Imre Imre Samu linguist, academician
(31st of October, 1917, Felsőőr (Burgenland, Austria) – 6th of November 1990, Budapest (Hungary)

About his life:

After having finished his university studies in the year of 1942 at the University of Science in Debrecen, on Hungarian-Latin faculty, until 1944 he worked together with Attila Szabó T. at the Transylvanian Research Institute in Kolozsvár (Romania). Soldier in World War II, then a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. Having returned from war, he worked for the pioneer movement (1948-1950). In 1950-51 teacher in Kartal (Hungary) at he primary school. Following this he worked as a scientific researcher at the MTA Research Institute for Linguistics, and was the director of it from 1970 until 1987.

Scientific activities:

The research of Hungarian dialects stood in the center of his activities. His first scientific works were about the dialects of his own native village of Felsőőr in Austria. Beside the researches of dialects he also dealt with the questions of the history of the Hungarian language.

He was a member of the Editorial Board of the periodicals Acta Linguistica and “Magyar Nyelv” (Hungarian Language). In his monograph “Szabács viadala” (The combat of Szabács) he has proofed the authenticity of the literary record with a precise linguistic analysis. He took part in the work of the 4th Conference of Native Language (1981). Together with László Deme he constructed the Map of Hungarian Dialects (I-IV., Budapest, 1968-1978).

Further works:

Place names of Felsőőr 1940. Debrecen

Technical vocabulary of the potter's craft in Kolozsvár 1942. Kolozsvár

The combat of Szabács 1958. Budapest

Where do they speak the nicest Hungarian language? 1963. In: Magyar Nyelvőr, 87:279 – 283. (Hungarian Language Guard, 87:279 – 283).

The dialect of Felsőőr 1971. Budapest

The system of modern Hungarian dialects 1971. Budapest

Dialect dictionary of Felsőőr 1973. Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó (Academy Publishing)

On some structural questions of our dialectical vocabulary 1981. Budapest

József Hermann – Samu Imre 1987. Language changes – language planning in Hungary. In: Magyar Tudomány 1987/7-8: 513 – 531. (Hungarian Science 1987/7-8: 513 – 531.)

Hungarian loan-words of Felsőőr, Kolozsvár

Acknowledgments:

Vanishing dialects? A conversation with Samu Imre. In: Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian Nation) 12th of November, 1983.

Jenő Kiss: The Hungarian dialectology following the language map. To the dialectology works of Samu Imre. In: Magyar Nyelv, 1987/4. (Hungarian Language, 1987/4.)

Loránd Benkő: A farewell to Samu Imre. In: Magyar Nyelv. 1991/2. (Hungarian Language. 1991/2.)

Lajos Lőrincze: A timber has fallen. On Samu Imre. In: Nyelvünk és Kultúránk, 1990/3-4. (Our language and culture, 1990/3-4.)

József Hermann: Samu Imre. Magyar Tudomány, 1991/4. (Hungarian Science, 1991/4.)

(Source: The electronic version of the Hungarian Encyclopedia of Biographies)