„Nem jobb Ő is a Deákné vásznánál” : A Hungarian fiddler’s song before 1580

Ács, Pál (2000) „Nem jobb Ő is a Deákné vásznánál” : A Hungarian fiddler’s song before 1580. Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 45 (3-4). pp. 359-363. ISSN 1216-9803

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Abstract

There is probably only one idiomatic phrase in the proverb collection by János Baranyai Decsi that doubtless originates in contemporary everyday Hungarian language and the 16th century literary background of which can be clearly identified. The phrase “Nem jobb ő is a deákné vásznánál” (“Not a whit better than anybody else”) has always been popular since the 16th century. The funny, sarcastic poem (The cloth of the famous deákné, written before 1580) recounts the fatal marriage of a certain Máté deák – partly in the form of dialogue. This poem is one of the oldest Hungarian women mocking songs within the genre of wedding songs. It demonstrates all the characteristics of the old Hungarian trufa genre: it can be performed as a farce, the joke has its cream and it is based on mummery and pretence: it provides a parody of a well-known human type. It is possible that this trufa was a stock play of contemporary popular tricksters and jugglers. It mocked the wife of Máté deák who was “lazy to weave”.

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