SPRICHWÖRTER IN DEN WERKEN VON GÁSPÁR HELTAI
PROVERBS FROM GÁSPÁR HELTAI

Summary/Abstract: This essay examines the way Gáspár Heltai, one of the most important Hungarian writers and preachers in the Reformation period in the XVIth century, used proverbs in his works. The author of this article compiled proverbs which were collected from 5 of Heltai’s work. She shows that some of Heltai’s proverbs are used even today as she compares Heltai’s proverbs with the most sophisticated proverbs in the Hungarian language. Then she focuses on the contexts which were typical of Heltai’s proverbs: first, she compares the literal meaning of the proverb with the symbolic meaning. Secondly, she examines the way Heltai collects many proverbs in one tale. Thirdly, she analyzes the way Heltai frames some of his stories with proverbs at the beginning and at the end of his work. Next, she describes the logical relationships between sentences in the text and demonstrates the function of the proverbs in these logical relationships. Finally, by using phraseological examples, the author reveals the linguistical influence of German (Heltai’s native language) on these Hungarian proverbs.

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