Category:Bible--Hungarian tr. (text)

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Bible Translations into Hungarian

Overview

15th century

The first known translations have been made in all probability by Hungarian Hussite theologians between 1436-1439. Portions of this translation have survived in three 15th century codices. The Vienna Codex was copied around 1460, it contains the books of Ruth, Judith, Esther, Maccabees, Baruch, Daniel, and the Twelve. The Münnich Codex was copied in Tatros [Moldova] in 1466, it contains the four gospels. The Apor Codex was copied at the end of the 15th century, and contains part of the Book of Psalms.

A couple of 15-16th century codices preserved translations of certain parts of the OT and NT, made by Catholic theologians.

16th century

During the 16th century, protestant translators made efforts to translate into Hungarian parts of the Bible. Benedek Komjáti published the Epistles of Paul in Krakkau, 1533 (the first printed book in Hungarian language). Gábor Pesti's four Gospels was published in Vienna, 1536. The first complete NT in Hungarian language was published by János Sylvester, in 1541. István Bencédi Székely has translated the Book of Psalms, and published in Krakkau, 1548. Gáspár Heltai, the renowned Transsylvanian pastor and writer published a nearly complete translation in Kolozsvár/Clausenburg. In 1551 he published the Pentateuch, in 1552 the historical and poetic books, and in a separate volume the prophets, in 1661 the NT. Missing from his work are Chronicles, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah and Job. Péter Méliusz Juhász published Isaiah and the New Testament in 1567. Tamás Félegyházi published the NT in Debrecen, 1586. The first complete Hungarian translation of the Bible is the two-volume "Vizsolyi Biblia", the work of the Calvinist pastor Gáspár Károli. It was published in Vizsoly, 20th July, 1590, cp. Szent Biblia (1590 Károli), book.

17th century

The translation of Károli was revised already in the early 17th century, by his earlier collaborator, Albert Szenczi Molnár. He also made a metrical translation of the Psalms. From the Catholic side, the Jesuit György Káldi published the complete Bible in Vienna, 1626; see Szent Biblia (1626 Káldi), book. While Károli's work was based on the Hebrew and Greek originals, Káldi has translated the Latin Vulgate version. At the second part of the century, György Komáromi Csipkés revised again, comprehensively, the translation of Károli, this work, however, could not be published just in 1719.

Jewish translations

From the Hungarian Jewish side, Mór Ballagi translated the Torah, and published it with notes in Buda, 1840. József Mannheim published the Psalms ("for the use of congregations and schools") in Vienna, 1868. The first complete Jewish translation into Hungarian was published between 1898-1907 under the auspices of the Izraelita Magyar Irodalmi Társulat (Israelite Hungarian Literary Society), in four volumes.

Bibliography

• György Benyik: Ungarische Bibelübersetzungen, Szeged: JATEPress 1997.

• György Benyik: "Hungarian Bible Translations", in: Folia Theologica 9 (1998) 213-244.

External links

[wiki.en]