I visited a rural town in Hungary last year; an old man sang a Hungarian-language rendition of "Drunken Sailor" to myself and my party. When and how did such a tune become transmitted to a landlocked culture ?

by 10z20Luka

For context, none of us spoke Hungarian, but the tune was indisputable. The lyrics could have been anything. As well, the man must have been at least 60, and didn't speak a word of English.

Is it possible to track the dissemination of such a folk song?

motorbiker1985

It is possible to trace songs back in time over a territory. It is mostly done by studying published collections of popular songs from various time periods and later even recordings of performances or mentions of the performances in other forms of culture.

Please note the Hungary

  1. Still has the Danube river and Balaton, which employed and employ quite lot of sailors for a landlocked nation.

  2. Hungary wasn't a landlocked nation until 1918, so when this old man was a boy, there were still many people around who served in the navy (Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet), which was based in the Adriatic sea, with the main base in Pula. If they worked on a trade ship, the largest port city was Trieszt (Trieste) and there were many others.

Although none of this would have been necessary as the song was quite popular in non-sailor culture long before 1918.

There is more of this traditions, for example in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, landlocked countries as well, the informal greeting (Hello) is "Ahoj" (pronounced "A-hoy")