Hungaricum: all that is inimitable, unique, distinct - and Hungarian
Four companies of international repute founded the exclusive Hungaricum Club in 1999. The initiative, launched by Herend Porcelain Manufactory, Pick Szeged Co., Tokaj Trading House and Zwack Unicum, was joined by the Halas Lace Foundation of Kiskunhalas in 2003. The names of these illustrious representatives of Hungarian traditional dining are inextricably linked to the superlative products they manufac-ture: porcelain, salami, Aszu wine, Unicum digestive liqueur and sewn lace.
These classical Hungarian values cannot be restricted solely to industrial, food industry or handicrafts products. This diverse country nestling in the heart of Central Europe is also associated with an abundance of other inimitable, unique and distinct features that make up, if you like, the pure essence of Hungary. Such, for instance, are the truly unique language of the Hungarians, the land in which they live, the traditions and folklore, the intellectual and material 
cultural heritage of the Hungarians, the customs and traditions, the indigenous breeds, the matchless flavours of the local fruit and spices, the gastronomy, the wines and fruit brandies.
The lands inhabited by Hungarian-speakers have been maintained, island-like, in the centre of Europe, ringed on all sides by peoples speaking Latin, Germanic and Slav tongues, for more than one thousand years. In fact, the deepest roots of the Hungarian language have been traced back 2500 - 2800 years when the forebears of today's Hungarians lived in the northwestern Urals region.This explains why philologists place Hungarian on the Ugrian branch of Finno - Ugrian within the Uralic family of languages.
The earliest surviving record of written Hungarian - in total just six words - is in the founding deed ( penned mostly in Latin in 1055) of the Benedictine Abbey at Tihany on Lake Balaton. Today, this deed of foundation is on display in the library of one of Hungary's World Heritage monuments, the Benedictine Monastery of Pannonhalma.
The oldest extant manuscript written entirely in Hungarian - the Funeral Oration and Prayer comprising 190 words - dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
An extremely early poem, the Old-Hungarian Lament of Mary, has been dated to the middle of the 13th century. Just 37 lines long, it is the moving tale of Mary grieving for her crucified son, Jesus Christ. Both of these unique treasures are preserved in the National Széchenyi Library in Budapest.
Hungarians uses the Latin alphabet; nouns are not gender-specific. Over the course of time, the Hungarian language has picked up many words from other languages. Initially, as the Magyar tribes migrated from the Urals westward, Persian and Turkic tongues exercised an influance on the formation of the language.Once Hungarians had settled the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian language borrowed more words, this time from German, Italian, French and neighbouring Slavic languages.
Driven by Enlightenment principles, tha goal of the late 18th century language reform movement was to replace the Latin and German languages dominant in intellectual life with a modern Hungarian language appropriate both for spoken, everyday usage and written literary works. This endeavour led directly to the remarkable flowering of Hungarian literature experienced in the 19th century.
Today, nearly 15 million people speak Hungarian. In addition to the 10 million who live in Hungary, several million ethnic Hungarians resident in neighbouring countries maintain Hungarian as their mother tongue. Furthermore, there is a considerable Hungarian diaspora living in West Europe, North and South America and Australia.
