The Settlement of
the Hungarian Slovenes
Since the
foundation of Hungary
in the 10th century, its territory was not exclusively populated by Hungarian
peoples. Germans lived in the west, the north and the east of the country, and Serbs
and Croatians in the south. The western part of Hungary
was also inhabited by Slovenes, and southern Transylvania by Romanians respectively. Most of the
minorities living in today's Hungary
settled in the 17th and 18th century in those regions of Hungary that
had been deserted in the years of Ottoman rule (1526-1686). During the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy (1867-1918), the kingdom of Hungary
was a multiethnic state (1910: 45.5% were of non-Hungarian origin). After the
First World War, the number of minorities in Hungary decreased to a great
extent, a development that continued after the Second World War. In the former
case due to the Peace Treaty of Trianon (1920) and in
the latter case as a consequence of relocations and resettlements and of
voluntary emigration. Together with the Slovaks the Hungarian Slovenes form the
aboriginal minorities who settled in the western Carpathian Basin
even before the Hungarians.
The origin of the
Slovenes and their language
The language of the Slavs belongs to the Indo-European family of languages.
Today's Slavs originate from the three Indo-European tribes of Slavs, Antes and
Veneti who spoke a common indigenous Slavic language
in the early Middle Ages. Their original homeland,
which lied primarily around the area of the river Vistula,
extended from the Carpathians northwards and from the Baltic
Sea southwards. The vast majority of the South
Slavs (Croatians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians)
settled the Balkans during the 6th and 7th century. Around 550 BC, the
forefathers of the Slovenes immigrated to the area, in which the Slovene people lives in Slovenia and in the neighbouring
regions even today. After the land seizure by the Hungarians, the Slovenes
living in between the two rivers Rába and Mur were isolated from the
majority of the rest of the Slovenes. The Hungarians who had settled in the Carpathian Basin learnt from the Slavs living in
that area, inter alia also from the Slovenes, how to
cultivate their land. Furthermore, the Hungarians absorbed about 500
Slavic/Slovene words into the Hungarian language that were hitherto unknown to
them.
The
Slovene literary language created in the 16th century emerged from four out of
totally eight dialects. The Italian and Hungarian Slovenes living in the periphery
of the Slovene speech area, however, were not affected by this development.
Their language remained the same as in the 16th century. After Trianon (1920), the language development of the Slovenes
living in the Szentgotthárd region (West Hungary) continued decelerating. The Hungarian
language had a significant influence on the vocabulary and grammar of the
Slovenes from the Rába Region. The Hungarian
Slovenes refer to their language as “slovenski” and to their identity, which
they define by their language, as “Sloven, Slovenci, Slovenge”. Still today, the older
generation uses the “Dual”, a grammatical feature which is typical
for the indigenous Slavic language. It is characterised by nouns and verbs
having specific dual number forms in addition to the common singular and plural
forms. Most modern Indo-European languages do not use the Dual anymore (except
for Slovenian and Sorbian). The people of the Sorbs living in the region of the
former GDR, however, should not be equated with the people of the Slovenes
living in Hungary.
What they share is their common belonging to the Slavic ethnic group. In
Hungarian technical literature the Slovenes are often called “vendek”. The term “vend”
is of German origin (Wends/Winds) and was used to name the Slavs living in the
German language area. Prior to the settlement of the Slavs, the region between Rába and Mur, and within
the territories of Vas and Zala County
respectively, was in the possession of the German-speaking Franks. The Slovenes
who later settled the region once owned by the Franks were thus called
“vend” (Wends/Winds), “vendus-totók”
(Windish-Slovenes/Slovaks), “vendszlovének” (Wend-/Windish
Slovenes). The region these Slovenes inhabited was accordingly named “vendvidék” (region of the Wends/Winds),
a term that does not have a pejorative meaning.
Settlement and
Christianisation
The
ancestors of the Slovenes in Vas County (in the region between the rivers Rába and Drava)
settled together with the Avars in the second half of
the 6th century. In the 8th century this region came under the domination of
the Franks who expelled the Avars. Amongst others
Slovenes coming from Carantania took their place and
settled there in the 9th century. In the second half of the 9th century, the
inhabitants of this area were subjects of the Subpannonian
Slavic princes Pribina (847-861) and Kocel (861-874). In the 8th century, the Salzburg bishops of Károly
Nagy began christianising
the Slovenes living in the Rába Region. During
the reign of Pribina and Kocel
in the 9th century Christianisation was further intensified. In the year 869,
for instance, Pope Hadrian II granted the request of Subpannonian
ruler Kocel and appointed the apostle of the Slavs,
Method, archbishop of the Pannonian
Slavs. The Salzburg
bishops who had been sent for by Pribina for proselytism, proclaimed Christianity in Slovenian,
whereupon many common people converted to the Catholic faith. In winter time
the son of Pribina, Kocel,
used to go hunting within the settlement area of the Slovenes. Among the
hunters there were many pagans who had more than just one wife and were thus
not willing to convert to Christianity. Nevertheless, Kocel
tried his best to proclaim Christian doctrine to them. However, since there was
a lack of believers, carpenters and money, the first Catholic churches were
small and made of wood. As a conclusion, the Slovenes from the Rába Region were not converted to Catholicism in a
single campaign by just one missionary but in multiple stages actuated by
several different clergymen.
Translated from
German into English: Joël
Gerber
The German text is based on: Mukics Mária, „A Magyarországi
Szlovének“, Press Publica, 2003.