ő

Forms

ő^[1] The Funeral Sermon writes w, uvt and iv; later spellings include ev (Königsberg Fragment), ÿ (1517) and ee (1530).^[2][3] Dialects have ü and ű, with the object forms itet, útet.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Uralic *sᴕ̈ (“he, she”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Finno-Ugric period.^{[2][5][3][6][1]} The cognates are Mansi tüw, Erzya son, Moksha son, Finnish hän and Northern Sami sǭn, and, less certainly, Komi-Zyrian si̮ and Udmurt so.^[2][5][6] Finno-Ugric /s/ at the start of a word was lost in Hungarian, as in eszik and ősz.^[2][5]

The Funeral Sermon still has the older form ⟨iv⟩, with a bilabial fricative; this goes back to the Ugric pronoun suffix ⟨*-ŋ⟩, which became /v/ between vowels, as in övé “his, hers”, and elsewhere became a vowel through /ɣ/.^[2][5][3] The same suffix is in the corresponding pronouns of the Ob-Ugric languages; the ⟨-n⟩ of ön continues another pronoun suffix, which is also in the Mordvin, Finnish and Sami forms.^[3] The vowel of the stem cannot be traced to a single Finno-Ugric vowel: the Ugric, Permic and Finnish forms point to a front vowel, the Mordvin and Sami ones to a back vowel, perhaps under the influence of the first- and second-person pronouns.^[3]

The plural “ők” has been taken for a separate pronoun, related to Erzya sin (“they”) and Finnish he (“they”);^[3] MSzFE finds it more likely a later formation with the plural ⟨-k⟩ of nouns, since it lacks the ⟨v⟩ of the stem.^[3] From the different spellings of the Funeral Sermon Szinnyei concluded that two forms of the pronoun fell together.^[3] ÚESz also compares Indo-European demonstratives meaning “this”, in Sanskrit and Gothic.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pronoun is in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer of the end of the 12th century, the oldest connected Hungarian text: God tilutoa wt “forbade him” to eat of the tree, and the death of Adam fell on mend w foianec “all his offspring”.^[3][2] So both uses are there from the start, the personal pronoun “he, she” and the possessive “his, her”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Beside the personal and possessive uses, ÚESz records the pronoun as a demonstrative “that (one)” from 1513 and as a form of polite address, “you”, from 1554.^[2] The polite address passed to its derivative ön, which also meant “his own” and forms compounds in “self-”.^[3]

In the modern language the pronoun as an object, őt, is used only of people, while the plural őket is used of animals and things too; the other cases are expressed by personal forms of adverbs and postpositions, such as neki “to him, to her”, vele “with him, with her” and róla “about him, about her”.^[7] Dialects have ü and ű and the object form őtet or útet.^[4][8][7]

Timeline

• End of the 12th century – wt, w and iv in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.^[3][2]
• Early 13th century – ev in the Königsberg Fragment.^[2]
• After 1372 (copy of about 1448) – ew in the Jókai Codex.^[3]
• 1513 – used as a demonstrative, “that (one)”.^[2]
• 1526 – ő rayta “on him” in the Székelyudvarhely Codex.^[3]
• 1554 – used in polite address, “you”.^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. he, she: the person already mentioned, apart from the speaker and the person addressed; usually left out, since the verb shows the person, and used for emphasis or contrast: Ő is velünk jön. “He is coming with us too.”^[7][1]
2. Plural ők: they, also a group or community already mentioned.^[7][1]
3. An animal already mentioned.^[7]
4. Before a possessed noun, usually after the article az, stressing the possessor: az ő háza “his (her) house”, az ő kertjük “their garden”.^[1][2]

Word family

• ön
• övé

Related words

• Finnish hän

Usage notes

The object form is őt, colloquially őtet; for the other cases Hungarian uses personal forms such as neki, vele, nála, not suffixes on the pronoun.^[7] Wiktionary gives emphatic forms such as őneki and ővele.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 510
4. ^ a b Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky
5. ^ a b c d Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
6. ^ a b Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
7. ^ a b c d e f Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
8. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 235