Etymologically
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jön

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Pronunciation

Forms

jön[1] The older dictionary form is jő, and the stem has two shapes, jöv- (jövök, jövő) and jö- (jönni, jött).[2][3] Regional forms include gyön, gyün, gyű, jü, gyin and dzsün.[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Ugric *jȣ̈ŋɜ- (“to come”) (also reconstructed as *jȣ̈γɜ- or *jȣ̈kɜ-), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Ugric period, perhaps already from the Finno-Ugric one.[4][5][6][3] Wiktionary sets it under Proto-Uralic *jᴕ̈ɣɜ-.[1] Its sure relatives are in the Ob-Ugric languages: Mansi ji-, Mansi jäj- and Mansi jüw- “to come”, and Khanty jö̆- “to come, to arrive”.[5][3] Finnish jäädä (“to stay, remain”) may belong here too, but the difference in meaning makes it doubtful.[4][2]

In Hungarian the original stem was probably something like ⟨jäß⟩ or ⟨jöü⟩, and the present stem variants grew out of it in two directions.[5][6] The short ⟨ö⟩ arose in suffixed forms, as older Old Hungarian jőni became jönni and jőnek became jönnek; the dictionary form was then drawn back from the plural, taking the place of the older jő.[4][5][2] The old imperative jövel (“come!”) only looks as if it contained the preverb el.[5]

TESz explains all the senses from an original “to approach”.[4] A Turkic origin, once proposed, is rejected.[4] Hadrovics suggested from the meanings that this verb and jut might go back to one stem, as folyik and fut might, without arguing the etymology himself.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Jókai Codex, copied about 1448 from a translation made after 1372, in the forms yewue, yew and yewel; the sense there is “to approach, to come; to arrive somewhere”.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Jókai Codex already shows the verb in three senses: coming towards a place, going or moving on, and coming in time, following.[4][5] “To come from, to arise” follows in the Munich Codex of 1466, “to fall upon, attack” in a text of 1510 (valakire jön), “to get into a state” in Bessenyei in 1777, and “(of money) to be due for something” in Gvadányi in 1793.[4][5]

The derivatives are old: jövendő “coming; the future” and jövés in the Jókai Codex, jövetel and jövevény “newcomer, stranger” in the Vienna Codex, jövedelem “income” in 1474 and jövendöl “to prophesy” in Heltai in 1566.[5][6] The language reform added jövedék (1801), and jövedelmez “to yield” appears in Kazinczy's letters in 1808.[5][6]

In the dialects the verb is mostly gyün or gyön, with idioms such as magához gyün “to come to” and világra gyün “to be born” in Szeged.[8] In Csűry's Szamoshát material it also means “to stretch, reach”, “to belong in a place” and “to bump into”.[9]

Timeline

  • 1372–1448 – yewue, yew, yewel “to come” in the Jókai Codex, which also has jövendő and jövés.[4][5]
  • 1416–1450 – jövetel and jövevény in the Vienna Codex.[5]
  • 1466 – “to come from, to arise” in the Munich Codex.[5]
  • 1474 – jövedelem “income” in the Birk Codex.[5]
  • 1510 – valakire jön “to attack someone”.[4][5]
  • 1566 – jövendöl “to prophesy” in Heltai's fables.[5]
  • 1575 – the dialect form gyüvén “coming”.[4][5]
  • 1777 – “to get into a state”.[4][5]
  • 1793 – “(of money) to be due”.[4][5]
  • 1801 – jövedék, a word of the language reform.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To come: to move towards the place where the speaker is, or where the story is set: Holnap reggel jön a postás.[10][1]
  2. To come along, to go with the speaker as a companion: Jössz velünk a moziba?[10]
  3. (of a vehicle) To approach, to be on its way here.[10]
  4. (regional) To go for someone, to attack: nekem jön.[10][9]
  5. To come in time; to follow, to be next in a sequence: Most te jössz.[1][4]
  6. To get into a state: izgalomba jön “to become excited”, mozgásba jön “to start moving”.[1][4]
  7. To come from, to originate, to arise.[4][5]
  8. (colloquial) To owe someone (-nak/-nek); (of money) to be due: Mennyivel jövök?[1][4]

Word family

  • jövedelem
  • jövevény
  • jövendő
  • jövendöl
  • jövetel
  • jövedék
  • Mansi ji-
  • Khanty jö̆-

Usage notes

The imperative is jöjj, in everyday speech gyere, and in older language jer.[10] The second person plural present is jöttök, or rarely and familiarly jösztök.[10] Many verbs are formed with preverbs: bejön, kijön, eljön, rájön and others.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 340
  3. ^ a b c Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 281
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  6. ^ a b c d Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  7. ^ Hadrovics, László (1975), Szavak és szólások, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó (Nyelvtudományi Értekezések 88), p. 59
  8. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 663
  9. ^ a b Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 1, 436
  10. ^ a b c d e f Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu