Funeral Sermon and Prayer
Encyclopedia
Pray Codex
The Codex Pray, Pray Codex or The Hungarian Pray Manuscript is a collection of medieval manuscripts. In 1813 it was named after György Pray, who discovered it in 1770. It is the first known example of continuous prose text in Hungarian. The Codex is kept in the National Széchényi Library of...
.
Importance
The utmost importance of the Funeral Sermon comes from it being the oldest surviving Hungarian, and such also oldest UralicUralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
, text—although individual words and even short partial sentences appear in charters, such as the founding charter of the Veszprém valley nun monastery (997–1018/1109) or the founding charter of the Tihany abbey (1055)).
Structure
The whole monument has two parts: the sermon's text (26 lines and 227 words) and the prayer (6 lines and 47 words). Not counting repeated words, there are 190 individual terms in the text. The work was written after a Latin version, which has been identified and can be found in the very codexPray Codex
The Codex Pray, Pray Codex or The Hungarian Pray Manuscript is a collection of medieval manuscripts. In 1813 it was named after György Pray, who discovered it in 1770. It is the first known example of continuous prose text in Hungarian. The Codex is kept in the National Széchényi Library of...
. However, the Funeral Sermon and Prayer is a new composition merely based on it, rather than a mere translation). Since 1813, the manuscript has been kept in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and is currently in the National Széchényi Library
National Széchényi Library
The National Széchényi Library is a library in Budapest, Hungary. It is one of the two Hungarian national libraries, the other being the University of Debrecen Library.-History:...
.
Note on transcription
The text is written in Carolingian minuscule. This script uses ſ as the sole form for s, even at the end of words. Likewise, for z the historical ʒ form is used by the scribe. In this transcription we follow Hungarian editing tradition, where the ſ is retained, but ʒ is replaced by its modern equivalent.Diacritics on vowels and y (dots, acutes) have been omitted.
The funeral sermon
Sermo ſup ſepulchrum. Latiatuc feleym zumtuchelmic vogmuc. yſa pur eſ chomuv uogmuc. Menyi miloſtben
terumteve eleve miv iſemucut adamut. eſ odutta vola neki
paradiſumut hazoa. Eſ mend paradiſumben uolov gimilcictul
munda neki elnie. Heon tilutoa wt ig fa gimilce tvl. Ge
mundoa neki meret nu[m] eneyc. yſa ki nopun emdul oz gimilſ
twl. halalnec halalaal holz. Hadlaua choltat terumteve iſten
tul. ge feledeve. Engede urdung intetvinec. eſ evec oz tiluvt
gimilſtwl. es oz gimilſben halalut evec. Eſ oz gimilſnek vvl
keſeruv uola vize. hug turchucat mige zocoztia vola.
Num heon muga nec. ge mend w foianec halalut evec.
Horogu vec iſten. eſ veteve wt ez muncaſ vilagbele. eſ levn
halalnec eſ poculnec feze. eſ mend w nemenec. Kic ozvc.
miv vogmuc. Hog eſ tiv latiatuv ſzumtuchel. iſa eſ num
igg ember mulchotia ez vermut. yſa mend ozchuz iarov
vogmuc. Wimagguc uromv iſten kegilmet ez lelic ert. hug
iorgoſſun w neki. eſ kegiggen, eſ bulſassa mend w bunet.
Eſ vimagguc ſzen achſcin mariat. eſ bovdug michael archangelt.
eſ mend angelcut. hug uimaggonoc erette. Eſ uimagguc
ſzent peter urot. kinec odut hotolm ovdonia. eſ ketnie.
hug ovga mend w bunet. Eſ vimagguc mend ſzentucut.
hug legenec neki ſeged uromc ſcine eleut. hug iſten iv ui-
madſagucmia bulſaſſa w bunet. Eſ zoboducha wt urdung
ildetuitvl. eſ pucul kinzotviatwl. eſ vezeſſe wt paradiſu[m]
nugulmabeli. eſ oggun neki munhi uruzagbele utot. eſ
mend iovben rezet. Eſ keaſſatuc uromchuz charmul. Kir[ie e]l[eison].
The prayer
Scerelmes bratym uimagg(om)uc ez ſcegin ember lilki ert.kit vr ez nopun ez homuſ világ timnucebelevl mente.
kinec ez nopun teſtet tumetivc. hug ur uvt kegilmehel
abraam. yſaac. iacob. kebeleben belhezie: hug birſagnop
ivtva mend vv ſcentii ef unuttei cuzicun iov
felevl iochtotnia ilezie vvt. Eſ tivbennetuc. clamate iii. k[yrie eleison].
Translation
An English translation of the Funeral Sermon and Prayer can be found there: http://1moment.hu/halotti_beszed.pdfReproduction
A high quality photographic reproduction can be found at the Hungarian National Széchényi Library.
Sources
- Döbrentei, Gábor: Régi magyar nyelvemlékek (I.). Buda, 1838 http://mek.oszk.hu/07700/07791/pdf/nyelvemlekek1.pdf
- Zolnai, Gyula: Nyelvemlékeink a könyvnyomtatás koráig. Budapest 1984 http://mek.niif.hu/07000/07021/07021.pdf
- Benkõ, Loránd: Az Árpád-kor magyar nyelvű szövegemlékei. Budapest, 1980.