# Kutja Lanzos teremtete



## Quentin Dollinger

This is the end of a letter, written by a Hungarian baron, in 1822. Thanks to anyone who can put the last three words in context or give an English translation.

There is only time to say that my good angelic Duchess is quite alright and that I am not ending this letter but take another piece of paper to continue, therefore nothing else but godspeed, adieu, addio, farewell.
Kutja Lanzos teremtete.


----------



## Zsuzsu

Hi Quentin Dollinger,

This is quite a difficult task because none of the three words exist in Hungarian (at least in present-day Hungarian). Are you sure you didn't misspell them? And who is the author of the letter? Can you write the whole passage in Hungarian where these three words appear? (I have some ideas but am not sure about them...)


----------



## Zsanna

Nono, Zsuzsu! 
There is "kútja" (= his/her/its well -> the hole with water in)! 
But of course it is very likely that it is not about anybody's well at all.

If anything, the first two words bring the expression "láncos kutya" (= dog with a chain) into mind but with a weird spelling.
(This expression was used specially about Tito the Yugoslavian head of state from around the 1950s but I've seen the same term in a short story by Jókai who wrote most of his works roughly between 1848 - 1898.)

"Teremtete" could be "teremtése" (= creation of) or - less likely - "temetése" (= burial of) but no "normal" meaning comes into mind in any case.


----------



## Quentin Dollinger

Here is the text as requested. The transcript was done by a professor in Europe, I do not have the original but I can get a scan of the original if necessary. I am pretty confident this is a correct transcript. Author of the letter is Baron von Zach, the famous astronomer, born in Pest.

Dies ist vor ungefehr drey Wochen geschehen, und seit dieser Zeit habe ich nichts wieder von dem Gespenst gehört, aber so bester Freund vertreibt man alle böse Geister, welche Gott den Herrn nicht loben. Ich hätte Ihnen noch viel von diesen Gespenst zu erzählen, aber dreymal werde ich gemahnt die Briefe auf die Post zu schiken. Ich habe nur noch so viel Zeit zu sagen, dass meine gute, englische Herzogin sich ganz passable befindet, und dass ich diesen Brief nicht endige, nur ein anderes Blatt zur Hand nehme um fortzufahren, daher nichts weiter als Gott befohlen, Adieu, Addio, Farewell. Kutja Lanzos teremtete.
Ihr ganz ergebener, in Liebes und Leibes Hitze schwitzender und brattender Freund und Diener
                                                                                    Zach


----------



## Zsanna

I cannot tell from the German the style of the letter (e.g. friendly?/can it bear humour?) but the longer I stare at it, the more it seems to me that the expression could be a joky one ( "kutya...? ... teremtette!" - which is an exclamation of surprise or some other kind of an emotion).

I couldn't find out from my quick search to what extent he was Hungarian and it would be certainly difficult to know how much Hungarian he mastered after so many years away from Hungary (even if he spoke the language perfectly to start with) but from these three words I'd say: not much. 
I certainly don't think these words are very likely to change the overall meaning of the text.
But we'll se what others can come up with.


----------



## Quentin Dollinger

Thanks for the analysis. The professor who gave me this said teremtete was an oath of anger, but that is all I know about it. The first two words looked to me like a proper name (maybe an historical/mythic figure), but this is just conjecture.


----------



## Zsanna

Yes, it could express anger (or annoyance because it is not a strong expression) as well but only with another word before it (which - in this case - can only be "kutya"). 
"Teremtette" (note the double "t") in itself is not a swearing expression and means simply "created" (a Past Participle).
The capitals do suggest a proper name but the K.L. mentioned is surely not a "proper" proper name.

It is strange that in "Kutja (= noun) Lanzos ( = adjective)" (I am fairly sure now that it meant to be "láncos kutya") the normal word order is turned round - just another sign that the author did not really master Hungarian.

Also, you'd say about _somebody_ you despize that he is a "láncos kutya", and you'd say about _something_ annoying " kutya teremtette" but clearly the two are mixed together here which means that you cannot know whether he is annoyed about somebody or something (let alone why). 

Otherwise... the whole thing could be a part of a joke between the author and the person he addressed the letter to, in which case they are the only ones to know what the joke really was about.


----------



## Quentin Dollinger

Thanks very much for this. Too bad the letters to Zach have all been lost, as it may have been a reference to something in a letter he had received. Anyway, this helps shed some light on the mystery.


----------



## Zsuzsu

Hi there,

I've googled "kutya láncos teremtette" (present-day spelling of "kutja lanzos teremtete) and found an MA thesis (in Hungarian) about old Hungarian swearings, which says that this one was included in a collection of German-Hungarian sayings (published in 1937 - a hundred years later than your letter was dated, but it seems that "kutya láncos teremtette" still existed at that time. Although the collection is not for swearings but for sayings and aphorisms, the author of the thesis says that several curse words were included as well.).
I do not try to translate it because I don't think I could come up with anything better than what Zsanna produced...


----------



## Quentin Dollinger

Excellent. I followed the link to the thesis, but I don't see a title, date or author of the thesis. If you have that please let me know and I'll use it as a reference in my work.


----------



## Zsuzsu

Again, google helped me:
_Lekner, Zsuzsa: _A káromkodás mint frazeológiai egység. (Swearing as a phraseological unit)(MA thesis). Debrecen, 1999.
The translation is mine - it does not appear in English anywhere.


----------



## Zsanna

Zsuzsu, you've found a very interesting thing there, thanks! 
I would have never thought that _láncos_ was used to give emphasis to swearing. 
(I can't imagine it had a long life, either, but it is surprising that it had even that much... )


----------



## Quentin Dollinger

Thanks ZsuZsu. I am assuming Lekner is the surname. I seem to remember from my brief time in Budapest that surnames are given first, unlike English usage. If I'm wrong let me know, otherwise I will give the ref as Lekner (1999).

Your efforts on this went far beyond what I expected, but this is exactly what I needed! Much appreciated.


----------



## Zsuzsu

Hi Quentin,

Yes, Lekner is her surname - I tried to indicate it with the comma after it.
I am happy I was able to help!


----------

