. The collection presents several European proverbs as well, which are still alive in many languages due to Greco-Roman, biblical or medieval Latin influences.

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