Talk:Tivadar Soros

Language of his name

Which languages are his name written in? I guess Soros Tivadar is Hungarian, and Teodoro Ŝvarc is Esperanto, and Teodoro Schwartz is German? Anyone who knows care to clarify? User:Gabbe|Gabbe]] 15:49, May 15, 2004 (UTC)

You are right. Soros Tivadar is Hungarian, Teodoro Ŝvarc is Esperanto. Teodoro Schwartz is a bit curious: Schwartz is definitely German, Teodoro, however, is Esperanto (the German form would be Theodor).

Furthermore, Soros is not the translation of Schwartz. In the period before WWI, it was common in Hungary for people with German-, Slavic- etc sounding family names to change it for a similar but more 'Hungarian'-sounding name as a step of declaration of their Hungarian cultural identity. Thus, Kohn would be changed to Kun, Maczák to Magyar etc. TS was probably born as Schwartz and changed his name to Soros.

If we knew that for sure, the article should reflect that... But it's quite possible that he was born Theodor Schwartz, legally changed his name Soros Tivadar in the spirit of Hungarization, and consequently used Teodoro Ŝvarc as a Esperanto-ized pen-name, isn't it? —Gabbe 16:42, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)

That's the most possible scenario indeed. There were even funnier cases, like when someone Hungarianized their name but their siblings retained the old one, or siblings Hungarianized the name in different ways.--Tamas 17:12, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Esperanto writer? Isn't that like saying Klingon writer?

Not exactly -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto_literature
-- Writtenonsand 18:11, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Profession

The main article states that he was a doctor and a lawyer. Did he really earn university degrees in both disciplines? In the Europe, these two fields of study are not usually simply post-graduate programs of 3-4 years. They are the equivalents of combined undergraduate/graduate programs that can last 6-9 years. Poldy Bloom 05:30, 30 January 2007 (UTC)