Etymologically
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persze

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Pronunciation

Forms

persze[1]

Etymology

It is a borrowing of a Latin phrase, borrowed from Latin per se (“by itself, of itself”), from per (“through, by”) and the reflexive pronoun sē (“itself”).[2][3][4][1] In the Latin used in Hungary the phrase meant “from itself, of itself”, as in a Hungarian sentence of 1669 that keeps the phrase in its Latin form.[2]

The shift from “of itself” to “naturally, of course” probably started from the longer phrase per se intelligitur (“it is understood of itself”): the Hungarian word took over the sense of the whole phrase by half-translation or by absorbing the meaning of the omitted verb.[2][3][5][6] The two Latin words merged into one word only in Hungarian.[3][7][4]

The sources disagree on the date: TESz gives a record of 1577, while EWUng and ÚESz start with a record of 1737 that may not yet be Hungarian, and Zaicz dates the word to 1737.[2][7][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

TESz's first record, from 1577, already has the sense “of course, naturally”.[2] In Transylvanian documents per se appears in Hungarian sentences from 1593 on, in the sense “naturally”, and in 1756 a witness said per se, hogy bizony pénze vólt “of course he had money”.[8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “of course, naturally, self-evidently”, was joined in 1838 by an affirmative use, “yes indeed, certainly, right”.[3] Until the early 19th century the word was mostly written in its Latin form, per se or perse: Csokonai still writes Per se and Perse; the spellings perszé (1825) and Persze (1838) show the Hungarian pronunciation.[9][3] Czuczor and Fogarasi still explained it through the Latin per se intelligitur.[6]

The ÉrtSz describes a wide range of uses in conversation and narrative: an emphatic “yes”, confirmation of what was said, strengthening of a negative answer, marking a statement as self-evident, and, with a hesitant tone, mere half-hearted assent.[10] In Szeged an older form perce was recorded.[11]

Slovak perse (“of course, naturally”), recorded from 1861, is usually derived straight from Latin, but Gregor takes it from Hungarian because of its exact meaning, its late date and its distribution.[12]

Timeline

  • 1577 – first record in TESz, in the sense “of course, naturally”.[2]
  • 1593 – per se “naturally” in a Transylvanian document.[8]
  • 1737 – per se, perhaps still Latin, the first record in EWUng and ÚESz.[7][3]
  • 1756 – per se, hogy “of course … that” in a Kolozsvár testimony.[8]
  • 1809 – perse in the NSz.[3]
  • 1825 – perszé, with the Hungarian sound /s/ written out.[3][2]
  • 1838 – Persze, and the affirmative sense “yes indeed, certainly”.[3]
  • 1861 – Slovak perse, borrowed from Hungarian.[12]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. of course!, sure!: an emphatic yes in answer to a question: – Eljössz holnap? – Persze![10][1]
  2. Confirming what was just said: that's right, naturally.[10]
  3. After a negative question, strengthening the negative answer: – Nem fáradtál el? – Persze hogy nem.[10]

Adverb

  1. naturally, as is self-evident: marking a statement as obvious in narration, often with a contrast: Későn indultunk, és persze lekéstük a vonatot.[10][1]
  2. With a hesitant tone: well, I suppose; half-hearted assent or uncertainty.[10]
  • per
  • pertu
  • Latin per se

Usage notes

Persze is often followed by hogy: persze, hogy … “of course …”; the construction is recorded in Transylvania from 1756 (per se, hogy).[8] A Hungarian dialect phrase Persze, hogy persze! means “it goes without saying”.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 169
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  4. ^ a b c Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  5. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  6. ^ a b Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
  7. ^ a b c Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1191
  8. ^ a b c d Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 10, 695
  9. ^ Jakab, László et al. (1993–2019), Csokonai-szókincstár I–IV, Debrecen: Debreceni Egyetem (Számítógépes Nyelvtörténeti Adattár), p. 570
  10. ^ a b c d e f Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  11. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 301
  12. ^ a b Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 672
  13. ^ Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 2, 229