él

él¹ to live

Pronunciation

• [ˈeːl]^[1]

Forms

él^[1]

Etymology

The verb “to live” is inherited from Proto-Uralic *elä- (“to live”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Uralic period.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Its cognates are Mansi ilt- (“to recover”), Khanty jilpət- (“to revive”), Komi-Zyrian ol- (“to live, exist”), Udmurt ul- (“to live, exist”), Eastern Mari əle- (“to live, dwell”), Finnish elää and Northern Sami ælle- (“to live, exist”), and Tundra Nenets jīľe- (“to live, dwell”) and Selkup ili̮- (“to live”) on the Samoyedic side, where a Kamassian verb also means “to come back to life”.^[3][4] In the Mansi verb the final ⟨-t⟩ is a causative suffix, and the Khanty words went from “living” to “fresh” and “new”.^[2][5]

The Hungarian initial vowel was at first closer; it was lengthened to /eː/ in the verb, and opened to /ɛ/ in some derivatives, eledel, eleség and eleven.^[3][2][4] The sense “to be alive” and probably “to feed on” and “to live with someone as a spouse” go back to the parent language; the others developed in Hungarian.^[2][3]

The Mordvin verb Erzya эрямс (erjams, “to live, dwell”) was also compared, but its /r/ keeps it apart.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears in a personal name, Numel, in a charter of 1138 known from a copy of 1329.^[2][3] The Funeral Sermon and Prayer, about 1195, has it in the infinitive: mend paradisumben valou gyimilcictul munda neki elnie, “he told him to live on all the fruits in Paradise”; the sense there is “to feed on, live on”.^[2][3][5] The same text has ilezie, a form of the derivative éleszt “to bring to life”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

TESz and ÚESz date the senses: “to be alive” from 1138, “to feed on, live on” from about 1195; the Jókai Codex (copy of about 1448) adds “to use” with -val/-vel, “to live with someone” and “to lead a certain life, be in a certain state”.^[2][3] “To live with someone as a sexual partner or spouse” follows in the Munich Codex (1466), and “to dwell, live somewhere” in Calepinus's dictionary of 1585.^[2][3]

The transitive “to use, enjoy” lives on in the dialects: in Moldavian Csángó most ők élik “now they use it” of a field, in Szeged a családok élik a birtokot “the families have the use of the estate”.^[6][7] The Transylvanian oath él az Isten “as God lives, God is my witness” is recorded from 1570.^[8]

The derivatives are many and old: élő “living” from the second half of the 13th century, élet “life” and éltet “to nourish” from the Jókai Codex, éled “to revive” from about 1423.^[3][4] Élet later also meant “grain”, a sense that may have arisen under Slavic influence, compare Polish żyć (“to live”) beside Polish żyto (“rye”).^[3] The language reform made élénk “lively” (1801) and gave élmény, first “food” (1769), the sense “experience” (1822 or 1840).^[2][3][4]

Timeline

• 1138 – the personal name Numel in a charter known from a copy of 1329.^[2][3]
• c. 1195 – elnie “to live on” and ilezie “made him live” in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.^[2][3]
• second half of the 13th century – élő “a living person”.^[3]
• c. 1448 – élet “life”, éltet “to nourish” and the sense “to use” in the Jókai Codex (copy of a text written after 1372).^[2][3]
• 1466 – “to live together as a couple” in the Munich Codex.^[2][3]
• 1585 – “to dwell” in Calepinus's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1769 – élmény, at first “food, provisions”.^[9][3]
• 1801 – élénk “lively”, a word of the language reform.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To live, be alive; to stay alive.^[10][1]
2. To live to a certain age: nyolcvan évet élt.^[10]
3. To live through, experience a time or event.^[10][1]
4. To live in a certain way or state: boldogan élnek.^[10][1]
5. To dwell, live somewhere: Budapesten él.^[11][1]
6. With -ból/-ből, to make a living from something.^[10][1]
7. With -n/-on/-en/-ön or -val/-vel, to feed on: kenyéren és vízen él.^[10][1]
8. With -val/-vel, to make use of something: él a lehetőséggel; also, to use something habitually, often something harmful.^[1][11]
9. With -nak/-nek, to live for someone or something: a családjának él.^[1]
10. To live on in memory.^[1]

Word family

• éleszt
• élet
• élő
• éltet
• élelem
• élmény
• élénk
• élőlény
• élősködik
• éleny

él² edge

Pronunciation

• [ˈeːl]^[1]

Forms

él (plural élek)^[1]

Etymology

The edge is probably inherited from Proto-Ugric *elɜ (“cutting edge”), a word Hungarian inherited from the Ugric period.^{[9][3][4][12][1]} Its cognates are the Mansi words for the cutting edge of a knife, Mansi iľmət and Mansi ēlmi.^[3][12] The comparison holds only if the /m/ of the Mansi words is a noun-forming suffix and not part of the stem.^[3][5]

The Hungarian word was once pronounced with a long open vowel.^[9] TESz rejects its derivation from Mongolian and Turkic.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are names: a personal name Elus of 1138, known from a copy of 1329, may be the derivative éles; the place name Elusd follows in 1291–1294.^[9][3] The first sure record of the noun is in a Latin charter of 1348, which names a ridge “commonly called El”: in vno acie wlgariter El dictum.^[9][3][13] The senses there are “the edge or point of something” and “mountain ridge”.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

TESz takes “point, corner” and “thin edge, rim” as the first senses, from which the others grew: “mountain peak, long narrow ridge” in place names from 1341, “the point of a weapon” and “the sharpened edge of a blade” in the Schlägl glossary of about 1405.^[9][3] About 1560 the Gyöngyös word list glosses Latin acies with él and explains its three meanings: the edge of a sickle or sword, “an army drawn up in line” and the light of the eye.^[14][3] From “the battle line” came “the front of a moving group, the leading place”.^[9][10]

The figurative edge of words, the sharp or hurtful point of a remark, is in the ÉrtSz.^[10] In the dialects élire rakja a pénzt, “he stacks his money on edge”, is said of someone who saves.^[15][7]

Timeline

• 1138 – ? Elus, a personal name in a charter known from a copy of 1329, perhaps the derivative éles.^[9][3]
• 1311 – “edge, rim”, and the place name Eluskw.^[9][3]
• 1341 – the place names El and Elzekchen, from “ridge”.^[9][3]
• 1348 – El, a ridge, in a Latin charter.^[9][3]
• c. 1395 – keth eleu “two-edged” in the Besztercei glossary.^[3]
• c. 1405 – “point of a weapon, cutting edge” in the Schlägl glossary.^[9][3]
• c. 1490 – éles “sharp” in the Apor Codex.^[9][3]
• c. 1560 – “battle line; the front” in the Gyöngyös word list.^[9][3]
• 1779 – élez “to sharpen”.^[9][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cutting edge of a blade.^[10][1]
2. The thin edge or rim of a solid body; in geometry, the line where two faces meet.^[10][1]
3. The crease of trousers.^[10][1]
4. The front of a moving group; the leading place: a menet élén “at the head of the procession”.^[10][1]
5. (figurative) The sharp, hurtful point of something said or written.^[10]

Word family

• éles
• életlen
• élez