Etymologically
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élet

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Pronunciation

Forms

élet (countable and uncountable, plural életek)[1]

Etymology

It is from Hungarian él (“to live”) + -et (“noun-forming suffix”), a noun formed from the verb in Old Hungarian.[2][3][4][1]

The verb goes back to Proto-Uralic *elä- (“to live”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Uralic period.[2][3][4] Its relatives include Mansi ilt- (“to recover”), Khanty jilpət- (“to revive”), Komi-Zyrian ol- (“to live, exist”), Udmurt ul- (“to live”), Eastern Mari əle- (“to live, dwell”), Finnish elää (“to live”), Tundra Nenets jīľe- (“to live, dwell”) and Selkup ili̮- (“to live”).[3][2] The related languages also form their word for “life” from the same verb, as in Finnish elämä and Estonian elu.[5]

The vowel at the start of the stem was originally closer; it became long /é/ in the verb and in this noun, and opened to /e/ in some other derivatives, such as eledel, eleség and eleven.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in the Jókai Codex, a copy of about 1448 of a text written after 1372, in the accusative eletyt; there it means “life, the time between birth and death” and “way of life”, and in another passage of the same codex “food, provisions”.[2][3] The Königsberg word list glosses Latin vita with ylet.[6]

Semantic evolution

TESz lists the senses of the noun in the order of their records: “life” and “food” in the Jókai Codex, “livelihood” in the Munich Codex (copied 1466), “use” in a sermon collection of 1470, “grain” from 1584, and “house and yard” from 1855–1860.[2] Kiss reads the 1584 letter as meaning “food” rather than “grain”, and finds “grain” earlier: in the Debrecen Codex of about 1519 and in Sylvester's New Testament of 1541, Sok az aratni való ilet, “much is the grain to be reaped”, which reflects the dialect of Szatmár.[7]

Kiss links “grain” with “food”: people live chiefly on cereals, and Finnish elo means both “life” and “grain”.[7] ÚESz thinks the sense may have arisen in Hungarian, but that Slavic may have played a part, where Polish żyć (“to live”) stands beside żyto (“rye”);[3] Kiss likewise allows that Proto-Slavic *žito (“grain, crops”), with its many Slavic agricultural loans around it, strengthened the Hungarian sense, without necessarily creating it.[7] In the dialects “grain” is widespread outside Transylvania, and narrows to “wheat” at Beregszász and “wheat crop” in the Szamos region.[8][7][9]

In the Székely land élet means a homestead, a plot with its house, yard and farm buildings.[10][11][12][13] The NSz records its use as an affectionate form of address, életem “my life”, from 1820.[14] From Hungarian the word passed into the Transcarpathian dialects as Ukrainian илет (ilet), “a table laden with food”.[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1448 – eletyt “life” and “food” in the Jókai Codex (copy of a text written after 1372).[2][3]
  • 1466 – “livelihood” in the Munich Codex (copy of a text written after 1416).[2]
  • 1470 – “use” in the Sermones Dominicales.[2]
  • c. 1519 – “grain” in the Debrecen Codex.[7]
  • 1541 – ilet “grain” in Sylvester's New Testament.[7]
  • 1584 – “grain” according to TESz;[2][7] Kiss reads “food”.[2][7]
  • 1820 – first record as an affectionate form of address.[14]
  • 1855–1860 – “house and yard, homestead”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. life: the active form of existence of living things, marked by metabolism, growth and reproduction.[16][14][1]
  2. existence, being;[16][14] (religion) eternal life.[16][14]
  3. The life of a person or animal, the state between birth and death; the visible signs of being alive.[16]
  4. A lifetime: the time someone has lived or will live; also the time a thing lasts or a regulation stays in force.[16][1]
  5. Someone's whole conduct and career; everything that has happened to them.[16]
  6. A way of life: falusi élet “village life”.[16][14]
  7. The forces of nature and society that shape human lives; the activity of a community: közélet “public life”.[16][14]
  8. livelihood, the material means of living.[16][14]
  9. (dialectal) grain, cereals.[16][13]
  10. vigour, liveliness.[16]
  11. Someone's dearest treasure;[16][14] életem “my life” as an affectionate form of address.[16][14]
  12. (dialectal, Székely) A homestead: a plot with its house and yard.[13][10]
  13. (video games) A life of the player's character.[1]

Word family

  • élettelen
  • életű
  • életbiztosítás
  • életcél
  • életelixír
  • életerő
  • életév
  • életfogytig
  • életforma
  • élethű
  • életjáradék
  • életjel
  • életkedv
  • életképes
  • életképtelen
  • kétéltű
  • él
  • eledel
  • eleség
  • eleven

Usage notes

The older possessive and accusative forms élte and éltet are now dated beside élete and életet; the stem élt- with possessive endings (eltemben “in my life”) goes back to the 15th century.[16][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 736
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  4. ^ a b Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  5. ^ Wikiszótár (Hungarian Wiktionary), hu.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ Berrár, Jolán; Károly, Sándor (1984), Régi magyar glosszárium: szótárak, szójegyzékek és glosszák egyesített szótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 178
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Kiss, Lajos (1976), Szláv tükörszók és tükörjelentések a magyarban, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó (Nyelvtudományi Értekezések 92), p. 47
  8. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 478
  9. ^ Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 1, 206
  10. ^ a b Kriza, János (1863), Vadrózsák: székely népköltési gyűjtemény (with its Tájszótár), Kolozsvár, p. 28
  11. ^ Herman, Ottó (1914), A magyar pásztorok nyelvkincse, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Természettudományi Társulat, p. 183
  12. ^ Gálffy, Mózes; Márton, Gyula (1987), Székely nyelvföldrajzi szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 128
  13. ^ a b c B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ittzés, Nóra (ed.) (2006–), A magyar nyelv nagyszótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at nagyszotar.nytud.hu
  15. ^ Lizanec, Petro N. (1976), Vengerskie zaimstvovanija v ukrainskih govorah Zakarpat'ja, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 598
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu