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Etymology and origin of the Hungarian word fog

fog1 to hold

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1138 personal name in a charter (copy of 1329)
Inherited from
Proto-Ugric *puŋɜ-
Ultimate origin
Proto-Ugric *puŋɜ-

Pronunciation

Forms

fog[1]

Etymology

The verb “to hold, to catch” is inherited from Proto-Ugric *puŋɜ- (“to catch, to seize”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Ugric period.[2][3][4][5][1] Its only cognate is in Mansi: Mansi pow- (“to seize, to catch”).[2][3][4]

The medial Ugric /ŋ/ became Hungarian /g/, as in fogoly and mög;[2][3] the MSzFE traces it through a fricative stage, /ŋ/ > /ɣ/ > /g/, while in Mansi the same consonant became /ɣ/ or /w/.[5] Zaicz reconstructs the Ugric form as *puv- instead.[4] Several Komi, Udmurt, Mordvin and Estonian verbs have been compared with it, but the MSzFE rejects them for reasons of meaning.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in the personal name Fugou in a charter of 1138, known from a copy of 1329.[2][3] The first record as a common word is fugwa in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary of the middle of the 13th century, where it means “to seize, to hold tight”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

ÚESz and EWUng derive the many senses from two old ones, “to seize, hold” and “to catch (an animal), take prisoner”, the latter recorded in the Schlägl glossary of about 1405.[2][3] The codices add “to conceive, become pregnant”, “to perceive, understand”, “to catch in the act” and “to work, take effect” (of a tool) in the early 15th century;[2][3] “to harness” follows about 1456, “(of an illness or a feeling) to overcome” in 1488, “to hire” in 1508, and “to train, accustom” and “to begin” about 1519.[2][3]

The use as an auxiliary of the future, with an infinitive, is recorded from the Jókai Codex (a text written after 1372); ÚESz derives it from the sense “to begin”, which it takes to be old as well.[2][3] Czuczor and Fogarasi described írni fogok as an inceptive future, “I set about writing”.[6] In the Szeged dialect the future was still formed with majd and the present tense, and fog with an infinitive was felt as new and stilted.[7] The Székely dialect keeps “to begin”: Mit fogsz beszélni? “What are you starting to say?”[8] The preverb compounds and modern technical senses, such as receiving a radio station, grew partly under the influence of phrases with tart “hold” and vesz “take”.[2][3]

Among the derivatives are fogó “tongs; grip”, fogság “captivity”, fogás “grip, catch”, fogantyú “handle” (about 1560, a noun from the present participle of an old momentaneous verb in -nt), fogat “team, carriage” (1649) and fogékony “receptive” (1812).[4][2] The verb was borrowed, in the sense of befog “to harness”, as Romanian hodlui (“to put on extra draught oxen”).[9]

Timeline

  • 1138 – the personal name Fugou, in a copy of 1329.[2][3]
  • mid-13th century – fugwa “to seize” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[2][3]
  • after 1372 – the future auxiliary in the Jókai Codex, copied about 1448.[2]
  • c. 1405 – “to catch (an animal)” in the Schlägl glossary.[2]
  • after 1416 – “to conceive” in the Vienna Codex.[2]
  • c. 1456 – “to harness”.[2]
  • c. 1519 – “to begin” and “to accustom” in the Debrecen Codex.[2]
  • c. 1560 – the derivative fogantyú “handle”.[4]
  • 1649 – fogat “team, carriage”.[4]
  • 1855 – fogda “jail”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hold, to keep gripped in the hand or with something: Fogd meg a létrát![10][1]
  2. To take hold of, to grasp: fegyvert fog “to take up arms”.[10][1]
  3. To catch, to capture an animal or a person: halat fog, tolvajt fog.[1][6]
  4. Of glue, a tool and the like: to hold fast; of a knife, to cut; of a pen, to write; of dye, to come off.[10][1]
  5. To harness, to yoke: lovat fog a kocsiba.[6][2]
  6. To receive a radio or television station.[1]
  7. With rajta: to have an effect on: Nem fog rajta a szép szó.[1][11]
  8. With -ra: to impute something to someone, often falsely.[10]
  9. (auxiliary) With an infinitive, in the present indicative: will, going to, forming the future: Holnap írni fogok.[1][6]
  10. fogja magát (és): to up and do something, abruptly.[1]

Word family

  • fogad
  • fogalom
  • fogás
  • fogó
  • fogság
  • fogantyú
  • fogat
  • fogékony
  • foglal
  • fogható
  • megfog
  • elfog
  • befog
  • felfog
  • hozzáfog
  • összefog

fog2 tooth

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1138 personal name in a charter (copy of 1329)
Inherited from
Proto-Uralic *piŋe
Ultimate origin
Proto-Uralic *piŋe

Pronunciation

Forms

fog (plural fogak)[1]

Etymology

The noun “tooth” is inherited from Proto-Uralic *piŋe (“tooth”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Finno-Ugric period.[2][3][4][12][13][1] Its cognates are Mansi päŋk, Khanty pöŋk, Komi-Zyrian piń, Udmurt piń, Eastern Mari pü, Erzya pej, Moksha pej, Finnish pii (“tooth; prong”) and Estonian pii (“prong, tooth”).[13][2]

The Hungarian vowel /o/ is explained by the rounding effect of the initial /p/ and the backing effect of the medial /ŋ/;[2][12] Finno-Ugric /ŋ/ became Hungarian /g/, as in egér “mouse” and jég “ice”.[2][3] Bárczi found the back vowel surprising beside the front vowels of the cognates.[14] Some scholars have also connected a Finnish word of the same form meaning “flint” and a Nenets word for “stone”, and Räsänen compared Altaic words, but the MSzFE considers these links uncertain because of the difference in meaning.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the personal name Fugdi in a charter of 1138, known from a copy of 1329; ÚESz marks the sense “tooth” there with a query.[2][3] The plain sense is certain in the Jókai Codex (a text written after 1372, copied about 1448): fogayual “with its teeth”.[2][12]

Semantic evolution

The transferred sense “tooth, prong of a tool” is recorded after 1560; ÚESz compares the same transfer in Latin dens and French dent.[2][3] In the dialects fog also names the rung of a ladder and the teeth of a rake, a comb, a harrow or a saw.[15][16][17]

The derivative fogas “toothed” is a personal name in 1299 and an adjective in the Schlägl glossary of about 1405; it came to mean “clothes rack, peg board” in 1568 and “tricky (question)” in 1604.[2][3] Fogatlan “toothless” is also in the Schlägl glossary, fogzik “to teethe” and fogaz “to tooth” in Calepinus's dictionary of 1585, and the language reform added fogász “dentist” and fogászat “dentistry”, both recorded in 1841.[2]

Fogas was borrowed as Slovak fogaš (“peg rack, hook”), recorded from 1646.[18]

Timeline

  • 1138 – the personal name Fugdi, in a copy of 1329.[2][3]
  • 1299 – the personal name Fogos.[2]
  • after 1372 – fogayual “with its teeth” in the Jókai Codex, copied about 1448.[2][12]
  • c. 1405 – dens — fog, with fogas and fogatlan, in the Schlägl glossary.[19][2]
  • after 1560 – “prong, tooth of a tool”.[2]
  • 1568 – fogas “clothes rack”.[2]
  • 1585 – fogzik and fogaz in Calepinus's dictionary.[2]
  • 1646 – Slovak fogaš.[18]
  • 1841 – fogász and fogászat.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tooth, of a person or an animal.[10][1]
  2. A tooth or prong of a tool: of a saw, a comb, a rake or a harrow; a cog.[1][11]
  3. (dialectal) A rung of a ladder.[15][17]

Word family

  • fogas
  • fogatlan
  • fogaz
  • fogazat
  • fogász
  • fogászat
  • fogú
  • fogzik

Usage notes

Many idioms use the noun: fáj rá a foga “he longs for it”, beletörik a foga “he fails at it”, feni rá a fogát “he has his eye on it”.[11][17] The MSzFE numbers the noun first and the verb second, the reverse of ÚESz and EWUng.[12][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 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 n o p q r Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 445
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  5. ^ a b c Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 209
  6. ^ a b c d Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
  7. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 77
  8. ^ Kriza, János (1863), Vadrózsák: székely népköltési gyűjtemény (with its Tájszótár), Kolozsvár, p. 36
  9. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 436
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 460
  12. ^ a b c d e f Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 208
  13. ^ a b Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  14. ^ Bárczi, Géza (1941), Magyar szófejtő szótár, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 53
  15. ^ a b B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 465
  16. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 161
  17. ^ a b c Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 1, 294
  18. ^ a b Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 328
  19. ^ Szamota, István (1894), A schlägli magyar szójegyzék a XV. század első negyedéből, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 22

Related etymologies

  • jó · also from Proto-Ugric
  • jön · also from Proto-Ugric
  • vár · also from Proto-Ugric
  • át · also from Proto-Ugric
  • szó · also from Proto-Ugric
  • él · also from Proto-Ugric
  • lány · also from Proto-Ugric
  • tud · also from Proto-Uralic
Cite this entry

“Fog.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/hu/fog. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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