pár

Forms

pár (plural párok)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from German Paar (“pair”), with paar (“paired”) and ein paar (“a few”); the German word goes back through Middle High German pār to Latin pār (“equal; companion; a pair”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} German took the Latin word after the High German consonant shift.^[6] TESz connects the Latin word with pars (“part”), but the origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[2][1]

The German origin rests on the history of the word and on the parallel senses and derivatives of the German and Hungarian words, such as sich paaren (“to mate”) beside párzik.^[2][3][4] Neither the date of the borrowing nor the German dialect it came from can be fixed; since the word is missing from the codices, TESz takes it for a fairly late loan.^[2] Mollay places it in the German spoken in Hungary in the early New High German period and cites a German record of the word from Sopron of 1460–1463; if the doubtful name ⟨Parus⟩ of 1419 belongs here, the loan would go back to the 15th century.^[7] The use as an indefinite numeral, “a few”, may follow a Bavarian-Austrian model.^[2][4][5] TESz thinks a direct Latin origin less likely and Slavic mediation unnecessary.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A personal name Nicolao Parus of 1419 may be the first trace, but it is doubtful.^[2][4] The first sure record is in Heltai's Bible translation of 1565: Vévén egy pár ökrét, meg taglá azokat, “taking a pair of oxen, he slaughtered them”; the sense is “two that belong together”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Beside “a pair” the word meant “a copy of a document” in 1591, and with a possessive ending, párja, “the other one of two, partner, counterpart” from 1702 and “one's equal, match” from 1711 or 1771.^[2][4] Transylvanian records use it for a couple dancing or marrying from 1736, and élete párja “the companion of his life” for a wife from the 1750s.^[9] The numeral sense “a few”, egy pár or pár, is recorded from 1763.^[2][3] Mollay notes that the loanword became a synonym of the native kettő “two”.^[7]

The derivatives páros “paired” (1683, “even” of numbers from 1782), páratlan “matchless” (1769, “odd” from 1782) and párzik “to mate” (1789) followed.^[10][4] The language reform made párbaj “duel” (1806) and párbeszéd “dialogue” (1837) with the word as first member, and párhuzamos “parallel” (1812), where it means “in pairs”;^[3] párbaj may owe something to German Zweikampf.^[3]

Timeline

• 1419 – Nicolao Parus, a personal name that may contain the word.^[2]
• 1565 – egy pár ökrét “a pair of oxen” in Heltai's Bible.^[2][8]
• 1591 – “copy of a document”.^[2][4]
• 1683 – páros “paired”.^[10]
• 1702 – párja “its partner, the other of two”.^[2][4]
• 1763 – pár “a few”.^[2][3]
• 1769 – páratlan “matchless”.^[10][4]
• 1806 – párbaj “duel”.^[3]
• 1812 – párhuzamos “parallel”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pair: two people or things that belong together or form a unit: egy pár kesztyű, a pair of gloves.^[11][1][12]
2. A couple: a man and a woman together, as dancers, an engaged couple or husband and wife.^[11][1]
3. (with a possessive ending) One's partner, spouse or mate; the other one of a pair: Hol a cipőm párja?^[11][1]
4. (with a possessive ending) One's equal, a match: nincs párja, it has no equal.^[11][1][12]
5. (dated) A copy of a document.^[11][2]

Numeral

1. (also egy pár) A few, a couple of: Pár perc múlva visszajövök.^[11][1]

Word family

• páran
• páratlan
• páros
• párszor
• házaspár
• kerékpár
• párbaj
• párbeszéd
• párhuzamos
• párkapcsolat
• párzik
• párosít

Usage notes

ÉrtSz records two other dialect words spelled pár: a noun for a leaven made of fermented barley with hops or bran, and an adjective “glowing”; ÚMTSz has the leaven and a noun “hot ashes, embers”.^[11][13] The sources treat them as separate words and give no etymology for them.^[11][13]

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. 3, 95
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1156
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
5. ^ a b Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
7. ^ a b Mollay, Károly (1982), Német–magyar nyelvi érintkezések a XVI. század végéig, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 427
8. ^ a b Szarvas, Gábor; Simonyi, Zsigmond (1890–1893), Magyar nyelvtörténeti szótár, 3 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 2, 1229
9. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 10, 462
10. ^ a b c Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 96
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
12. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 283
13. ^ a b B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 4, 365