Etymologically
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mond

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Pronunciation

Forms

mond[1] Old and dialect forms: manda in the Jókai Codex (possibly a scribal error) and dialectal mand.[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Uralic *monɜ- (“to say, tell”), a stem of the Uralic period, with the Hungarian frequentative suffix -d.[2][4][5][1] ÚESz gives as cognates of the stem Eastern Mari mana- (“to say”), Erzya muńa- (“to bewitch”), Moksha məńa- (“to bewitch”), perhaps Finnish manata, Tundra Nenets mān- (“to say”), and a verb “to say, speak” in Kamassian.[4][5]

The comparison has phonetic difficulties, above all in the vowel of the first syllable.[4][5] MSzFE adds that the Mari word has a vowel that no certain Finno-Ugric word shows, and that the Mordvin /n/ does not fit; the Finnish verb may be a Germanic loan, or a native and a Germanic word merged in it.[6][2] The senses “to curse” in Finnish and “to bewitch” in Mordvin can have grown out of “to say”; compare the Hungarian phrase for “to pronounce a curse”, made of átok “curse” and this verb.[6][4]

Because the base verb went out of use early, the derivation was obscured already in Proto-Hungarian, as in áld and esd.[4][2] Budenz in 1873 compared it with Mari and Sami verbs and explained the verb as contracted from an older ⟨monod⟩, like kérd beside kér.[7] Collinder and Jensen compared it with Indo-European words such as Latin moneō (“to remind, warn”); ÚESz and TESz leave this comparison open.[6][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Funeral Sermon and Prayer of about 1195 says that God, giving Adam all the fruits of paradise, munda neki elnie, “told him to eat” of them.[2][4][6] TESz gives the old senses as “to say, speak, utter, name, assert”.[2]

Semantic evolution

A personal name Mondou, from the participle mondó, is recorded about 1202–1203.[4] The codices of the 15th century form the noun mondás “saying” and mondhatatlan “unspeakable”, and mondék “saying, expression”.[2][4] The noun mondat first meant “saying”.[2][4] It was taken up as a grammatical term in 1792, and has meant “sentence” since 1838.[4][2] The frequentative mondogat is first recorded about 1495, and mondóka “rhyme, little speech” in 1650.[2][5]

Besides “to say”, the ÉrtSz records “to recite, sing” (dated), “to think, suppose” (colloquial), “to state in writing”, “to name, call” and the folk sense “to forecast the weather”.[8] In Székely speech mond also means simply “to talk”: örökké csak mond, she talks all the time.[3] Szeged and Ormánság speech use mondok “I say” as a parenthetic word in stories.[9][10]

Slovak dialects borrowed the verb as Slovak mondovať (“to say, speak”), with mondokovať from the form mondok; these are expressive words that are dying out.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 1195 – munda “said” in the Funeral Sermon and Prayer.[2][4]
  • c. 1202–1203 – the personal name Mondou.[4]
  • after 1372 (copied c. 1448) – mondás, mondhatatlan and mondék in the Jókai Codex.[2][4]
  • after 1416 – mondat “saying” in the Vienna Codex.[2][4]
  • c. 1495 – mondogat “to keep saying” in the Guary Codex.[2][4]
  • 1650 – mondóka “rhyme, little speech”.[2][4]
  • 1792 – mondat as a grammatical term.[4]
  • 1830 – the Slovak dialect loan mondolovať “to say”.[11]
  • 1838 – mondat “sentence”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To say, tell: express something in words (to someone: -nak/-nek).[8][1]
  2. To utter, pronounce a sound, word or text aloud; to give a speech or say a prayer.[8]
  3. (dated) To recite or sing a song;[8][12] (poetic) to compose a poem.[8][12]
  4. (colloquial) To think, suppose (often as an aside: mondok “I thought”).[8][9]
  5. To state in writing or print; of a text, to say.[8]
  6. To name or call someone or something so; to declare something to be such.[8][13]
  7. (folk) To forecast the weather.[8][1]
  8. Of a thing or sign, to express a thought or feeling without words.[8]

Word family

  • amondó
  • mondás
  • mondat
  • mondogat
  • úgymond
  • mondhatatlan
  • mondóka
  • közmondás
  • mendemonda
  • monda

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 Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 948
  3. ^ a b Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 1, 1473
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  6. ^ a b c d Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 448
  7. ^ Budenz, József (1873–1881), Magyar–ugor összehasonlító szótár, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 628
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  9. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 165
  10. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 385
  11. ^ a b Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 605
  12. ^ a b Jakab, László; Bölcskei, Andrea (2000), Balassi-szótár, Debrecen (Számítógépes Nyelvtörténeti Adattár 8)
  13. ^ Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 2, 136