Finnish Paper Suggests Hungarians Ashamed of Their Finno-Ugric Origins

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 28 – It has long been common ground that three Finno-Ugric peoples – the Estonians, the Finns and the Hungarians – have independent statehood and that they are the first nations that those Finno-Ugric peoples still living under Russian rule look to for help and support.

            But a Finnish newspaper is now suggesting that the Hungarians are somehow “ashamed” of their Finno-Ugric roots and prefer instead to stress their ties to the Huns, something that helps explain why Hungary has been far less focused on the Finno-Ugric nations within the borders of the Russian Federation.

            (The article, “Hungarians: Finnish is No Longer a Related Language and That is the Issue,” appeared in Finnish in Helsinki’s Ilta-Sanomat (is.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000011934420.html) and is discussed in Russian in Tallinn’s Mari portal (mariuver.eu/2026/04/28/vengry-stesnjajutsja-svoego-finno-ugorskogo-proiskhozhdenija/.)

            The article cites the conclusions of University of Budapest linguist Marta Csepregi who says that “especially in the 21^st century,” ever more Hungarians are insisting that “Hungary does not belong to a common language family with Finland,” a reflection of their conviction that Hungarians real origin lies with the Huns and that they are closer to the Turks.

            “Despite all this,” the Finnish article says, “for the average Hungarian, Finland remains closer than Sweden or Norway, and Marta Csepregi hopes that the Finns will consider Hungary closer than these countries which it neighbors.”

            There is no question that Finns and Estonians feel closer to each other and to the other Finno-Ugric peoples than do the Hungarians who live further away, do not have Finno-Ugric neighbors, and have a language which is more distant from other Finno-Ugrics than are Estonian and Finnish.

            But the difference in attitudes about Finno-Ugric languages and peoples between Estonians and Finns, on the one hand, and Hungarians, on the other, helps to explain why the Finno-Ugric peoples within the Russian borders who are subject to intense assimilationist pressures are less likely to find support in Budapest than in Helsinki and Tallinn.