THE LINGUISTIC WORK OF JANOS FOLDI

Janos Foldi (1755-1801), a doctor by profession, was a prominent member of a great generation of Hungarian writers, poets and grammarians in the age of Enlightenment, fighting for the use of Hungarian in science and education. His main goal was to establish the Hungarian terminology of natural sciences. Preparing for that task, he wrote the first comprehensive grammar of Hungarian in Hungarian, thereby also creating the Hungarian terminology of linguistics. The paper summarizes the results and deficiencies of Foldi's grammar (including a study on Hungarian versification). Foldi was also the first to publish a Hungarian zoology, and a book on the principles of compiling the Hungarian terminology of botany. His terminological proposals are also discussed and evaluated.