Magyarab

Ethnic group
group=Magyarab


poptime=6,000 - 7,000
popplace=flag|Egypt:
50-60 000 [ [http://www.blikk.hu/cikk.php?cikk=38099 Magyar törzs él Afrika szívében] , Blikk, 2006. május 26.]
flag|Sudan:
?
|langs=Egyptian Arabic
rels=Islam
related=Magyars, Nubians, Egyptians

The Magyarab are a people living along the Nile River in Egypt and Sudan. They are of Hungarian ancestry, probably dating back to the late 16th century.

According to legend, Christian Hungarians who had only recently been brought under the control of the Ottoman Empire formed a part of the Ottoman army that was fighting in southern Egypt. Evidently, a portion or the entirety of the fighting unit remained there and intermarried with the local Nubian women.

They were not discovered by Europeans until 1935, when László Almásy, himself a Magyar, and his co-worker, the German ingenieur Hansjoachim von der Esch, happened upon their tribe in the Nubian region. Representatives of the tribes had attempted to make contact with Hungarian officials, but were unable to do so because of the outbreak of World War II.

These people now have a Middle Eastern appearance due to the intermarriage with the local Nubian population and no longer speak the Hungarian language. Around 1930, however, von der Esch, who spent several weeks with the population of the Magyarab island at Wadi Halfa, put together a list of non-Arabic words used only on that island and which, according to him, were recognized by Almasy as similar to Hungarian words. [ Hansjoachim von der Esch, Weenak - die Karawane ruft (Brockhaus, Leipzig 1941) ]

Name

The name "Magyarab" is not a concatenation of the words "Magyar" and "Arab" as is commonly assumed. Instead, the name is a mix of "Magyar" (ethnic group of Hungary) and "Ab" which in Nubian simply means "tribe." So Magyarab combined translates to "Tribe of the Magyars." In fact, to the Magyarab people, their Hungarian identity specifically sets them apart from the surrounding Arabs.

Proverbs about the Magyarab

The people of various ethnicities neighbouring the Magyarab have proverbs that tell us more about the historical Magyarab people. [hu icon [http://w3.datanet.hu/~demokrat/muh1-429.htm Magyarok a Nílus mentén] Hungarians by the Nile "The transcription is phonetic and based on Hungarian phonology. It is included in this way because the source article only offers them this way, without originals in Arabic alphabet or more common international transliteration."]

Ál-Mágyárí lá jiszálli fíl-meszgyid. - The Hungarian does not pray in the mosque.

Rá'sz el-mágyár zejj el-hágyár. - The Hungarian's head is as hard as a stone.

El-mágyárí jilbisz burnétá. - The Hungarian wears a hat. [The surrounding Muslim populations wear turbans, differentiating their headwear from the Magyarab.]

Notes and references

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050213015534/http://w3.datanet.hu/~demokrat/muh1-429.htm Article about the Magyarab] (Archive)

* [http://www.vilagvevo.radio.hu/adasok/08/magyarab.htm A magyarabok földjén]