Etymologically
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fiú

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Pronunciation

Forms

fiú (plural fiúk)[1] The possessive forms are built on the stem fi-: fiam, fiad, fia “my, your, his son”; forms such as fiúja belong to the senses “boyfriend” and “attendant”.[2][3] Old Hungarian had fió; dialects have fíj and fiju.[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Uralic *pojka (“son, boy”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Finno-Ugric period.[4][7][8][9][10] Its cognates are Mansi püw, Komi-Zyrian pi, Udmurt pi, Finnish poika and Estonian poeg, all “son, boy”, with Mari ⟨püergə⟩ “man, boy” and Erzya pijo “grandchild” less certain.[7][10][11] Finno-Ugric *p- became Hungarian /f/.[7][8]

The ⟨i⟩ goes back to a back vowel ⟨*ï⟩, and the final ⟨ú⟩ to ⟨*γ⟩, from Finno-Ugric *k.[7][8] ÚESz explains the pair ⟨fiú⟩ : ⟨fia⟩ from Proto-Hungarian ⟨*foγ⟩ and the extended ⟨*foγá⟩.[7] Older views took the ⟨-ú⟩ (Old Hungarian ⟨-ó⟩) for a diminutive suffix, which TESz thought possible but less likely than a trace of the stem's own ⟨k⟩.[9][11][1] The short form fi, mostly the last part of compounds, is a later back-formation.[7][4] TESz rejects an Iranian connection;[11][1] Romanian fiu (“son”) only looks similar.[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are personal names in Latin charters: Fiod in 1135, and Fiodi, Fiusth and Fiasa in a list of 1138, known from a copy of 1329.[7][12] The Old Hungarian Lament of Mary of the 13th century has fyom “my son” and fyaal “with her son”.[12][7][9] The sense is “son”.[12]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “son, descendant”.[7][12] From it came “young of an animal” (about 1395), “native of a place” (1416), the address fiam “my son”, used to anyone regardless of sex (1527), and “boy, lad”, any male child or young man (1577).[7][12] By likeness of shape it came to mean a smaller thing of a kind (1553) and a drawer or compartment (1564), the sense of fiók, and in dialects a side shoot of a plant (1877).[12][6] In dialects egy fia means “a single piece”: nem volt ott egy fia dinnye se “there was not a single melon there”.[6][5]

The derivatives appear early: fias “having young” in names from 1138, fiod “little son” in the Lament of Mary, fiacska about 1372, fiúi “filial” about 1493, and fiadzik “to give birth to young” from 1697.[7][8][11]

Slovak took the address fiam “my son”, recorded from 1822, and fiók as Slovak fijok “drawer”.[13][14]

Timeline

  • 1135 – Fiod, a personal name.[7]
  • 1138 – Fiodi, Fiusth and Fiasa, personal names (copy of 1329).[7][12]
  • 13th century – fyom “my son” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[7][12]
  • c. 1372 – fiacska “little son” in the Jókai Codex (copied about 1448).[7]
  • c. 1395 – “young of an animal” in the Besztercei word list.[7]
  • 1527 – fiam as an address in the Érdy Codex.[7]
  • 1564 – “drawer, compartment”.[7]
  • 1577 – “boy, young man” in the Kolozsvár glossary.[7][12]
  • 1822 – Slovak fiam as an address, borrowed from Hungarian.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A boy: a male child.[2][1]
  2. A son: someone's male child, at any age: Az apja fia.[2][1]
  3. (vocative: fiam) A form of address to a son, or to any younger person.[2][4]
  4. A man born in or coming from a place: a falu fia.[2][4]
  5. A young man, a lad.[2]
  6. (colloquial) A boyfriend.[2][1]
  7. A young male assistant or attendant.[2]
  8. (plural: fiúk) Used in address among friends, classmates or teammates: Gyertek, fiúk![2]
  9. (dialectal) The young of an animal; a drawer.[5][6]

Word family

  • fiacska
  • fias
  • fiadzik
  • fiúcska
  • atyafi
  • férfi
  • úrfi
  • fi
  • fiók
  • fiatal
  • ifjú
  • Finnish poika

Usage notes

fi survives mostly in compounds: atyafi, férfi, úrfi and patronymic surnames such as Péterfi.[3][4]

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 Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  3. ^ a b Horger, Antal (1924), Magyar szavak története: közérdekű magyar szófejtések gyűjteménye, Budapest: Kókai
  4. ^ a b c d e f Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  5. ^ a b c Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  6. ^ a b c d Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  9. ^ a b c Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 206
  10. ^ a b Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  11. ^ a b c d e Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 926
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 925
  13. ^ a b Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 319
  14. ^ Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 320