hall

hall¹ to hear

Pronunciation

• [ˈhɒlː]^[1]

Forms

hall^[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “to hear” probably arose from two old verbs that fell together: an old Old Hungarian *hal “to hear” and hadl “to listen, pay attention; learn of”.^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The first is inherited from Proto-Uralic *kule- (“to hear”), from the Finno-Ugric or perhaps the Uralic period.^[2][3][4] Its cognates are Mansi kₒāl-, Khanty kɔl-, Komi-Zyrian ki̮l-, Udmurt ki̮l-, Eastern Mari kola-, Erzya kuľe-, Moksha kuľe-, Finnish kuulla and Northern Sami gullât, all “to hear”; the Samoyedic words for “ear”, such as Selkup qō, belong here only if they lost a medial /l/.^[3][2][6] For the link between “to hear” and “ear” TESz compares Latin audiō (“to hear”) and auris (“ear”).^[2] ÚESz also notes similar words in Yukaghir and in Uyghur.^[3] TESz leaves a Turkic connection for further study.^[3][2]

The second verb is formed with the frequentative suffix -l on a stem of the Ugric or perhaps Finno-Ugric period: ÚESz reconstructs Proto-Ugric *kunta-lɜ- (“to hear, listen”); compare Mansi kantāl- (“to eavesdrop, listen”), a Khanty verb meaning “to hear”, and perhaps Finnish kuunnella (“to listen”).^[3][4][2] Finno-Ugric *nt gave Hungarian /d/, as in fed and lúd, and ⟨dl⟩ became ⟨ll⟩ as in palló.^[3][4] The doubled /lː/ of the modern verb comes from the second verb, and the sense “to hear” from the first.^[2][6]

Some scholars doubt the link with the Finnish word, and others see in the modern verb only the continuation of the second.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer of about 1195: the sermon says Hadlaua choltat terumteve isten tvl, ge feledeve “he heard of death from God his creator, but forgot it”; the sense there is already “to perceive by ear”.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Three further senses are recorded in the Jókai Codex (copied about 1448): “to learn of something”, “to listen to speech” and, less certainly, “to obey”.^[2][3] The last two faded as the derivative hallgat took them over.^[3] The derivative hallomás “hearsay” is the oldest, as a personal name of about 1280;^[2][3] hallás “hearing” follows about 1405, hallhatatlan after 1416, hallat “to let be heard” in 1508, and hallatszik “to be heard” in 1805.^[2][3]

The second person hallod, hallja is used to get attention, “listen!”, and dialects use the verb also for “to sense, feel”.^[7][8][9] In the Hungarian of Slovenia halljuk egymást “we'll hear each other” means “we'll talk on the phone”, after the Slovene expression se slišiva.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1195 – Hadlaua “he heard” in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.^[2][3]
• c. 1280 – Hallomas, a personal name, the first record of hallomás.^[2][3]
• c. 1380 – hallath “hearing” in the Königsberg word list.^[2]
• c. 1405 – halas (hallás) in the Schlägl word list.^[2][3]
• c. 1448 – “to learn of”, “to listen to” and “to obey” in the Jókai Codex (text written after 1372).^[2]
• c. 1450 – halhatatlan “immortal” in the Vienna Codex (text written after 1416).^[2]
• 1508 – hallat “to let be heard”.^[2][3]
• 1805 – hallatszik “to be heard”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hear: to perceive a sound by the ear: Hallom a harangszót.; also, to be able to hear.^[7][1]
2. To hear and understand speech: Nem hallom, mit mondasz.^[7]
3. To learn of something by hearsay, to hear that …: Azt hallottam, hogy elköltözött.^[7]
4. (archaic) To listen to someone, hear someone out.^[7]
5. hallod, hallja: used to call attention, “listen!”, or to stress what follows.^[7]

Word family

• hallatszik
• hallgat
• hallható
• hallomás
• áthall
• kihall
• meghall
• viszonthall
• hallás
• hallat
• hallatlan
• halhatatlan

hall² hall, lobby

Etymology tree of hall²

inherited borrowed derived

English hall

Hungarian hall

From the same root · hall²

English hallway ← hall

Pronunciation

• [ˈhɒlː]^[1]

Forms

hall (plural hallok)^[1]

Etymology

The noun meaning “hall, entrance room” is borrowed from English hall, an international word spread from English.^[2][3][4] It probably came into Hungarian straight from English: German has Hall later than Hungarian, and for a long time used only its own cognate Halle.^[11][3] Wiktionary instead derives the Hungarian word from the German one.^[1]

The English word and the German one go back to Proto-Germanic *hallō (“hall”), which is compared with Latin cella (“storeroom, small room”).^[12][13][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1840, in Szemere Bertalan's travel book, where the writer says he visited all the colleges and their halls, glossing hall with terem “hall, chamber”.^[11][3][14] An English plural Halls had already been quoted in a Hungarian text of 1795.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “large hall, chamber; lobby, foyer” of hotels and theatres;^[11][15] Babos's dictionary of foreign words glossed it in 1865 as csarnok, oszlopcsarnok “hall, colonnade”.^[11][15] From 1889 it is also the inner room of a city flat, behind the entrance, from which the other rooms open.^[11][3] The ÉrtSz gives this sense first: a larger room, often windowless, used for sitting and receiving guests as well as for passing through.^[7]

Timeline

• 1795 – the English plural Halls, quoted in a Hungarian text.^[11]
• 1840 – hall “hall, chamber”, in Szemere Bertalan.^[11][3]
• 1865 – in Babos's dictionary of foreign words.^[15][11]
• 1889 – the inner hall of a city flat.^[11][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. In a city flat: a larger room near the entrance, often without windows, from which the other rooms open, used also for sitting: A vendégeket a hallban fogadták.^[7][1]
2. A spacious lobby or foyer of a hotel, theatre or large house.^[7][1]

Word family

• hallos