Talk:Elizabeth Szilágyi

Original name

From the history articles I've read I believe there's a standard on EN wiki whereas the english name is put forward and in brackets the native name/s. This article can't really follow that pattern as there's hard to come with an translation into English for the original name but should nevertheless be used instead. Elisabeta Sălăjan was the person original name with the last name Sălăjan given from the region she was born in which was Sălaj, called by Hungarians Szilágy which was one of the many original names changed by Hungarians once they crossed the Carpathians and conquest Transylvania at the end of the 10th century. Given that there isn't an english translation for Sălăjan I've put it forward instead, and left the Hungarian name in parentheses. I don't see an issue with this, but if there is one please explain here. Maok3 (talk) 06:27, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Would you please refer to a book published in English which refers to her as Elisabeta Sălăjan, as per WP:Name? Yes, I know that the name of the region known in Romanian as "Sălăj" cannot be explained based on the Romanian language, because it is of Hungarian origin. You may not know, but the original (Hungarian) name of the region (Szilágy) refers to a territory where elm trees (in Hungarian, szil) grow (Kiss, Lajos (1983). A földrajzi nevek etimológiai szótára [Etimological Dictionary of Place Names]. Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-3346-4 (page 613). Consequently there would be a proper translation for her name (Elisabeth of the Region of the Elm Trees), but I have never read any books which uses this translation when referring to her. Borsoka (talk) 12:13, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

I never claimed that Elisabeta Sălăjan is translated into an english literature, precisely because its not easily translatable. As for its origins, Sălaj as far as I know and its wiki page seems to suggest the same, comes from Land of Silvania with Silva meaning forest in Latin due to its large parts of virgin forest. Of course, after the Hungarians conquered Sălaj area during the middle of 11th century, they also didn't had a way to translate it and used Szil like you refer as to elm forest as it was phonetically similar with its local name back then of Silva. The head of Cultural Patrimony county of Sălaj wrote and was co-author on several important books in this field of present-day Sălaj and Zalău counties toponymy, in particular ′Antroponimie : din onomastica Ţării Silvaniei′ (Anthroponymy: Land of Silvania onomatology) ISBN 9789737817952

Furthermore, during Hungarian ruling all the local names of people and towns were translated but only on paper as in local use the original name were still used by the authoton population which were in a big poportion still Romanians ancestors which were constantly raided by different populations starting from the Romans, later Vandals, then Gepids and Huns, Hungarians. Depending on the invaders period of reign it influenced the words and names but Elisabeta is still a popular name in Romanian and many Hungarian leaders had Romanian wifes and mothers, hence Elisabeta Sălăjan even if translated into Hungarian documents as Erzsébet Szilágyi is not the original name of this person. She is of Hungarian importance no doubt thats why I haven't moved the page to the original name but on reading the article there is no mention of Elisabeta Sălăjan, only the translated version which needs fixing. I suggest either my initial edit of Elisabeta Sălăjan (Hungarian: Szilágyi Erzsébet or at least Szilágyi Erzsébet (Romanian: Elisabeta Sălăjan Maok3 (talk) 00:25, 22 July 2016 (UTC)