Ulvi Yurtsever wrote:

>Aaron Rabushka wrote:
>
>>I need some help from some of our Hungarian correspondents on the correct
>>title for Bartok's opera. I had thought that it was "A Keckszakallu Herceg
>>Vara," yet when I mentioned this to some people from Budapest they said
>>"That's not Hungarian."
>
>Interesting: this may just be a coincidence, but "Keckszakallu" sounds
>suspiciously like "Keci sakalli," which is Turkish for "(one) with a
>goatie"; "Keci" (pronounced Kechie) is goat in Turkish.
>
>I have no idea about "Herceg Vara."

I simply assumed that "Herceg" was a Magyarization of the German "Herzog"
which means Duke and that, by default, "Vara" meant castle.  Speakers of
Hungarian on this list can either refute or corroborate.

Incidentally, *Bluebeard's Castle* was the subject of extended discussion
on this list several years ago.  Can anybody explain how the *first* wife
wound up in the last chamber to which Judith seeks entrance?

Walter Meyer