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de

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Pronunciation

Forms

de[1] Old spellings include ge in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer, Dè in the Vienna Codex, Deh (about 1518) and the (1527).[2][3] The dialects have deg, with an emphatic -g, and dé.[3][2][4]

Etymology

Its origin is not settled.[3][2] TESz calls it of unknown origin: it was at first an emphatic adverb or an interjection of affirmation, and became the conjunction of restrictive, intensifying and contrasting clauses by being used in sentences that expressed a contrast.[3] TESz rejects the Finno-Ugric comparison and the Turkic and Slavic derivations proposed earlier.[3]

ÚESz treats the conjunction and the exclamatory adverb as two headwords of one origin.[2] It takes the adverb “how (very)!” as onomatopoeic: a spontaneous cry of wonder or surprise, whose emphatic use as an adverb is secondary (compare be).[2] The conjunction “but” probably arose from it by a change of word class: in successive sentences that expressed a contrast, the sense of contrast passed to the word that linked them.[2] Zaicz gives the same account.[5]

The emphatic ⟨g⟩ of dialect deg is the element also seen in dialect beg.[3][2] The adverb dej “at least; about” is a shortening of the obscured compound dejszen “but surely”, whose second part is hiszen.[2] For the exclamatory use Wiktionary compares Polish ale, which is also both “but” and “how!”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The conjunction appears in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer of about 1195, in the story of Adam: Hadlaua choltat terumteve iftentvl. ge feledeve, “he heard of his death from his creator God, but he forgot it”, with ge for de.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The conjunction is the old use; the codices and the Transylvanian records of the 16th century have it in the senses “but, however” and “still, yet”.[2][6][7] The adverb is recorded later: “how very” from about 1560, when the Gyöngyös glossary renders the Latin interjection au with oh: de: Jay, then “at least” in Zrínyi (1651), and the interjection in Decsi's Adagia of 1598.[2][3][8]

The modern adverb stands before adjectives, adverbs and verbs and expresses wonder, admiration or regret, often with an interjection such as jaj or ejnye.[9] In speech de also answers a negative statement or question with a contradicting “yes”; the dialect dictionaries of Bálint and Csűry record it in this use.[1][10][11] The dialects also have de “indeed” and “about, roughly”.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 1195 – ge “but” in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.[3][2]
  • c. 1300 – de in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[3]
  • after 1416 (copy of about 1450) – Dè in the Vienna Codex.[2]
  • c. 1560 – de as an interjection of surprise in the Gyöngyös glossary, the first record of the adverb “how very”.[2][8]
  • 1598 – de as an interjection in Decsi's Adagia.[3]
  • 1651 – de “at least” in Zrínyi.[2][3]
  • 1838 – dejszen “but surely” in the Magyar tájszótár.[2]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. but: introducing a clause that restricts or contradicts what was said before: Szívesen jönnék, de nincs időm.[9][1]
  2. yet, still: after a concession, introducing what holds all the same: Nehéz volt, de megérte.[9][7]

Adverb

  1. how, how very: before an adjective, adverb or verb, expressing surprise, admiration or regret: De szép ez a kert![9][1]
  2. In a reply, contradicting a negative statement or question: yes, it is so: – Nem voltál ott. – De, ott voltam.[1][10]
  3. (dialectal) about, roughly; at least.[12][3]

Word family

  • dehát
  • dehogy
  • dehiszen

Usage notes

In the dialects that keep closed /ë/ apart from open /e/, the adverb is pronounced with /ë/ and the conjunction with /e/.[9] A common set phrase is végül, de nem utolsósorban “last but not least”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 598
  4. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 387
  5. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  6. ^ Szarvas, Gábor; Simonyi, Zsigmond (1890–1893), Magyar nyelvtörténeti szótár, 3 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 485
  7. ^ a b Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület
  8. ^ a b Berrár, Jolán; Károly, Sándor (1984), Régi magyar glosszárium: szótárak, szójegyzékek és glosszák egyesített szótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  9. ^ a b c d e Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  10. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 274
  11. ^ Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 1, 165
  12. ^ a b B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 956