Etymologically
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ismer

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Pronunciation

Forms

ismer[1] Old and regional forms are esmer, esmér, ösmer, üsmer and ismér; ÚESz thinks the forms with ⟨i-⟩ may be the original ones.[2][1][3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][4][1] ÚESz and Zaicz take it as perhaps a derivative of a stem that is not found on its own and whose origin is unknown: the final ⟨-r⟩ would be a frequentative suffix, and the ⟨-m-⟩ inside the word looks like a suffix of inception.[2][4] The senses go back to an assumed original meaning “to find out, learn by experience, come to know”.[2][4]

Budenz compared Finnish ymmärtää (“to understand”) and Udmurt vizmo (“sensible”).[5] Bárczi rejected both the Finno-Ugric and an Indo-Iranian derivation.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, eſmeríuc “we know”, is in the Königsberg Fragment, a text of the early 13th century known from a later copy; the sense is “to know who or what someone or something is”, and the same text has the sense “to be convinced”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The codices add “to come to know, become acquainted with”, chiefly with meg- (Jókai Codex), and in the Munich Codex the biblical sense “to lie with someone” and “to notice”.[2] The sense “to acknowledge as true” (1767) now lives only in elismer.[2] Old glosses render it with Latin cognoscere, noscere and scire.[7]

The derivatives are early: ismeret “knowledge”, ismeretes “known” and ismeretlen “unknown” in the Jókai Codex, ismerős “acquaintance” as a personal name in 1413, ismerkedik “to get acquainted” in 1506 and ismertet “to make known” in 1508.[2][4] The language reform abstracted isme “knowledge” (1806), which lives on as the second part of compounds such as kórisme “diagnosis”.[2][4][6]

In Transylvanian records of the 16th–19th centuries it means to know a person or thing, to recognise a lost object, and to get to know someone.[8] The Szeged saying ismeri résit, lukát “he knows its every crack and hole” means to know something thoroughly.[9]

Timeline

  • 1200s – eſmeríuc in the Königsberg Fragment (copy of an early 13th-century text).[2][4]
  • 1372 – “to come to know” and the derivatives ismeret, ismeretes and ismeretlen in the Jókai Codex (copied about 1448).[2][4]
  • 1413 – Esmerews, a personal name, the first record of ismerős.[2]
  • 1416 – “to lie with” and “to notice” in the Munich Codex (copied 1466).[2]
  • 1506 – ismerkedik in the Winkler Codex.[2][4]
  • 1508 – ismertet in the Döbrentei Codex.[2][4]
  • 1767 – “to acknowledge”.[2]
  • 1806 – isme, a word of the language reform.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To know someone or something from having seen or heard of them; to be acquainted with: Régóta ismerem a szomszédot.[10][1]
  2. To know a book or a piece of music, having read or heard it.[10]
  3. To be versed in a field, to understand something well: jól ismeri a szakmáját.[10]
  4. (rare) To have experienced something;[10] (dated) with a negative, to have had no sexual relations.[10]
  5. To take account of, reckon with; with a negative, to take no notice of something or not to hold it valid for oneself.[10]
  6. To recognise someone or something (with -ra/-re).[10]

Word family

  • ismeret
  • ismeretes
  • ismeretlen
  • ismerős
  • ismerkedik
  • ismertet
  • megismer
  • elismer
  • isme

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  3. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 957
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  5. ^ Budenz, József (1873–1881), Magyar–ugor összehasonlító szótár, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 822
  6. ^ a b Bárczi, Géza (1941), Magyar szófejtő szótár, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 82
  7. ^ Berrár, Jolán; Károly, Sándor (1984), Régi magyar glosszárium: szótárak, szójegyzékek és glosszák egyesített szótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  8. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 5, 802
  9. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 640
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu