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mert

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Pronunciation

Forms

mert[1] Old and dialect forms include mer, mért, mört, myrt, met, mett and mé.[2][3]

Etymology

It arose by the splitting of one word into two: it is a variant of the question word miért “why?” that separated from it in form and meaning.[2][3][4] The question word is from Hungarian mi (“what”) + -ért (“for”), the interrogative pronoun with the causal suffix; its old variant Old Hungarian meret was shortened in unstressed position in the sentence.[3][2][4][1] The pronoun mi goes back to the Uralic interrogative Proto-Uralic *mɜ (“what”).[5]

The question word became a conjunction in pairs of clauses that refer to each other, through a relative use: “why?” > “for which reason” > “because”, the same path as merre, meddig and míg.[2][3] The old sense “that” is a semantic loan from Latin quia (“because; that”), and the sense “otherwise” grew out of phrases meaning “for otherwise”.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A possible first record is merth in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary, of the 13th century, but its sense is uncertain: it may be the conjunction or still the question word “why?”.[2][3] The conjunction is certain in the Königsberg Fragment of about 1350: mert ha yften ev num uolna “for if he were not God”.[2]

Semantic evolution

The causal sense “because, for” has always been the main one; the Munich Codex of 1466 uses the word hundreds of times in the four Gospels, for both “because” and “that”.[6] The sense “that”, after Latin quia, appears in the Jókai Codex (copied about 1448), “otherwise” from 1598, and “but, rather” from 1882.[2][3]

Transylvanian records of the 16th–19th centuries show mert giving the reason, explaining, “otherwise” after a command or prohibition, and stressing a self-evident denial, “for of course”.[7] In the dialects it can also mean “but” after a negative clause.[8]

Timeline

  • about 1300 (13th century in ÚESz) – ? merth in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[2][3]
  • about 1350 – mert “for, because” in the Königsberg Fragment.[2]
  • after 1372 (copy of about 1448) – mer and Myert, and the sense “that”, in the Jókai Codex.[2][3]
  • 1466 – the Munich Codex uses mert throughout the Gospels.[6]
  • 1598 – the sense “otherwise”.[2][3]
  • 1882 – the sense “but, rather”.[2][3]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. because, since: introduces the real reason for what the main clause says: Nem jött el, mert beteg volt.[9][1]
  2. For, as: gives the speaker's grounds for a statement, request or prohibition.[9]
  3. (after a command or prohibition) Or else, otherwise: Siess, mert lekésed a vonatot![9][2]
  4. (after a negative clause) For of course; but.[9][8]
  5. (colloquial) Introduces a defiant repetition of a question or statement without giving a reason: Mert csak.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 903
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  4. ^ a b Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  5. ^ Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  6. ^ a b Szabó T., Ádám (ed.) (1985), A Müncheni Kódex szókincse (Der Wortschatz des Münchener Kodex), with the text of the Müncheni Kódex 1466 ed. Antal Nyíri and Gyula Décsy, Budapest
  7. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 9, 148
  8. ^ a b B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  9. ^ 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