Az 1249. évi szalonnai határjárás és a félreolvasott Yrmeg, helyesen Yrmes potoka

Absztrakt

The 1249 inspection of the landmarks of the estate named Szalonna and the misread Yrmeg, correctly Yrmes potoka (‘a stream where once grew Artemisia’)  

From the 9th to the 13th centuries, the large estate known as Szalonna, situated on both sides of the river Bódva in northern Hungary, was jointly owned by three or four families descended from the first Hungarian settlers. In 1249, as a result of the Mongol invasion of 1241–1242, most owners on this piece of land, with the exception of Bailiff Miklós, decided to sell the estate. The sales contract defined all landmarks bordering the territory sold, including a stream on the eastern border. The hardly legible Latin charter was published in 1876; this edition gives the name of the relevant stream as Yrmeg, an obscure name of unknown origin. The author has checked the original manuscript and found that the correct spelling of the name is Yrmes; and that the name goes back to the Hungarian word üröm (‘Artemisia’), and identifies the characteristic plant that once grew on the stream’s banks. The denotatum of the name, however, has long remained unknown. Luckily, a present inhabitant of the village of Szalonna was able to recall which stream had been called Ürmös-patak by his grandfather. The author then carried out fieldwork and identified the stream successfully. Based on his experiences, the author clarifies the mid-13th-century possession history of the area, claiming that Bailiff Miklós must have kept scattered parts of the original estate: his wooded property lay on the western bank of the river Bódva, while his ploughed fields were situated east of the sold territory but inside the borders of the estate Szalonna.