Page - 255 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

255The Expeditio litteraria ad Polum Arcticum thirteenth-century “Funeral Oration,” the earliest surviving document written in the Hungarian language, and—believing “Lappish” to be an archaic “dialect” or variety of Hungarian—expressed his hope that “your Columbus, your Ves- pucci” (i.e., Sajnovics, who had apparently mastered Sámi) would be able to read, pronounce, and understand it impeccably.146 In December 1770—only eight months after the book appeared, and four months after Hell and Sajno- vics arrived back in Vienna—Kollár published a review of it in the second issue of a brand new Viennese journal dedicated to “sciences, arts, and commerce.”147 The review is essentially positive. The only criticism concerns the origin of a few words, Hungarian according to Sajnovics but Slavic according to the re- viewer (who was correct on this point).148 Apart from this, Kollár commended the whole enterprise—mentioning the invitation to Hell, characterized re- markably as another “born Hungarian” (gebohrnen Ungar)—as well as the sound methodology and the convincing findings. Especially noteworthy are a few sarcastic remarks, aimed at theories “destroyed” according to Kollár by Saj- novics’s successful “demonstration,” and pre-empting the likely opposition against it. “Our learned author should not be looked for among the ranks of those who, even a short time ago, presumed to find the Hungarian nation and language through a laughable effort in the Sinai peninsula,”149 Kollár writes, referring to the old tradition of deriving Hungarian from Hebrew (also explic- itly rejected in the Demonstratio). Before concluding the review by “publicly thanking the learned father Sajnovics for the excellent present brought along from the distant north,” Kollár describes the “undoubtedly very great” benefits of the book as follows: Only from now on can the Hungarians, the Lapps, the Finns, and others become more exactly familiar with themselves and their Scythian origin: only from now on can learned men acknowledge the difference between the Scythian and the Turkish language. Hungarians may have the intention to prevent in every way” the republication of the Demonstratio, because they “do not want to believe that they have relatives in Lapland.” The letter was published; see István Salánki, “Levél Sajnovicsról,” Magyar Nyelv 60 (1964): 250–52. 146 Kollár to Pray on June 12, 1770, in Soós, Kollár levelezése, 207. 147 [Adam František Kollár], “Joannis Sajnovics S.J. Ungari Tordasiensis & c. Demonstratio idi­ oma Ungarorum et Laponum idem esse,” Realzeitung (December 1770): 18–23. Kollár is identified as the anonymous author of the review, and the whole of the text is included with commentaries in Zoltán Éder, “Sajnovics Demonstratiójának első recenziója: ‘Vien- nensis Recensitor opusculi mei Hafniae editi,’” Magyar Nyelv 110 (2014): 85−94. 148 The critique is rejected in the Trnava edition of the Demonstratio (1771), 72–73. 149 [Kollár], “Joannis Sajnovics S.J. Ungari Tordasiensis & c. Demonstratio,” 19.