Etymologically
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fel

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Pronunciation

Forms

fel (comparative feljebb, superlative legfeljebb)[1] Old and dialect forms: fele (early 13th century), feol (about 1490), fely (about 1560), Fwl (1585), fél (1864); in the dialects fé, fë, fën.[2][3] Föl is a variant used in the same senses.[4][1]

Etymology

It is a lexicalised case form: the noun föl “upper part”, in its older variant with ⟨e⟩, took the lative suffix -é, giving felé “upwards”.[2][5][3][6] Before verbs, as a preverb, the final vowel shortened and then dropped from the second open syllable, which gave the present form; the same happened in el and meg.[2][5][3][6]

The noun goes back to Proto-Uralic *piδe (“tall, long”) or *piδe-kä, with a suffix.[3][6][7][1] Its cognates include Mansi pǟlt “length”, Khanty pĕt “high”, Finnish pitkä “long”, Tundra Nenets pirće “high” and Selkup pirgä “high”, and a Kamassian word meaning “high, big”.[3][6][7] The Finno-Ugric fricative /ð/ became /l/ in Hungarian, as in fal and velő.[3][6] TESz and the MSzFE took the word for Ugric, known only from Mansi and Khanty; ÚESz, following the UEW, adds the Finnic and Samoyedic words and dates it to the Uralic period.[8][9][3][7]

The comparative feljebb comes from the older Old Hungarian felébb or fellebb, whose /l/ became /j/ between vowels, as in beljebb.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the ribbons of the Königsberg Fragment, of the early 13th century, in the form fele “upwards”: fele … mvnyb[ele] ha tekunte “looked up into heaven”.[3][2] The noun föl is older in writing: it appears in the place name Felcopusi of 1219, in a copy of 1550.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

The adverb first expressed movement upwards, towards higher ground; from this came the locative sense “above, up” (1515) and the figurative “up, awake” (1700) and “haughtily” (1880).[2][3] As a word of encouragement, “up!”, it is recorded in the Jókai Codex.[2][3] Around the 14th century it became a preverb, marking rising, reaching a higher position, supplying something, and the start or completion of an action.[2][3]

In compounds the noun fel means “upper, higher”: felszél “north wind” (about 1405), felház “upper room, storey” (1508), felvég and felszeg “the upper end of a village”, and felperes “plaintiff” (1517), formed in contrast with alperes “defendant”.[2][5] Words of the language reform were formed with the preverb after German models: felvilágosodás “Enlightenment” (1789) after German Aufklärung, felfogás “understanding” (1815) after Auffassung, and felvonás “act of a play” (1778) after Aufzug.[5]

The noun is now rare and dialectal;[8][4][1] tejföl, the cream on milk, keeps it.[8][4][1] In the dialects the adverb also means “to the north” and “in addition”.[10]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – fele “upwards” in the ribbons of the Königsberg Fragment.[3]
  • c. 1405 – fel ʒel “north wind” in the Schlägl Glossary.[2]
  • c. 1448 – fel as a preverb, as a call of encouragement, and the comparative felyeb, in the Jókai Codex (copy of a text written after 1372).[2][3]
  • 1508 – fölhazaba “into his upper room” in the Döbrentei Codex.[2]
  • 1515 – “above, up”, of position.[2][3]
  • 1517 – föl pöröfoknek, the first record of felperes “plaintiff”.[2]
  • 1700 – “up, awake”.[2][3]
  • 1789 – fel világosodás “Enlightenment”.[5]
  • 1880 – “haughtily”.[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. up, upward: to a higher place, into the air, upstairs, or up a slope: Nézz fel az égre![4][1]
  2. Towards the source of a river, or to the northern part of a country.[4][10]
  3. Up to the capital, from the provinces: felmegy Pestre.[4]
  4. Up a scale or a hierarchy, to a higher rank or authority.[4]
  5. fel és alá, alá s fel: up and down, to and fro.[4][11]
  6. (dated) Above, up (of position).[2][11]

Preverb

  1. Marks movement upwards (felmegy “go up”), reaching a surface or a higher state, and the start or completion of an action (felébred “wake up”, felolvas “read out”).[4][2]

Interjection

  1. Up!: a call to action or to battle; get up!; get on!: Fel, fel, magyarok, a csatára![4][12]

Noun

  1. (rare, dialectal) The upper part, the surface of something; the skin or cream on milk: a variant of föl.[4][1]

Word family

  • feljebb
  • felperes
  • felszél
  • felház
  • felvég
  • föl
  • felé
  • fenn
  • felett
  • fölött
  • felső
  • Finnish pitkä

Usage notes

Fel and föl are interchangeable in the standard language; the ÉrtSz and Wiktionary treat the noun as a variant of föl.[4][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 Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 869
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  5. ^ a b c d e Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  6. ^ a b c d e Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  7. ^ a b c Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  8. ^ a b c d Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 964
  9. ^ Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 193
  10. ^ a b B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 332
  11. ^ a b Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 3, 830
  12. ^ Ballagi, Mór (1867–1873), A magyar nyelv teljes szótára, 2 vols., Pest: Heckenast, p. 365