Ellentétes vélemények Székesfehérvár nevéről

Abstract

Opposing Views Regarding the Name of Székesfehérvár The Hungarian name of Székesfehérvár is found even in our first charter that has survived in its original: it is recorded in feheruuaru form when indicating the road in the 1055 Founding Charter of Tihany. After this, for a long time there are only foreign language data for its name (Latin, German, Slavic) and it reappears in Hungarian only five hundred years later: in 1525 in Zekesfeyervár and in 1539 in Szękes feӱr vār form. Its earliest foreign names also simply use a name meaning ‘white castle’. We cannot provide a clear answer to the question as to when the town’s name was expanded with the Székes attribute and what this first constituent means. We may, however, state based on foreign-language data that by the end of the 15th century the form using the attribute was already present. In the 1940s it was a subject of scholarly debate how the székes attribute could be interpreted. Several people expressed their opinion in this debate which had two main trends: the attribute could be identified either with the derivative of the ‘soda ash’ or the ‘royal throne, practically royal seat’ words. In my paper I provide an overview of the argumentation of this dispute but at the same time I also complement it with data from historical dialectology and historical toponomastics made available since then. I discuss the historical and dialectal data of several Hungarian words with the szék form. Meanwhile, I also mention records of words meaning ‘capital’ in historical times. Using the toponym reconstruction approach and considering parallelisms with the Nándorfehérvár, Gyulafehérvár names with a similar formal structure and toponyms including the szék element, I also provide a name typological outlook. Although we have no data that could provide a clear explanation for the origin of the székes name element, we may establish degrees of probability between the possible explanations. Two of the seven possible solutions pre-sented and summarized in my paper appear to be more probable. One of the explanations is related to the special legal position of the set-tlement: the legislative days organized here and the institution of the parlia-ment that emerged from these may be behind the Székes- first constituent. Based on the other explanation that may be verified better with linguistic and historical data and which, I believe, is a stronger one from a chronological and settlement history perspective, it is a derivative of a word meaning szék ‘dense contexture, hedge’ and created from the sző verb with the -k deverbal nominal suffix. The defense system indicates the significance of the town at the time and this explanation does not contradict the cultural heritage related to Székesfehérvár either.