Cause of death (Hungarian)

LuciaV

Hello, could anyone help me figure out the cause of death of Tamás Toman (second line from the bottom)? And am I correct this Tamás is the husband of Mária Pauleje? Just making sure I have the correct man.

How about Mária Pauleje (4th from the bottom)?

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-8BTS-36F?i=100&cc=1554443&cat=1061444

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BTS-383?i=108&cc=1554443&cat=1061444

Julia Szent-Györgyi

Tamás: posláz "stale fever": malaria

Mária: puhalás?, perhaps a variant of puhulás "softening"? Can't imagine of what.

I believe you have the relationships/identities correct. My readings:

Nov. 22. Toman Tamás. Pór. Paul?? Mária[nak] a férje. Jeskofalu. 58 Év. Posláz. (Nov. 22. Tamás Toman. Commoner. Husband of Mária Paul??. Jeskofalu. 58 years. Malaria.)

Februar 3. Pauleje Maria. Pór. Toman Tamás[nak] özvegye. Jeskofalu. 55 Év. Puhalás. (Feb. 3. Maria Pauleje. Commoner. Widow of Tamás Toman. 55 years. Softening.)

Fun fact for the day: Nyitra county had both a Jeskófalu and a Kolos-Jeskófalu. I believe we're dealing with the latter here, which was later called Jaskafalva and is now Ješkova Ves, part of Veľký Klíž, Slovakia. (The other one was later called Divékjánosi and is now Ježkova Ves nad Nitricou, part of Diviaky nad Nitricou, Slovakia.)

LuciaV

Thank you again Julia. I have a question. Malaria, as in... What we know as malaria today? Didn't know that was a thing in 19th century central Europe.

Also I tried to google the "softening" but didn't find much, only softening of the brain but I don't think it has to do anything with this

Julia Szent-Györgyi

Malaria can spread wherever there are mosquitoes, so yes, it occurred in central Europe. However, it's interesting to explore old dictionaries and encyclopedias on the topic. Czuczor-Fogarasi's _Dictionary of the Hungarian Language_ (1862), for example, defines posláz as "Fever, which normally stems from stale foods and drinks, and spreads to the blood. Those with the disease at first feel a rotten taste in the mouth, their breath smells bad, as does their sweat." Even later, when the organisms that cause malaria had been discovered and described, its method of spread was not known: the Pallas Encyclopedia (1897), for example, talks about it spreading via bad air (miasma).

For "softening", I think it must be an alternative description of atrophy, i.e. probably yet another name for TB.

LuciaV

Oh, that's so interesting, thank you for sharing the dictionary part with me, very cool.

And yeah now it's making sense to me... As in "softening of the muscle" --> atrophy. English is not my first language so my mind did not automatically go there.

Thanks a lot!