Joe Pannon mentioned yesterday that the Hungarian Tax Office demanded the
inheritance tax in foreign currency instead of the Hungarian forint. That has
changed. I paid my inheritance tax from my inheritance in forints. I am happy
to announce that it was surprisingly low!

Eva Balogh

Thanks to Csaba Zoltani the information about Konrad's book. The title seems
to me at least apt: Melancholy of Rebirth. The intellectuals seem to be
greatly ambivalent about the change, a development that doesn't make the
transition any easier.

Eva Balogh

To quote:

>Please Discontinue my subscription!!!!  It is clogging up my mail box!!!
>Thank you, Kimberly Orr.

I don't understand. Why did you subscribe to it in the first place?

Eva Balogh

Greg quoting me:

>: ...the dictionary claims
>: that the greeting "szervusz" comes from Latin, which is obvious enough,
>via
>: German. It was first recorded in 1823, becoming quite common by the 1850s.

>OK, here's what I wish to know:  what if anything did `szervusz' replace?
>Was there an equivalent (in terms of use, not literal meaning) Magyar salute
>in use, say pre-1800?

Of course, the etymological dictionary doesn't give answers to such questions
and therefore, I am only guessing here. First of all, what you must realize
is that greeting someone with "szervusz" implies the familiar form. I think
that the word first spread among students who were immersed in Latin in those
days. In fact, most of them could easily converse in Latin and many did,
saying such things to each other as: "servus humillimus" from which the
abbreviated form of "servus/szervusz." What did it replace? Probably a simple
"jo reggelt, jo napot, jo estet," etc. Since it was used among students who
used the familiar "te," "szervusz" is restristed to use among those who use
the familiar form with each other.

And while we are at this, the familiar form has been spreading rapidly in
Hungary ever since the end of the Second World War. By the early 1950s all
university students used the familiar form among themselves, regardless of
gender. Thus, it became customary to use "te" with people who are either of
the same age, have the same educational attainment, or they are simply
colleagues; that is, your equal in some way. Most politicians use the
familiar form with each other and most journalists use the familiar with the
politicians they interview. But when it comes to written reports they usually
switch to formal: "Miniszterelnok Ur, lenne olyan szives es elmondana
nekunk," etc. when in "real" life, they most likely call him Gyula and "te."

I must admit that I am very pleased with these developments. First, the
formal form is extremely awkward in Hungarian due to the fact that it was a
later linguistic development which came about as a result of foreign
influence. Second, to decide the proper form of address is a very difficult
business, especially for poor teenagers who are confused enough without this
added burden. I remember distinctly of hiding in gateways until certain
persons disappeared from sight simply because I had no idea whether I should
use the formal and "kezicsokolom" [I kiss your hand] or informal and
"szervusz." Or, it was equally mortifying at age of fourteen to say to some
friend of my father: "Kezicsokolom Bandi bacsi," only to be greeted with
another "kezicsokolom." Oh, yes, because around this time men started to
greet you with "kezicsokolom," which meant that you were growing up. Horror!
Absolute horror it was!

Eva Balogh

On Thu, 25 May 1995, Joe Pannon wrote:

> Z. P. wrote:
>
> >Why would the government need the inheritance tax paid in
> >dollars from a Hungarian citizen?
>
> Well, you missed my comment about the "valuta-kulfoldi" designation.
> It used to be that as long as you lived in the West they wanted that
> currency from you, not the forints you obtained by converting your
> inheritence into cash.  They did it by designating you a
> "valuta-kulfoldi".
>
> I wasn't sure if this practice still existed.
>
> Joe

Joe,

I did not missed your point.  I am well aware that it existed, and
actually there was a need for it.  Hungary's convertible currency
reserves were down to just a few hundred thousands! in I believe 1982,
and were very low in general in the early and mid '80s.  So then there
was a need that from any possible source the government wanted to
accumulate as much convertible currency as possible.  However, this need
is not in existence any more and that is why I said that I don;t
understand why the government would want to follow such politics.  I
don't think this rule is still in existence, nor do I think the term
"valuta-kulfoldi" is in existence in the legal language any more.

Zoli

George Antony > wrote:

>Gotthard,
>
>With all respect, have you ever read the charter of the HUNGARY mailing list ?
>
>What is the Hungarian-issue content of a second-hand Chrysler being available
>somewhere in the USA ?  Could you, please, respect the charter of the list and
>restrict such ads to your local bulletin board.
>
>George Antony

Dears,
probably you might have figured out by now, that I am
actually not running a used car business. A Hungarian diplomat and a friend
asked  me to post those ads to this list. I assume there are Hungarian
readers/students in the Washington D.C. area, who might be looking for a good
deal on a car, which might be achieved, if you are buying it from someone from
your own country. It is certainly not a commercial use of this list, since
there
is no profit hunger behind the posting. Getting a good deal on
a car, might make happy some of our Hungarian friends around here, I thought,
and probably will think in the future, that the ad I posted, trying to help
Hungarian fellows, belonged here. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Gotthard





--
personal email,          mailto:
Hungarian-American list, mailto:
WWW,                       http://www.glue.umd.edu/~gotthard

In article >, Robert
Hetzron > writes:
>One point about this: German WA:CHTER became bakter in Hungarian. Is
>there something about Austrian-German articulation of V that makes
>Hungarians interpret it as B? Szervusz must still be a borrowing directly
>from Latin, though the custom of using this specific word and the forms
>SZERBUSZ, SZEVASZ may be German. Otherwise, Hungarian has no problem with
>-RV- sequences (A'RVA, etc.).  The etymological dictionary gives a lot of
Not unlike the >references in Nyelvo"r for the different shapes. Since our
library here
>does not have it, I cannot look them up.        Greetings,      R




Not unlike, perhaps, the transformation of the German "Wien" into
"Becs"?
- Tomek Jankowski

Louis Elteto ) wrote:

: This word is pronounced variously, in forms that differ (by dialect
: perhaps, more likely slang and/or idiolect: szervusz, szerbusz, szerusz,
: szevasz, and according to Robert Hetzron (as well as the Hungarian
: etymological dictionary) szia(sz). The origin of the word is without
: question Latin "servus", with a "v".

I have a hard time beliving that "szia" and "szerbusz" are different ways
of saying the same thing.  "Szia", I would venture to say, is slang, or
coloquialism of the English expression "See you.."  I agree, however,
that the v and the b are interchangeable according to regional
preference.
 --
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Charles Gal                                      University of Alberta

Is it possible that the word szerbusz is used to address babies in
Hungary since they have a hard time saying the letter "v"?
Peter

Now, here are two ideas completely out of context:
"Latinified Szerb" - Serbus
just as in the song:
Arra ment egy indianus,
es az egyik felkialt:
Glori-glori-Alleluja...

Szia seems to have been taken over from "See ya" just as Csao is from Ciao.
This is a recent fashion.  Szervusz, on the other hand, comes from the
Latin servus, and not from the Southern Slavs.  I hope it did not offend
anybody...that was not the intention.


On Fri, 26 May 1995, Peter I. Hidas wrote:

> Is it possible that the word szerbusz is used to address babies in
> Hungary since they have a hard time saying the letter "v"?
> Peter
>

Greetings from the Motherlode!  We have just finished a wonderful
meal--paprika chicken--prepared by our guest from Hungary.  Does anyone
want to talk Magyar tonight?  Richard and Eniko