Etymologically
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most

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Pronunciation

Forms

most[1] Old and dialect forms include mast, mostan, mostég and moszt.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a fixed case form, from Hungarian ma + -st: the old adverb, which then still meant “now”, with the suffix group -st in an emphatic function, as in örömest and egyenest.[2][3][4][1] TESz describes the word as a stressed, emphatic form of the adverb, and thinks it was probably its rise that pushed the older sense “now” of the base into the background, leaving it the sense “today”.[2] An earlier derivation from a locative form ⟨*mol⟩ of the stem shared by the adverb and más is rejected.[2]

The variant mostan adds the suffix -n, here in a temporal function, as in majdan; the dialect endings /d/, /g/ and /k/ (mostand, mostanég, mostanék) are emphatic elements, as in itt and ott.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Munich Codex, a text translated after 1416 and copied in 1466: moſt, with the sense “at this time, now”.[2][3] The Munich Codex word list records it in Matthew 26:65.[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “now” has been the main one throughout.[2][3] A narrower sense, “just, just now”, appears in 1490 in a Latin–Hungarian glossary, and the paired most … most “now … now, at one time … at another” in 1664.[2][3] The derivatives mostani “present”, mostanában “lately, these days” and mostanság are all recorded around 1500.[2][3][4]

Transylvanian records of the 16th–18th centuries show most for the very moment, for the present time, and in akkor is, most is “then as now”.[6] In the dialects it also means “a moment ago”, and most a múlt héten is “just last week”.[7][8][9]

Timeline

  • after 1416 (copy of 1466) – moſt in the Munich Codex.[2][3]
  • 1490 – the sense “just, just now”, in a glossary.[2]
  • about 1493 – mast, mastan and mastany (modern mostani) in the Festetics Codex.[2]
  • 1510 – mostanában “lately”.[2][3]
  • about 1519 – mostanság “nowadays”, in the Debrecen Codex.[3]
  • 1604 – Szenczi Molnár glosses it with Latin nunc and modo.[10]
  • 1664 – most … most “now … now”.[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. now: at the time of speaking, often contrasted with the past or the future.[11][1]
  2. At this very moment: Most nem érek rá.[11]
  3. These days, at present.[11]
  4. On this occasion, in the present situation.[11]
  5. A moment ago, just now.[11][7]
  6. In a moment, immediately.[11]
  7. (literary) most … most: now … now, at one time … at another.[11][2]
  • ma
  • mostan
  • mostani
  • mostanában

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 o Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 963
  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. ^ 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
  6. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 9, 378
  7. ^ a b Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság
  8. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  9. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  10. ^ Szarvas, Gábor; Simonyi, Zsigmond (1890–1893), Magyar nyelvtörténeti szótár, 3 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 2, 879
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu