Matthias Bel
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Matthias Bel | |
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Lutheran priest, writer, historian, geographer, alchemist | |
Spouse | Susanna Hermann |
Matthias Bel or Matthias Bél (German: Matthias Bel;
Origin, life
Matthias Bel was born in Ocsova, Kingdom of Hungary (now Očová, Slovakia)[2] to Matthias (Matej) Bel Funtík[3] or Bel-Funtík,[4] a Slovak wealthy peasant[5] and butcher.[3][6] Little is known about his mother Elisabeth born Czesnek (Hungarian: Erzsébet Cseszneky, Slovak: Alžbeta Česneková) except she was very religious.[b]
He described himself as "lingua Slavus, natione Hungarus, eruditione Germanus" ("by language a Slav/Slovak,[c] by nation a Hungarian, by erudition a German").[7][8][9] In 1710, he married an ethnic German woman from Hungary, Susanna Hermann, and the couple had eight children together.
Bel attended schools in Losonc (now
Bel spoke Slovak, Hungarian, and German, and his works had been published mostly in Latin, which were steeped in the Hungarian national consciousness as had been manifested for instance in his writing, the Notitia Hungariae novae historico geographica, which is an extolment of the Hungarian history, influenced by his deep affection for the Hungarian language.[12][13]
Bel died on 29 August 1749. He was buried in Pressburg, the cemetery has now disappeared.
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Lutheranism |
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Work
Religious literature
Bel was a translator, editor, publisher and distributor of several religious works. His long-term goal was to publish the Bible in a language intelligible to the community he served (that is,
He translated and published several influencing works like The Compendium of Christian Revelation (Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, Hungarian translation), True Christianity (Johann Arndt, Czech translation supposed mainly for Slovaks), The Garden of Paradise (Johann Arndt, Hungarian and Czech translations).[14]
Pedagogy
As a teacher Bel wrote books, introduced natural science lessons, and emphasized the importance of using visual aid and experimental education. His methods spread and had a modernizing effect on the education system of the entirety of Hungary.
Linguistics
As a philologist, Bel was the first to study the
One of his notable writings is the Institutiones linguae Germanicae (Rules of the German grammar) written in
In the introduction of Grammatica Slavico–Bohemica by Pavel Doležal, he commends biblical Czech as a language that positively influences cultivation of Slovak[19]
History and geography
A pioneer of collaborative research in the history of the Kingdom of Hungary, Bel undertook a comprehensive historical and geographic examination of the territory in his well-known
Honours and awards
Bel's works met with recognition and respect beyond the Kingdom: he was a member of a number of learned societies abroad (e.g., Prussian Royal Academy (Berlin), Royal Society of London,[20] Societas eruditorum incognitorum in terris Austriacis (Olomouc), Jena, Saint Petersburg). He was elevated to noble rank by Charles VI of Austria, and received a golden medallion with his (Bel's) own portrait from Pope Clement XII.
Legacy
Recently Hungarian historians and philologists began to publish a critical edition of the county descriptions remained in manuscripts, based on the results of a comprehensive research made by the Hungarian historian Gergely Tóth. Calculating the length of the descriptions, they find it achievable to publish all the descriptions left in manuscript in 10 volumes. The first volume, which contains the descriptions of Árva and Trencsén counties, has already been published.
Matej Bel University (Univerzita Mateja Bela) in Banská Bystrica is named after him, as well as elementary schools in Očová (Základná škola s materskou školou Mateja Bela Funtíka) and in Šamorín (Základná škola Mateja Bela). Encyclopaedia Beliana is also named in his honor.
Publications
- Forma sacrorum verborum (Halle, 1707)
- Compendium (1713)
- Invitatio ad symbola conferenda dum historia linguae hungaricae libri II...edere parat... (Berolini, 1713)
- Grammatica Latina (Leutschoviae, 1717)
- Rhetorices veteris et novae praecepta (Lipsiae, 1717)
- Institutiones linguac germanicae et slavicae in Hungaria ortu (Leutschoviae, 1718)
- De vetera literatura hunnoscythica exercitatio (Lipsiae, 1718)
- Christophori Cellarii latinitatis probatae et exercitae liber memorialis naturali ordine dispositus (Norimbergae, 1719)
- Flos medicinae scholae Salernitanae (Posonii, 1721)
- Hungariae antiquae et novae prodromus (Norinbergae, 1723)
- Preces christianae (Lipsiae, 1728)
- Die Gatt suchende Seele (1729)
- Der ungarische Sprachmeister. (Pressburg, 1729)
- Adparatus ad historiam Hungariae. Decades II. (Posonii, 1735–46)
- Notitia Hungariae novae historico-geographica. Partis I. Tom. I–IV. Partis II. Tom. V. Viennae, (1735–42)
- Compendium Hungariae geographicum (Posonii, 1753)
- Kurze und zuverlässige Nachricht von dem Zustande der protestantischen Kirche in Ungarn
- Compendiolum regnorum Slavoniae, Croatiae, Dalmatiae, Gallicae et Lodomeriae. Posonii et Cassoviae (1777)
- Miscellanea Berolinensia (1734)
Notes
- ^ Bel mentioned two, resp. three different dates of his birth (the third indirectly). The date of birth was not recorded to the mid-19th century, but only the date of baptism, which usually took place in a day or two later.[1]
- House of Cseszneky) has been prevailing in the Hungarian historiography from the end the 18th century. Tibenský points out that such hypothesis is not substantiated by any contemporary documents. The opinions of Slovak authors are more diverse. According to Jóna, she was maybe (asi) Hungarian and a lower nobleman. Horváth suggests that she was most likely a commoner somewhere from the Nógrád County, from where Slovak students with the name "Czesnek" are also reliably documented. According to Tibenský, it is most likely that she was a local commoner somewhere from the Vígľaš landlordship since Očovians were mostly serfs with no right to move and they close marriages between themselves or with women from the region.
- ^ The Latin term Slavus is polysemantic and can be translated as a Slovak or as a Slav depending on the context. The quote is from Doležal's Grammatica Slavico-Bohemica - an integrated Slovak-Czech Grammar in which the cultural Slovak language (cultiorum Slavorum in Hungaria) is compared to Czech (dialectum Bohemorum).
- ^ Bel is sometimes incorrectly mentioned an editor or even a publisher of the newspaper. The newspaper was published by Jean Paul Royer, the editors were F. W. Beer and M. Marth.[10]
- ^ Bel's Czech was non-intentionally Slovakized. He also felt that his Czech is not good enough for the translation, so he asked a Slovak linguist Daniel Krman to Bohemize his texts. Regardless of his intention to write in Czech, he introduced Slovakisms also to his Latin-German-Hungarian-Czech dictionary (svokor, žiak, etc).
References
- ^ Horváth 1987, p. 47.
- ISBN 9783484841079.
- ^ a b "Pamätná izba Mateja Bela" (in Slovak). Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
- ^ Lorad, E. (1957). Umelecko-historické pamätné kostoly na Slovensku (in Czech). Spolok sv. Vojtecha.
- ^ Šišulák, Stanislav (2007). "Matej Bel – slovenský polyhistor" [Matej Bel - Slovak polymath] (in Slovak). quark.sk. Archived from the original on February 16, 2011.
- ISBN 9783934686076.
- ISBN 3-927096-00-8.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 0-19-928144-0.
- ^ Metzl, Andreas. "Z histórie evanjelických karpatských Nemcov" (PDF). Evanjelická bohoslovecká fakulta. Evanjelická bohoslovecká fakulta Univerzity Komenského v Bratislave. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
- ^ Tibenský 1984, p. 44.
- ^ "Bratislava History | BratislavaGuide.com". www.bratislavaguide.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Petro, Peter (1995). A History of Slovak Literature. Montréal: McGill-Queen's Press.
- ^ CABADAJ, Peter. Matej Bel. Knižnica (Martin: Slovenská národná knižnica), 2005, roč. 6, čís. 10, s. 51-54. Dostupné online [cit. 2017-01-26]. ISSN 1335-7026.
- ^ a b c Kollárová 2003.
- ^ Piaček, Jozef; Kravčík, Miloš (1999). "Bibličtina" [Biblical language]. FILIT: Open Philosophical Encyclopedia Version 3.0 (in Slovak). Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ISBN 80-224-0806-9.
- ^ ISBN 963-05-1641-1.
- Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1889). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Cambridge University Pressfor the Royal Asiatic Society. p. 607. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
- ^ CABADAJ, Peter. Matej Bel. Knižnica Martin: Slovenská národná knižnica), 2005, roč. 6, čís. 10, s. 51-54. Dostupné online [cit. 2017-01-26]. ISSN 1335-7026.
- ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved December 12, 2010.[permanent dead link]
Bibliography
- Tibenský, Ján (1984). Matej Bel, život a dielo (in Slovak). Bratislava: Osvetový ústav.
- Horváth, Pavol (1987). "Pôvod Mateja Bela". In Tibenský, Ján (ed.). Matej Bel. Doba život dielo (in Slovak). Bratislava: Veda vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied.
- Kollárová, Ivona (2003). "Matej Bel - vydavateľ náboženskej literatúry". Historický časopis (in Slovak) (2). Bratislava: Slovak Accadeic Press. ISSN 0018-2575.
External links
- Bel, Matthias (Bél Mátyás): Notitia Hungariae novae historico-geographica... Comitatuum ineditorum Tomus II. in quo continentur... Comitatus Soproniensis, Castriferrei, Szaladiensis et Veszprimiensis. Ed. Gregorius Tóth. Textum recensuerunt notisque instruxerunt: Bernadett Benei (et al.) Budapestini, 2012. (Prefaces, samples from the text edition) (pdf)
- Matthias Bel: Notitia Hungariae novae historico geographica... Comitatuum ineditorum tomus primus, in quo continentur... Comitatus Arvensis et Trentsiniensis. Edd. Gregorius Tóth, Ladislaus Glück, Zoltanus Gőzsy. Budapestini, 2011. (The introduction in Hungarian and in English can be read on this link)
- BME Irányítástechnika és Informatika Tanszék (in Hungarian)
- Jószerencsét! (in Hungarian)
- Magyar Protestáns Panteon (in Hungarian)
- Catalogus manuscriptorum Matthiae Bél, quae in bibliotheca Lycei Evangelici Posoniensis asservantur
- Tóth, Gergely: Discipuli Posonienses Matthiae Belii. Lymbus 2007. 179–208.