Sources and Tradition Images

The essays included in this volume, as well as the attention of their authors, focus on the basic role of sources in research. Another topic that complements this discourse on the use and interpretation of sources is the relation between the Latin and Hungarian language, their role in old Hungarian literature, and the Latin-Hungarian bilingualism that characterized the Hungarian culture until the end of the 18^th century. The relation between the two languages is always discussed when it comes to the topic of the flourishing Hungarian-language scientific book publishing of the 18^th century and the early period of language reform, but the antecedents date back to much older times. Thus the study of prints in Hungarian or published in Hungary can be just as interesting in this context as their counterpoint: the fact that at the turn of the 18^th and 19^th century, great part of the scientific literature in Hungary was still written in Latin.

The essays approach their topic from the existence or lack of sources, their handling and their use of methods, and the number of interpretations they could have had either in their own period or later. The variety of these interpretations is illustrated by the multiplicity of topics, and the change and variety of the tradition images exposed and analyzed.