Pest pataka

GYÖRGY DÉNES, Pest pataka // The place-name Pest pataka ‘stream of pešt’, whose first component aroused linguists’ interest long ago, had already occurred in a 1337 charter discussing the division of a possession to the north of the river Ipoly. The word pešt , originating in the Proto-Slavic language, had double meanings in Old Bulgarian: ‘kiln’ or ‘cave’. The Hungarians borrowed both meanings from subjugated ethnic groups speaking a Bulgarian-type Slavic dialect in the Carpathian Basin, where they lived together. The place of the stream mentioned in the charter has not been identified yet. Many scholars believe that the first component of the name carries the meaning ‘kiln, lime-kiln’. Having examined the text of the charter as well as the geographical-geological features of the environment the author of the present paper claims that the stream got its name from a cave or a rock-cavity found near the source of the rivulet. During his fieldwork he even managed to find the stream as well as the actual rock-cavity next to its spring. The name of the brook in the Middle Ages thus meant ‘stream of cavity’. The identification of the place of the stream also reinforces the opinion that, in the Ipoly district, ethnic groups speaking a Bulgarian type Southern Slavic dialect lived together with Hungarian conquerors after the late-9th century.