dolog

Forms

dolog (plural dolgok)^[1] In speech the stem is often contracted to dóg- (dógot, dóga), already written dogom in 1528.^[2][3][4] The Moldavian Csángó form dalag is recorded by the MTSz, though Kniezsa doubts it.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Proto-Slavic *dьlgъ (“debt”), a loan from Slavic.^[2][3][7][6] The Slavic word meant “debt, obligation”: Serbo-Croatian dug (“debt; duty”), in Chakavian also “matter, lawsuit”, Slovene dolg, Slovak dlh (“debt; obligation”) and Russian долг (dolg, “debt; duty”).^[3][2][7] Miklosich already listed the Hungarian word beside the Slavic one.^[8]

TESz thinks the source may have been Old Croatian, a view it supports with arguments from cultural history and meaning; ÚESz and Zaicz call the word Slavic, perhaps Serbo-Croatian.^[2][3][7] For ÚESz the Serbo-Croatian source is favoured by the word's first belonging to the language of law, as per “lawsuit” did.^[3] The Slavic word is probably of Indo-European origin, compare Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌻𐌲𐍃 (dulgs, “debt”) and Irish dligid (“duty”).^[3][7]

The derivation from Mongolian once proposed is rejected by TESz.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the Jókai Codex, a text written after 1372 and copied about 1448, in the inflected forms dolgodra and dologra.^[2][3] The codex already uses it in two senses, “work, task, duty” and “deed, act”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

TESz and ÚESz take “work, task” and “matter, affair” for the oldest senses, from which the others grew in Hungarian.^[2][3] “Matter, affair, event” is recorded from the Vienna Codex (after 1416), “circumstances of life, fate” from 1519, “thing in the mind, abstract object” from Murmelius's word list of 1533, “bowel movement, urination” from about 1577, and “concrete thing, object, tool” from Calepinus's dictionary of 1585.^[2][3] In 1748 nagy dolog meant “something great”.^[3]

The sense “work” gave set phrases of village life: dologtévő nap “working day” from 1533, and úrdolga, the labour owed to the landlord, from the 17th century.^[6] In Transylvanian records of the 17th and 18th centuries dolog is mostly the work and errands of the day, as in dolgára elmegy “goes about his business”.^[9] Regional speech has a dógára megy “goes to relieve himself” and Eredj a dógodra! “Off with you!”.^[5][4]

The derivatives came early: dolgos as a noun “steward” in 1470, as an adjective “busy” about 1519 and “hard-working” from 1576;^[3][2] dolgozik “to work” about 1560;^[3][2] dologtalan “idle” in 1723;^[3][2] dolgozat “piece of work, essay” in 1829.^[3][2] Dolgozó became a noun “worker” in the late 18th century and “study, workroom” in 1815.^[3]

Timeline

• 1372–1448 – dolgodra, dologra “work; deed” in the Jókai Codex.^[2][3]
• 1416–1450 – “matter, affair” in the Vienna Codex.^[2]
• 1470 – dolgus “steward”, the first record of dolgos.^[3]
• 1519 – “circumstances of life, fate”.^[2]
• 1533 – “abstract object” in Murmelius's word list;^[2][6] dologtévő nap “working day”.^[2][6]
• c. 1560 – dolgozik “to work” and dolgozó “working”.^[3]
• 1585 – “concrete thing, object” in Calepinus's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1723 – dologtalan “idle”.^[3]
• 1785 – dolgozó as a noun, “worker”.^[3]
• 1829 – dolgozat “piece of work”.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. work, a task: something that has to be done, and the doing of it: Ma sok dolgom van.^[10][11][1]
2. A duty, one's job or business: Ez nem az én dolgom.^[10][1]
3. An affair, a matter that needs handling or settling.^[10][11][1]
4. A deed, an act, often a blameworthy one: Szép kis dolog!^[10][11]
5. An event, a happening, a story.^[10]
6. One's circumstances or lot: Jó dolga van. “He has it good.”^[10][1]
7. A thing, an object, or something thought of: Milyen dolog ez az asztalon?^[10][11][1]
8. (euphemistic) Bowel movement or urination, in dolgát végzi.^[10]

Word family

• dolgos
• dolgozat
• dolgozik
• dologtalan
• dolgozó
• dologi

Related words

• Serbo-Croatian dug
• Slovak dlh

Usage notes

The stem loses its second vowel before most endings: dolgot, dolga, dolgok.^[1][10] With abstract nouns it means “a matter of”: ízlés dolga “a matter of taste”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 q r s Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 657
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
4. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 292
5. ^ a b Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 411
6. ^ a b c d e Kniezsa, István (1955), A magyar nyelv szláv jövevényszavai I/1–2, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 157
7. ^ a b c d e Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
8. ^ Miklosich, Franz (1884), Die slavischen Elemente im Magyarischen, 2nd ed. by L. Wagner, Wien / Teschen: Prochaska, p. 70
9. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 2, 450
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
11. ^ a b c d Ittzés, Nóra (ed.) (2006–), A magyar nyelv nagyszótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at nagyszotar.nytud.hu