Antal Reguly

Antal Reguly (1819-1858) Hungarian ethnographer, linguist, folklorist, pioneer of research on Finno-Ugric peoples. He was the first Hungarian who used the photography in his ethnographic researc. He has done invaluable work in the study of Ob-Ugric culture.

Early Life:

He born in Zirc in 1819. Under the careful guidance of his father, he started to attracted to the Hungarian history very early and the story of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma's life had a huge influence on him. We can see the early manifestation of his interest in geography and ethnography too in the fact that he started to work an a booklet about the counties of Hungary, their natural environment and historical sights. Between 1828 and 1833, Antal Reguly attended the grammar school of the Cistercian order in Székesfehérvár, and completed his sixth grade in Nagyszombat (Trnava). After that, he studied philosophy at the academy of Győr. During his years in University started to become more and more interested in travelling. Among his teachers, Bonifác Maar, a history teacher at the Academy of Győr, played the most important role in the development of Reguly's career. Reguly kept in touch with him even after leaving school. Bonifác Maar was the first to inform Hungarian scientific life about Reguly's journey in Western and Northern Europe, and his scientific research plans. In the July of 1839 having completed a law course in Pest and set out to see the world.

He wanted to spend about 4 months exploring upper Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, but with the secret plan of seeing Scandinavia since he was interested in Scandinavian mitology. His journey via Vienna and Prague led him through Saxony, Prussia, the island of Rügen and Rostok to Hamburg . Here he finally got close to the North Sea. He boarded a steamboat in Kiel and arrived to Copenhagen and from there to Stockholm.

However, in Stockholm, he had a life-changing experience: he met with Arvidsson, a Finnish scholar living in exile in the Royal Library. He was the one who drew Reguly's attention to the fact of Finno-Ugric kinship.

Reguly immediately began to study these informations: he read János Sajnovics's "Demonstratio" ( Demonstratio Idioma Ungarorum et Lapponum idem esse, in this book Sajnovics proved the relationship between the Hungarian and Sámi languages ) and Sámuel Gyarmathi's "Affinitas". Encouraged by Arvidson, he decided to go to Finland instead of returning home.

Reguly entered to Finnish lands on the November of 1839. Finnish scientific life welcomed him with great love and trust. Reguly was enthusiastic and diligent on the path he had set for himself: first he learned Swedish and Finnish then Sámi and Estonian. Meanwhile he studied the linguistic, ethnographic, geographical, anthropological and historical literature about Finno Ugrians. During his travels in Finland, he became acquainted with Finnish folk poetry, and during his travels in Lapland he also collected ethnographic objects. He also went to Karelia, to the birthplace of the Kalevala, and even collected folklore among the vots. He kept a diary of his observations.

Comparing the Baltic-Finnish languages with the Hungarian ones, he came to the conclusion that he should look for the closest kinship of our language not there, but among the Eastern Finno-Ugric languages, mostly among the Ob Ugrians.

In St. Petersburg, the young Reguly started to study Mari, Mordvinian (Erzya and Moksha), and Komi languages and trained himself in many scientific disciplines.

 On December 4, 1843, he crossed the Urals and forzen Ob river he travelled all over in Yugria. With the help of his two companions, Jurkina and Baktyar, he soon became proficient in the language.

In addition to dictionary and grammar data, he also recorded folklore texts. The content of the heroic songs sheds light on previously unsuspecting details of Ob-Ugric history. Based on the bear songs, the bear cult was revealed to him.  He spent the long winter in Beryozov studying the Khanty language and culture. He works at an exaggerated pace, while he lacks a lot and suffers from diseases. On March 3, 1845, he returned to Kazan.

Here awaited a new assignment from the Academy: an invitation to study the Mordvin, Mari (Cheremis) and Chuvash languages. At this time he was ill. He returned to St. Petersburg in the summer of 1846 with rich linguistic material collected among the peoples of the Volga region and orderly notes.

When he returned to St. Petersburg, as soon as his deteriorating health allowed, he set out to make the first detailed map of the northern half of the Urals. In three years approx. It covered 385,000 km2, covering 30,000 kilometers. He drew the boundaries of his abyss with the help of earlier maps depicting the surrounding areas. However, in addition to administrative registers, he could only rely on his own data for detailed elaboration: on the one hand, his experience, and on the other hand, information gathered from the local population. An important feature of the map is that it contains not only the geographical objects, but also their names and certain ethnographic features of the region, such as the boundaries of animal husbandry and farming.

It was completed in January 1847 at the request of the Russian Geographical Society. He did not write any text for the map; he was able to find out the explanations in his detailed letter to Köppen and then published.He presented his map at the lectures of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on June 2 and June 30, 1856, respectively.

After completing his work, he first traveled to a health resort in Germany in February 1847 and did not return home until September. At the meeting of the academy, Ferenc Toldy praised the importance of the research trip, and the ethnographic objects collected by Reguly were also presented. This was the first ethnographic exhibition in Hungary.

Reguly himself was already in Berlin at the time to start processing his material, but due to his health condition he was forced to receive medical treatment again. Meanwhile, in June 1848, he was appointed the first guard of the Pest University Library. He was able to occupy his office in early 1850 and held it until his death.

After completing his work, he first traveled to a health resort in Germany in February 1847 and did not return home until September. At the meeting of the academy, Ferenc Toldy praised the importance of the research trip, and the ethnographic objects collected by Reguly were also presented. This was the first ethnographic exhibition in Hungary.

Reguly himself was already in Berlin at the time to start processing his material, but due to his health condition he was forced to receive medical treatment again. Meanwhile, in June 1848, he was appointed the first guard of the Pest University Library. He was able to occupy his office in early 1850 and held it until his death.