Gyöngyösi és a kutyák

A magyar Ovidius lehetséges irodalmi mintái

Absztrakt

The study investigates questions of Gyöngyösi István’s literary imitation by undertaking a philological analysis of the names of hunting dogs appearing in his poems Csalárd Cupido and Kemény János emlékezete. The issue has been addressed before, primarily in connection with supposed Ovidian influences. On the one hand, the paper demonstrates that earlier scholarship – especially the name lists compiled by Rupp Kornél and Jankovics József – is incorrect in several respects. On the other hand, it devotes particular attention to problematic cases, such as the dog name Phigalia, whose origin cannot be traced to the tradition of the Metamorphoses.

In these instances, Gyöngyösi likely drew instead on a number of engaging and entertaining works of early modern humanist literature. Special emphasis is placed on the figure of the dog Aldina, whose name belongs to a widespread European tradition of canine elegies. The point of origin of this tradition is a volume published in 1622 by the Parisian printer Nicolas Buon (In obitum Aldinae catellae), in which numerous humanists mourn the poor Aldina.

In addition, the study shows that even names previously considered Ovidian – such as Phylax, Coridon, or Mopsus – can be traced back to early modern literary models.