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Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/289

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PH I LOLOGISTS as philology, and the reason is not hard to see. The nation lives in its language, so it becomes a national task to iovestigate it scientifically, the more especially since the Hungarian tongue does .not belong to t he Indo- . Germanic group which is studied by the great Western nations. The greatest Hungarian ph ilologist, and perhaps the most original genius in the H ungarian scientific world, was NICHOLAS RÉVAY {I750- I8o7)1 who was aiso a poet of the classical school. He first applied the methods of cam­ paratíve philology to the problems of the H ongarian lan­ guage, at_ a time when those methods were hardly known to the seholars of other nations, His principal work was in Latin ; Elaboratiar Grammalica Hunga1 ica1 .I8o6. We must, however, regard PAUL HUNFALVY {I8Io-I89I}, the eminent student of ancient Hungarian history and philölogy, and JOSEPH BUDENZ (I8J6-I892)1 wh o was of German origin and a professor in the University of Budapest, as the real fo unders of system atic comparalive ph ilology in Hungary. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the study of philology receíved a great impetus fr om a crusade agaiost the extravagances of the langu age reform. Th e enthusiastic leader of this movement was GABRIEL SZARVAS (I8J2-I89S), a brilliant controversialist and etymological scholar. The works of two other distinguished philo­ logists, ALEXANDER KdRdSI CSOMA (1787- 1842) and ARMINIUS VÁMBÉRY (1832-) were for the most part first published in English . Csoma was one of the most remar kable and interesting personalities not merely in the Hungarian scientific world but in ali Europe. Schopenhauer used to call him " the excellent Csoma," for he was fond of him on account of his investigations into Buddhism. Csoma