Szakály surname

[lunafate]

Thanks for all the links/information.

I never met my great grandfather, but my grandfather spoke his language. I'll have to check with my dad to confirm if it was Russian (which I believe it was) or one of the other languages in the region.

I do know that my g-gfather told everyone that his home village 'changed hands' several times and that each time it happened they would have to learn a new language. I'm trying to find a more in-depth history of the area (written in English..lol) so I can try and come up with a time line.

[Hannia]

Tamara.

???

Sokol means HAWK in Ukrainian. I think Szakaly means the same thing in Hungarian.

[lunafate]

We were always told it meant Falcon..lol

Yes- this is my puzzle. A Hungarian name, a Russian spoken language, an Orthodox Catholic baptism, and Lemko family traditions. I feel like Alice in the rabbit hole- every time I find another piece to the puzzle, it gets even more confusing! LOL

[Hannia]

Tamara, it makes sense. This region was frequently referred to as No Man's Land.

GGrandfather Wasyl was Lemko. This was/ is a micro-ethnic group. He spoke Rusyn/Ruthene (pronounced Rue-seen), not Russian. GGrandfather would have considered himself a Rusniak, not a Russian. He was Greek Catholic, so he was baptised in the old Birth of the Holy Mother of God Church . The Lemko were forced by the Poles to convert from Christian Orthodoxy to Greek Catholicism in the 16th century. Since at the time he was emigrating, the region was a part of the Kingdom of Hungary (official language Hungarian) > Austro-Hungarian Empire, his official Hungarian name was Laszlo Szakaly. The topper was that the Kingdom of Hungary/Austro-Hungarian Empire was technically a dual monarchy.

PS> FALCON-HAWK. The key is when you start looking for metrykal records you will be looking for his Slavic name. His civil records would employ the Hungarian name. Your GGrandfather was no fool. He completely understood the advantage of having two names, although the same name.

[Hannia]

Following link should clarify history and provide you w/a better perspective.

Kingdom of Hungary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[lunafate]

Hmm. Very interesting information. One thing that is puzzling me is how the family had land. Every family member is very specific in describing the land, explaining that it was passed down generation to generation, and telling of how they made charcoal in a traditional earth kiln out of wood harvested from their land.

The process they described was very detailed and matches the historical method of manufacturing charcoal perfectly. Family lore says they sold it to the churches and villages in the surrounding area.

I just spoke to mom on the phone, who told me that my Grandma Sokol had early years primer books from when she was a child. Two of mom's coworkers looked at the books, one of whom is from the Ukraine, the other is from Moscow. Both said that they were quite confused by the books, as each book included several languages - Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian and High Russian (I'm assuming this is a more formal variant?).

I'm going to have a friend look into the LDS films for me- I am having a lot of trouble understanding what I'm looking at due to a language barrier. Perhaps its time for me to learn a couple new languages!

[Hannia]

Ruthenian was not taught in schools !!! The language of the master was taught in school. There was no bilingual education in these villages.
Online Encyclopedia and Dictionary - Ruthenian language

I just learned that Rusyn had two sub-categories, Carpatho-Rusyn and Pannonian Rusyn. GGRandfather spoke Carpatho-Rusyn, Ruthenian.
Online Encyclopedia and Dictionary - Carpatho-Rusyn (Ruthenian)