gyermek

Forms

gyermek (plural gyermekek)^[1] The everyday form is gyerek, recorded from 1660; the dialects also have dzsermëk and gyermök.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[3] EWUng, Zaicz and Wiktionary take it as a loan made before the Hungarian conquest from a Turkic language of the Chuvash type, borrowed from Proto-Oghur *ǰärmük (“young; child”), with Róna-Tas and Berta listing the reconstructed West Old Turkic form.^{[6][7][1][3][8]} The Turkic word is compared with Chuvash ҫамрӑк (śamrăk, “young; boy, child”) and with the Tatar and Bashkir personal name ⟨Jermäk⟩; the initial /ɟ/ is as in gyalom.^[3][6][1] The weakness of this view is that among the Turkic languages only Chuvash has the word as a common noun, and that it leaves the form without /m/, gyerek, unexplained.^[3][6][7]

ÚESz also gives an Ugric explanation: a stem Proto-Ugric *ńäγrä (“young animal”) with the Hungarian noun suffix -k, compare Mansi ńɔ̄wer (“foal”) and Khanty ńewrem (“child”);^[3] Turkic would then have helped to shape the initial /ɟ/.^[3] Against it speaks the short /ɛ/ of the first syllable where a long vowel would be expected.^[3] Bárczi found neither view very likely.^[9]

TESz calls the word of unknown origin and rejects both the Finno-Ugric comparison and the Turkic derivation.^[2] It takes the form with /m/ for the older one and suggests that the /m/ may be a suffix, so that one form would have the suffixes ⟨-m⟩ and ⟨-k⟩ and the other ⟨-k⟩ alone; how the two forms are related is unclear.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest text with the word is the Königsberg Fragment, which ÚESz dates to the early 13th century and TESz to about 1350: ez nem ygeb germuk hanum yſten, “this child is no other than God”.^[3][2] TESz's earliest dated records are the place names Gyermukziget (1341) and Germecharazth (1344) in Latin charters.^[2][10] The sense is “child, young person”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “child, young person; one's own child”, has been the main one throughout.^[2][3] “Boy” is recorded in Transylvania in 1570 and in Szeged in 1728; dialects in Beszterce-Naszód and the Palóc region still say gyermek for a son as against a daughter.^[3][2][11] A Latin account of 1500 uses gyermek for a servant boy, Latin laicellus.^[12] The figurative “consequence, result” appears in 1810 and “descendant” in Vörösmarty's Zalán (1819–1825).^[2][3]

The derivatives gyermekség “childhood” and gyermekded “little child” are in the Vienna Codex (about 1450), gyermektelen “childless” from 1559 and gyermekes from 1571;^[3][7] gyerkőc “lad” is first recorded in 1678.^[3][7] Gyermeteg “childish, naive” is a word of the language reform, perhaps coined by Szemere Pál.^[2][3]

The form gyerek appears in 1660 and has become the common word, beside which gyermek is formal or elevated.^[2][4] Polish borrowed the word as Polish giermek (“squire, page”).^[3][6][7]

Timeline

• early 13th century (TESz: about 1350) – germuk in the Königsberg Fragment.^[3][2]
• 1341 – the place name Gyermukziget in a Latin charter.^[2]
• c. 1450 – gyermekség and gyermekded in the Vienna Codex.^[2][3]
• 1559 – gyermektelen “childless”.^[3][7]
• 1570 – “boy” in Transylvania.^[3]
• 1660 – gyereket, the first record of the form gyerek.^[2][3]
• 1678 – gyerkőc “lad”.^[3]
• 1810 – “consequence, result”.^[2][3]
• 1847 – gyermeteg “childish”.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal) A child, a person not yet grown up.^[4][1]
2. (dated or dialectal) A boy; a lad.^[4][1][11]
3. Someone's child, son or daughter, of whatever age.^[4][1]
4. A descendant; a child of a people or an age: korának gyermeke.^[4]
5. (figurative) The product or consequence of something.^[4][2]

Word family

• gyermekes
• gyermeki
• gyermekség
• gyermekded
• gyermektelen
• gyermekcse
• gyermeteg
• gyerkőc

Usage notes

Gyerek is the ordinary word in speech and most writing;^[4][5] gyermek belongs to formal, official and elevated style.^[4][5] The proverb néma gyermeknek anyja sem érti szavát, “not even the mother understands a mute child”, means that one must speak up to be helped.^[13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 1128
3. ^ 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 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 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 Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 532
6. ^ a b c d Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 540
7. ^ a b c d e f g Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
8. ^ Róna-Tas, András; Berta, Árpád (2011), West Old Turkic: Turkic Loanwords in Hungarian, 2 vols., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Turcologica 84); word list via Lexibank
9. ^ Bárczi, Géza (1941), Magyar szófejtő szótár, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 64
10. ^ Szamota, István; Zolnai, Gyula (1902–1906), Magyar oklevél-szótár, Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 317
11. ^ a b Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 752
12. ^ Harmatta, János; Boronkai, Iván; Szovák, Kornél et al. (eds.) (1987–), Lexicon latinitatis medii aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Argumentum
13. ^ Jakab, László; Bölcskei, Andrea (2000), Balassi-szótár, Debrecen (Számítógépes Nyelvtörténeti Adattár 8)
14. ^ Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 1, 340