senki
Pronunciation
- [ˈʃɛŋki][1]
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
- 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]
- None of the people present, mentioned or in question.[12]
Noun
- A nonentity, a person of no account or no worth: Ő itt egy senki.[12]
Related words
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
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ Szarvas, Gábor; Simonyi, Zsigmond (1890–1893), Magyar nyelvtörténeti szótár, 3 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 2, 293
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
- ^ Horger, Antal (1924), Magyar szavak története: közérdekű magyar szófejtések gyűjteménye, Budapest: Kókai, p. 151
- ^ a b Melich, János (ed.) (1912), Calepinus latin–magyar szótára 1585-ből, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 210
- ^ Melich, János (ed.) (1912), Calepinus latin–magyar szótára 1585-ből, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 213
- ^ Kresznerics, Ferenc (1831–1832), Magyar szótár gyökérrenddel és deák értelmezéssel, 2 vols., Buda, p. 1, 317
- ^ a b Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
- ^ 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
- ^ 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