Etymologically
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mint

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Pronunciation

Forms

Old and dialect forms: ment (13th century), mynd (1527); in the dialects min, mind, mend and mün.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a lexicalised case form: from Hungarian mi (“what”) + -n + -t, the pronoun “what?” with the suffix of manner and the locative suffix, as in naponta and havonta.[2][5][3][6][1] It was probably first an interrogative, “how?, in what way?”.[2][3][6]

TESz finds the explanation with a suffix -int or -ént less likely, and rejects the separation of the word from the pronoun and its derivation from Turkic.[2]

The pronoun goes back to Proto-Uralic *mɜ (“what; thing”); its cognates include Mansi män, Komi-Zyrian mi̮j, Udmurt ma, Eastern Mari ma, Erzya meźe, Finnish mikä and Northern Sami mī.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Königsberg Fragment, of the early 13th century: Ez oz yſten mynt [evt] esmeriuc “this is God, as we know him”, where mint is a relative adverb, “as, the way”.[3][2] The ribbons of the same fragment have the form ment.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the interrogative “how?” the word became a relative adverb in sentences whose clauses referred to each other, as meddig and merre did; its senses of measure and circumstance (“how much?”, “by how much”, “about”) come from the same source.[2][3][6] The temporal sense “when, as soon as”, recorded about 1456, follows the common change from place to time.[2]

Used in clauses of manner and state, it became the conjunction of comparison, “than, as, like”, by the time of the Jókai Codex; elliptical comparisons gave the senses “for example” in a list (about 1456) and “as, in the capacity of” (1474), and under the influence of mintha it could mean “as if” (1648).[2][3][6] It early became the first part of conjunctions such as mintha and minthogy: mynt ha is in the Domonkos Codex of 1517.[2]

In 16th-century Transylvania it was still a common question word: “how?”, “in what state?”, as in kerdezte mynt vagion “asked how he was”, and even “at what price?”.[8] The greeting Mint van kendtek? “How are you?” was still current in the 19th century.[9]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – mynt “as” in the Königsberg Fragment, and ment in its ribbons.[3][5]
  • c. 1448 – mint “how much!”, “as much as”, mint … annál “the more … the more”, and the conjunction of comparison, in the Jókai Codex (copy of a text written after 1372).[2][3]
  • c. 1456 – “when, as soon as” and “for example” in the Sermones Dominicales.[2][3]
  • 1474 – “as, in the capacity of” in the Birk Codex.[2][3]
  • 1517 – mynt ha, the later mintha “as if”.[2]
  • 1553 – “about, approximately”.[2][3]
  • 1648 – “as if”.[2][3]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. than, introducing the second term of a comparison of unequal degrees: Péter magasabb, mint a bátyja.[10][1]
  2. as … as, like, in comparisons of equal degree or of likeness: Olyan fehér, mint a hó.[10][1]
  3. As, in the role or capacity of: Mint orvos, ezt nem javaslom.[10][1]
  4. Such as, for example, in a list (often úgymint).[2][10]

Adverb

  1. (formal) How?, in what way?;[10][1] How are you? (asking about someone's state): Mint érzed magad?[10][1]
  2. (exclamatory) How much!, how greatly![10]
  3. (slightly formal) As, the way that (relative): Úgy történt, mint mondtam.[10][1]

Word family

  • mintha
  • minthogy
  • amint
  • valamint
  • úgymint
  • mi
  • meddig
  • merre
  • miként

Usage notes

Before a vowel the final consonant is often pronounced /d/ in the dialects (mind a), and before a consonant it may drop (min).[11][12] Proverbs keep the old relative use: Ki mint vet, úgy arat “as you sow, so you reap”.[10][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 931
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  4. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 1463
  5. ^ a b Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  6. ^ a b c d Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  7. ^ Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  8. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 9, 279
  9. ^ Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  11. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 381
  12. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 160