ember

Forms

ember (plural emberek)^[1] The Vienna Codex writes èmbér and the Guary Codex embo̗r; dialects have embör and embër.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is probably a compound formed in Hungarian from two elements of its oldest stock, which stopped being felt as a compound very early.^[2][3][4][5] The first element, ⟨em-⟩, not recorded on its own, is taken to be the stem of emse “sow” and of dialect ⟨eme⟩ “female, sow”, which once meant “woman”; the second, ⟨-ber⟩, is perhaps a variant of férj “husband”, which first meant “man”.^[2][6][3][1] Wiktionary traces the two elements to Proto-Uralic *emä (“mother, woman”) and Proto-Uralic *irkä (“man, son, boy”).^[1]

The make-up “woman + man” for “human being” has a parallel in a Khanty word for “human being” made of the words for “woman” and “man”, which suggests the compound was formed not long after the ancestors of the Hungarians parted from the Ob-Ugric peoples.^[2][3][4] The initial consonant of the second element goes back to Finno-Ugric /p/; inside the compound it was voiced to /b/, and the vowel of the second open syllable was lost; the resulting /mb/ remained because the loss of nasals before stops had already run its course.^[2][6] EWUng, ÚESz and Zaicz point out that the explanation has phonological and morphological difficulties.^[5][3][4]

Other views have been rejected: that the ⟨b⟩ is an inserted consonant, that a doubled ⟨m⟩ was dissimilated, and a Turkic source for a supposed element ⟨*er⟩.^[2][6] Bárczi reports and rejects a mythological reading, with a first element meaning “sky, air”, so that the word would have meant “son of the sky”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer of about 1195, which says of death that no man can escape it: isa es num igg ember mulchotia ez vermut “and indeed no man can pass by this pit”.^[2][3][6] The sense there is “human being”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From “human being” the word came to mean “man” and “husband”, recorded from the Munich Codex of 1466.^[2][3] Kiss notes that dialects use it for “man” as opposed to “woman” and for “husband” as opposed to “wife”, and that the Slavic word for “human being” has the same dialect sense “husband” in many Slavic languages.^[8] The Székely az én emberem is “my husband”, and the dialect of Szeged also uses it for a common-law husband.^[9][10]

The derivatives are early: emberi “human”, emberke “little man” and embercse in the Jókai Codex, emberség in the Besztercei word list of about 1395, emberséges in 1527 and embertelen “inhuman” from about 1535.^[3][2] Emberiség first meant “being human” (1645), later (1789) “mankind”.^[2][3] In the Transylvanian records embere valaminek means “able to do something”, and az ember halandó “man is mortal” is a set saying.^[11]

Timeline

• About 1195 – ember “human being” in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.^[2][3]
• 1237 – Embvrd, a personal name formed from the word.^[2][3]
• After 1372 (copy of about 1448) – emberi and emberke in the Jókai Codex.^[2][3]
• About 1395 – embersíg in the Besztercei word list.^[2][3]
• 1466 – the sense “man; husband” in the Munich Codex.^[2][3]
• 1527 – emberséges in the Érdy Codex.^[3]
• About 1535 – the first record of embertelen.^[3]
• 1644 – megembereli magát “pulls himself together”.^[2][3]
• 1789 – emberiség “mankind”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. human being: the species Homo sapiens; also all people taken together, mankind.^[12][1]
2. A person, an individual; anyone, somebody; in negative sentences nobody: Egy ember sem jött el.^[12][1]
3. az ember: one, people in general, often meaning the speaker: Az ember sosem tudhatja. “One never knows.”^[12]
4. In indignant or emphatic address: Ember, mit csinálsz?^[12]
5. A real man or woman, someone who meets what is expected of them: Légy ember!^[12][13]
6. (dialectal) A man as opposed to a woman; a husband: az én emberem “my husband”.^[9][10][1]
7. Someone's man: a trusted follower or friend;^[14][11] embere valaminek: able to do something.^[14][11]

Word family

• emberi
• emberies
• emberietlen
• emberiség
• emberke
• emberség
• embertelen
• emberséges

Related words

• férj
• emse

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 q r Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 759
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
4. ^ a b c Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
5. ^ a b Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 367
6. ^ a b c d Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 150
7. ^ Bárczi, Géza (1941), Magyar szófejtő szótár, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 44
8. ^ Kiss, Lajos (1976), Szláv tükörszók és tükörjelentések a magyarban, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó (Nyelvtudományi Értekezések 92), p. 50
9. ^ a b Kriza, János (1863), Vadrózsák: székely népköltési gyűjtemény (with its Tájszótár), Kolozsvár
10. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 371
11. ^ a b c Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 3, 137
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
14. ^ a b Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság