lesz

Forms

lesz^[1] The verb has a suppletive paradigm: past lett, infinitive lenni, imperative legyen, participle lévő, levő; the old form lészen and the past lőn survive in literary language.^[2][1] Dialects have lessz and lösz.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Uralic *le- (“to be, become, live”), a stem of the Finno-Ugric period, with a Hungarian suffix.^[3][5][6][1] ÚESz and Zaicz give as cognates of the stem Komi-Zyrian lo- (“to become, be”), Udmurt lu- (“to be; can be”), Eastern Mari liä- (“to become; to give birth (of animals)”), Finnish lienee (“may be”) and Northern Sami lǣ- (“to be, live”), and perhaps Erzya ľevks (“young of an animal”).^[3][5] Paasonen and Collinder also compared a Yukaghir verb of the same shape and meaning.^[6][3]

The final -sz was a frequentative suffix; it became a mark of the present tense and then part of the stem.^[3][5][1] The ⟨v⟩ of levő and other old forms is probably a glide that arose in Proto-Hungarian between vowels: an original ⟨v⟩ or ⟨j⟩ would have survived in Sami.^[3][6] The Mari “to give birth” and the Mordvin “young” match the old Hungarian senses “to be born” of this verb and “birth” of lét.^[6]

Wiktionary also treats it as the future of van, whose forms it supplies; that verb itself has a separate Finno-Ugric source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The stem may appear in Hungarian names in a Greek work of about 950, such as the place name Λεβεδία; ÚESz gives these as uncertain records of the sense “to exist”.^[3][5][6] The first sure records are in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer of about 1195, with levn and legenec; the sense there is “to become, to be”.^[3][6] In modern spelling the prayer asks for the saints hogy legyenek neki segéd Urunk színe előtt, “that they may be a help to him before our Lord”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Königsberg Fragment of the early 13th century has lesz “to happen, come to pass”, and the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary of the mid-13th century uses it in place of forms of van.^[3] The sense “to be born, to arise” is recorded in the Munich Codex (written after 1416).^[3][6] The Transylvanian records of the 16th century often use it of children being born: amikor ez világra lészen a gyermek, “when the child is born into this world”.^[8]

The derivatives are early too: lehet “may be, is possible” in the Königsberg Fragment, lehetetlen “impossible” and lehetetlenség in the Jókai Codex, lehetséges “possible” in the Munich Codex.^[3][5]

In the dialects the present form also expresses probability: Lessz az má vagy hetven esztendős, “he must be seventy by now”.^[9][4] Hova lett? asks where someone or something has gone.^[9][4]

Timeline

• c. 950 – Λεβεδία and other names in a Greek source, perhaps containing the stem.^[3][6]
• 1138 – Leue, a derived personal name.^[3]
• c. 1195 – legenec and levn in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.^[3][6]
• early 13th century – lesz “to happen” and the derivative lehet in the Königsberg Fragment.^[3]
• mid-13th century – lesz for forms of van in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.^[3]
• after 1372 (copied c. 1448) – lehetetlen and lehetetlenség in the Jókai Codex.^[3]
• after 1416 (copied 1466) – lesz “to be born” and lehetséges in the Munich Codex.^[3]
• 1578 – the form lészen.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. Will be: the future of van.^[1][4]
2. To become, turn into (from: -ból/-ből; into: nominative or -vá/-vé): Orvos lesz belőle.^[2][1]
3. To come into being, be made; of a person, animal or plant, to be born, to grow.^[2][1]
4. To happen, occur, come to pass.^[2][1]
5. To come to belong to someone; to get a name.^[2]
6. Must be, is probably (expressing likelihood).^[1][9][4]

Word family

• lehet
• lehetetlen
• lehetséges
• leendő
• lény
• meglesz
• odalesz

Related words

• van
• lét

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
4. ^ a b c d e Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 40
5. ^ a b c d e Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 402
7. ^ Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
8. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 7, 1048
9. ^ a b c Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 2, 30