Szekeln.adj.

1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 164/2 The nation [of Transylvania] in the political sense of the word is composed of three bodies or ‘nations’, the Hungarians, the Szeklers, and the Saxons, who have the collective name of the ‘Uniti’.

1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 164/2 When a Hungarian or Szekler nobleman of Transylvania settles in Hungary, he is entitled to all the privileges of noblemen in Hungary.

1869 A. J. Patterson Magyars II. xxxi. 354 I started for the little hamlet..accompanied by a Székel.

1888 E. Gerard Land beyond Forest II. xxxviii. 151 The Szekel villages, of a formal simplicity, are as far removed from the Roumanian poverty as from Saxon opulence.

1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 392/2 The isolated groups of Hungarians now found in Transylvania and called Szeklers are considered the purest descendants of the invading Magyars.

1920 Glasgow Herald 23 Apr. 8 At the very most 1,900,000 Magyars are lost, of whom over 900,000 (including the Szekels) are in Transylvania.

1934 R. W. Seton-Watson Hist. Roumanians ii. 20 Already Koloman and Stephen II in the first three decades of the Twelfth century began to settle Magyar colonists—the so-called Székelys or Siculi.

1934 R. W. Seton-Watson Hist. Roumanians ii. 21 Transylvania falls into three distinct political groupings—finally crystallised by the events of 1437 into three privileged nations, the Magyars, the Székels and the Saxons.

1956 F. S. Pisky in S. Fischer-Galati Romania iii. 54 Although there are no ethnic or linguistic differences, Hungarians make a distinction between the Szekelys and Magyars. The Szekelys, descendants of the free frontiersmen in Transylvania, populate the Odorhei, Cius and Trei Scaune districts.

1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VI. 496/3 The Szeklers, meaning Frontier Guards, received their name, it seems, because they were Magyars sent to Transylvania to protect the eastern flank.

1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia IX. 31/1 Colonies of Szekels, a people akin to the Magyars who had preceded the latter into the central plains, were settled behind its eastern passes.