senki

Forms

senki^[1] The older form semki is found in the Bod Codex.^[2]

Etymology

It is a compound from Hungarian sem (“not … either”) + ki (“someone”): the negative particle joined with the pronoun in its old sense “someone”, and the two fused into one word.^[3][4][5][1] It is formed like semmi and soha, and like Latin nēmō (“nobody”) from ne (“not”) and homō (“man”), or German niemand from nie (“never”) and man (“one”).^[3][4][5]

The original form ⟨*semki⟩ became the modern one by assimilation of /m/ to the following /k/, as Old Hungarian uromk became urunk; the same change shows in ront beside romlik.^[3][4][6] The vowel of the first syllable was originally /ë/.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Jókai Codex, a text written after 1372 and copied about 1448: meg nyttuan a kapput senkett nem lele “opening the door he found no one”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The opposite sense “someone”, which TESz explains as a reversal of the original sense, appears in the 16th and 17th centuries (1589 in ÚESz, 1636 in Pázmány in TESz).^[3][4] From attributive use came the sense “worthless, insignificant (person)”, which in turn gave the noun “a nobody”; both are first found in Kazinczy's letters (1806).^[3][4]

The old glossaries render Latin nemo and nullus with it, from Calepinus's dictionary of 1585 to Kresznerics in 1831.^[7][8][9] A proverbial Senki Pál is a homeless man: átalellenben lakik Senki Pállal “he lives opposite Paul Nobody”.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1448 – senkett “no one” in the Jókai Codex (text written after 1372).^[3][4]
• c. 1450 – senki in the Vienna Codex (text written after 1416).^[3][4]
• c. 1466 – in the Munich Codex.^[3][11]
• 1585 – Senki for Latin nemo and nullus in Calepinus's dictionary.^[7]
• 1589 – “someone”, the reversed sense.^[4]
• 1806 – “a nobody, a worthless person”, in Kazinczy's letters.^[3][4]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. nobody, no one: not a single person, usually with another negative word: Senki sem jött el.; alone as an answer: – Ki volt itt? – Senki.^[12][1]
2. None of the people present, mentioned or in question.^[12]

Noun

1. A nonentity, a person of no account or no worth: Ő itt egy senki.^[12]

Related words

• semmi
• soha
• sem
• ki
• mindenki
• valaki

Usage notes

In a sentence senki needs a second negative word: senki sem, senki nem (Senki nem válaszolt.).^[12][10] The fixed phrase senki földje “no man's land” is the strip between two front lines, or land without an owner.^[12] Regional forms include sénki, sönki and szenki.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Szarvas, Gábor; Simonyi, Zsigmond (1890–1893), Magyar nyelvtörténeti szótár, 3 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 2, 293
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 517
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ Horger, Antal (1924), Magyar szavak története: közérdekű magyar szófejtések gyűjteménye, Budapest: Kókai, p. 151
7. ^ a b Melich, János (ed.) (1912), Calepinus latin–magyar szótára 1585-ből, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 210
8. ^ Melich, János (ed.) (1912), Calepinus latin–magyar szótára 1585-ből, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 213
9. ^ Kresznerics, Ferenc (1831–1832), Magyar szótár gyökérrenddel és deák értelmezéssel, 2 vols., Buda, p. 1, 317
10. ^ a b Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
11. ^ 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, p. 487
12. ^ a b c d e Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu