Hungarian Rhapsody Trivia Quiz

Answer: Estonia

Like other landlocked countries, Hungary shares a border with quite a few sovereign nations. Austria and Slovenia lie to the west, Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Croatia and Serbia to the south. The Danube, Europe's second-longest river, flows through the capitals of Austria (Vienna) and Slovakia (Bratislava) before reaching Budapest, the Hungarian capital, then flowing east towards Belgrade (capital of Serbia) and its delta on the Black Sea.

Estonia, which is considered part of Northern Europe, lies much further north, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. Unlike Hungary (which was a member of the Eastern Bloc), Estonia was part of the Soviet Union, and became independent in August 1991. The Estonian language, like Finnish, is related to Hungarian, as all three languages belong to the Uralic family.

Answer: Stephen

Born around 975, Stephen I (István) was the only son of Géza I, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, and his wife Sarolt. Though his parents were both baptized, their faith was rather lukewarm. Stephen, however, grew up to become a devout Christian, and - once ascended to the throne at the end of 1000 - encouraged the spread of Christianity, often with heavy-handed methods (which was the norm at the time). Under his rule, the Church of Hungary developed into an independent entity, severing its ties to the archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire. Hungary also enjoyed a period of peace during Stephen's reign, and became a preferred route for both pilgrims and merchants traveling to Western Europe from the Holy Land or the Byzantine Empire.

Stephen I died in 1038, leaving no heirs, and was canonized in 1083 by Pope Gregory VII together with his son Emeric (Imre), also a devout Christian, who had died seven years earlier in a hunting accident. A huge Roman Catholic basilica dedicated to St Stephen was built in Budapest in the late 19th century; the venerated relic of the saint's intact right hand (Holy Dexter) has been housed there since 1950. The Crown of St Stephen, or Holy Crown of Hungary - very probably made after the saint's death - is a magnificent example of the skill of Byzantine goldsmiths. Held at Fort Knox (Kentucky, USA) for much of the Cold War, it was returned to Hungary in 1978, and is now on display in the Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest.

All the names listed are names of ruling Kings of Hungary. The saint celebrated on 26 December is another Stephen, known as Protomartyr (first Christian martyr); the feast day of St Stephen of Hungary is celebrated on 20 August, and is a public holiday also known as Foundation Day and Constitution Day.

Answer: steppe

Most of Hungary's territory is occupied by the Great Hungarian Plain, which is part of the larger Pannonian (or Carpathian) Basin, bounded by the Alps to the west, the Dinaric Alps to the south, and the Carpathians to the north and east. The puszta ("deserted place") covers a total area of about 50,000 km˛ (19,000 sq mi) - mostly located in eastern Hungary, around the River Tisza, but with smaller sections in the western part of the country, near the Austrian border. This temperate grassland biome is considered an exclave of the Eurasian Steppe, a vast ecoregion that stretches from eastern Austria almost to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

Much of the original territory of the puszta - consisting of arid, almost treeless grasslands with mainly sandy soil - underwent extensive drainage and irrigation works in the 19th century; most of what remains of it is now preserved as part of Hortobágy National Park, established in 1973. This territory - inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 - is Europe's largest semi-natural grassland.

The puszta is known for some traditional breeds of domestic animals, such as the long-haired Mangalitsa pigs (whose meat is extensively employed in Hungarian cuisine), the large Hungarian Grey cattle, with their long, lyre-shaped horns, the horned Racka sheep (shown in the photo), and the powerful, dark-coated Nonius horses, which are tended by mounted herdsmen called "csikós". The puszta is also home to over 300 species of birds.

Answer: Komondor

Occasionally referred to as "mop dog", the Komondor is a large-sized breed of livestock guardian dog that was brought to Hungary by the Cumans (also known as Polovtsy), a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia, in the 12th or 13th century. These dogs (whose name means "Cuman dog" in Hungarian) are believed to be an ancient breed, descended from Tibetan dogs. Modern Komondors, however, are the result of various crosses involving a number of other European sheepdog breeds.

The Komondor begins to develop its striking, corded coat (which is always white) when around one year old. A mature coat will take about two years to form: the softer undercoat and the coarser outer coat combine to form long tassels that have been compared to dreadlocks or the strings on a mop. The dog's coat provides protection against the elements and wild animals such as wolves and bears, as well as effective camouflage among a flock of sheep. Though very affectionate with its family, the Komondor is wary of strangers: a powerful dog with strong protective instincts, it needs to be properly trained and socialized from a young age to avoid becoming aggressive and potentially dangerous to others.

The Kuvasz (also a livestock guardian dog) and the Vizsla (a hunting dog) are also Hungarian breeds - as is the Puli, a small-medium sheepdog that also has a corded coat like the Komondor, though it is usually black. The Volpino, on the other hand, is an Italian spitz-type dog breed.

Answer: Attila the Hun

As odd as it may sound to our modern sensibilities, the conquerors of history have not always been viewed in a negative light. Though responsible for widespread death and destruction, in some present-day countries they are revered as cultural heroes. This is the case of Genghis Khan in Mongolia, Vlad Tepes ("the Impaler") in Romania, and Attila, ruler of the Huns, in Hungary.

Attila (a name interpreted as meaning "little father" in Gothic) ruled the Huns, a nomadic people that invaded much of Europe in the 5th century AD, earning a reputation for savagery that may have been somewhat exaggerated. Attila's rule over the Huns and the short-lived Hunnic Empire that spanned much of Central and Eastern Europe lasted from 434 to 453. Though so greatly feared that he earned the nickname of "Scourge of God" (and in the painting by Eugčne Delacroix in the photo he is depicted almost like one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), after his death he became a character of Germanic heroic legend, where he is often portrayed as a just and noble king.

In Hungary, however, the fearsome Hunnic ruler has become a figure of mythic proportions, as the Huns are believed to be to the ancestors of the Hungarian people. In medieval chronicles (as in the 13th-century "Gesta Hungarorum") Attila often appears in association with the legendary Turul bird, and is referred to as the forefather of Árpád, the founder of the eponymous dynasty of Hungarian rulers. A number of famous Hungarians (such as the early 20th-century poet Attila Jószef) are named after him, as well as streets and other public places.

Like Napoleon and Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great is viewed in a much more nuanced light than Attila, Genghis Khan, and Vlad Tepes (who was not really a conqueror on the scale of the other three, but still a notorious historical character).

Answer: Strudel

In Middle High German, "Strudel" meant "whirlpool" - a rather apt description of the appearance of this pastry, which is a staple of the cuisines of Central Europe (including that of South Tyrol, an autonomous province of northeastern Italy). Though its origins are still debated, it is believed to have been introduced to Europe by the Ottoman Empire. In fact, the paper-thin pastry wrapped around a sweet or savoury filling is very similar to the filo (phyllo) pastry widely used in parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The word "rétes" by which strudel is known in Hungary comes from "réteges", meaning "layered". The earliest recipe, dating from 1696, was for a milk-cream ("Millirahm") strudel; the pastry, however, became popular in the Austro-Hungarian Empire around the late 18th century. Besides the classic apple strudel ("almás rétes"), other common fillings in Hungary are sour cherries, poppy seeds, walnuts, and curd cheese. Rétes is offered by most pastry shops and cafés, and in Budapest there are shops dedicated exclusively to this delectable pastry.

A savoury, cabbage-based strudel ("káposztás rétes") is a typical dish of Hungarian Jewish cuisine. In colloquial Hebrew, the @ symbol is called "shtrudel", as its shape is reminiscent of the pastry's spiral form. The three wrong answers all refer to popular German baked goods: Lebkuchen is a kind of gingerbread, Berliner is a jam-filled doughnut without a hole, and Gugelhupf a yeast-leavened cake.

Answer: the Holocaust

Born in Budapest from a Jewish family, at the age of 14 Imre Kertész (1929-2016) was deported to Auschwitz (shown in the photo) - where he escaped execution by claiming to be older. He was later sent to Buchenwald, another notorious Nazi concentration camp. After the end of WWII, Kertész returned to Budapest, where he got his high school diploma, and then began his career as a writer, journalist, and translator from German.

Initially, his work was not appreciated in his native country under the repressive Communist regime, though things improved considerably in the 1980s. In 2001, Kertész moved to Berlin, and was living there when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002. The motivation for the prize was that his writing "upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". In spite of various controversies, Kertész was proud of his Hungarian roots, and eventually returned to his homeland to spend the final years of his life.

Kertész's best-known work, "Fatelessness" (1975), describes the experiences of a 15-year-old boy in various Nazi concentration camps; though inspired by the author's own experience, it was not truly autobiographical. The book was the first instalment of Kertész's Holocaust trilogy, and was followed by "Fiasco" (1988) and "Kaddish for an Unborn Child" (1990). In 2005, "Fatelessness" was adapted into a film directed by Lajos Koltai; Kertész wrote the screenplay, while famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone wrote the music.

Elie Wiesel (who was born in Romania, and was a Hungarian citizen in 1940-1944) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Italian writer Primo Levi is known for his memoirs "If This Is a Man" and "The Truce". Both these Jewish writers were also Holocaust survivors.

Answer: coach

As one can expect, English words of Hungarian origin are few and far between. The most widely spoken language of the Uralic family (also known as Fenno-Ugric), Hungarian is related to Finnish and Estonian, though not very closely. It is also an exceedingly difficult language to learn, with 18 grammatical cases and a vocabulary that is mostly unrelated to that of Indo-European languages such as English or French. One of the very small number of Hungarian words that entered English, however, is commonly used, and has acquired other meanings throughout the centuries.

In the mid-16th century, the English word "coach" was borrowed from the French "coche", whose ultimate origin is the name of the Hungarian village of Kocs, located about 65 km (40 mi) northwest of Budapest. In the 15th century, the village became famous for the manufacture of carriages with steel-spring suspension. These vehicles, named "kocsi szekér" ("carts from Kocs"), became highly sought after in Europe. The word "kocsi" became "Kutsche" in German, and was borrowed by other languages besides French: the Portuguese "coche" and the Italian "cocchio" retain the original meaning of "horse-drawn wheeled vehicle", while in Spanish the word "coche" came to mean "automobile" (as does "kocsi" in contemporary Hungarian). Kocs' coat of arms (shown in the photo) depicts an early model of the original "coach".

Other Hungarian words that have entered English are "goulash" (originally "gulyás", meaning "herdsman") and "paprika" (which is itself a loanword from Serbo-Croatian). "Sauna" comes from Finnish, "vodka" from Russian, and "robot" from Czech.

Answer: Aquincum

Before the arrival of the Romans in the mid-1st century AD, a thriving Celtic settlement, established in the 1st century BC, already existed in the territory of Budapest. The name "Aquincum" was a Latinization of its original Celtic name, "Ak-Ink", meaning "abundant waters", because of the many thermal springs present in the area. Aquincum was initially a "castrum" (a fortified settlement), but soon grew into a city that, in 106 AD, became the capital of the Roman province of Pannonia Inferior. By the end of the 2nd century, Aquincum had over 30,000 inhabitants, and enjoyed high standards of living: it had two amphiteatres, public baths, temples, palaces, and centrally-heated houses. It is believed that Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote at least part of his "Meditations" there.

The remains of Aquincum - which also include a three-level aqueduct - can be seen in various parts of Budapest, in particular in the Óbuda district. A museum dedicated to the city was opened in 1894, where numerous artifacts found during archaeological excavations are displayed.

Present-day Budapest was the result of the union of three smaller cities on the banks of the Danube - Buda, Obuda, and Pest, which occurred in 1873. Eboracum, Mediolanum and Lugdunum are the Roman names of York (UK), Milan (Italy), and Lyon (France).

Answer: Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók was born in 1881 in what is now the Romanian town of Sânnicolau Mare, which at the time was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Like many eminent figures of 20th-century culture and science, he fled Europe at the beginning of WWII, leaving a successful career as a composer and pianist in his native country to settle in the US - where he died of leukemia in September 1945, a few weeks after the official ending of the war.

Besides his work as a musician and composer, Bartók is also renowned for his activity as an ethnomusicologist, which led him to travel extensively through the Hungarian countryside (often with fellow composer and friend Zoltán Kodály) to collect samples of folk music from the regions of the Carpathian Basin. He also collected folk music from other parts of Europe and North Africa. Bartók's keen interest in folk music was essential in the revival of nationalism as a source of inspiration for composers. It also brought about dramatic changes in the actual sound of 20th-century music - which increasingly moved away from the diatonic scale and embraced various forms of experimentation. Many of Bartók's best-known compositions are piano pieces, such as "Allegro barbaro" (1911); other prominent works are the racy pantomime "The Miraculous Mandarin" (1918), his only opera, "Bluebeard's Castle" (1911), and "Concerto for Orchestra" (1943).

Bartók, whose remains are now interred in Budapest's Farkasréti Cemetery, was depicted on the 1,000-forint banknote (shown in the photo) printed between 1983 and 1992; the banknote was withdrawn from circulation in 1999. Ernő Rubik was the inventor of the mechanical puzzle known as Rubik's Cube, while László Bíró was the inventor of the ballpoint pen. Ferenc Puskás is widely regarded as Hungary's greatest football (soccer) player, and one of the greatest players of all time.

Throughout this quiz I have used the Western name order - i.e. give name(s) followed by family name. However, Hungary uses the Eastern name order, in which the family name precedes the given name(s). Thus, the names of the composers that appear in this question would be mentioned as "Liszt Ferenc" and "Bartók Béla".