soha

Forms

soha^[1] Old spellings: ſumha (mid-13th century), ſonha, ſohha, ſemha, ſʒomha, ſeha; regional forms: sasë, saha, sova, suha.^[2][3] Variants with the negative: sohasem, sohase, sosem, sose.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Hungarian sem (“not even”) + ha (“when”), a compound of the negative and of the adverb and conjunction in its old sense “when”, which grew together in the sentence. Semmi and senki were formed in the same way.^[3][2][4][1] Horger pointed out that its second part is not the conditional “if” but the older “when”.^[5]

The original form was Old Hungarian *sëmha.^[3][4] Its first vowel was changed to /o/ by the back vowel of the second syllable, and the /m/, later /n/, was lost before /h/, as in ⟨menhet⟩ > mehet.^[3][2][4][5] The sources compare Latin nunquam (“never”), from ne (“not”) and unquam (“ever”), and German nimmer (“never”), from Old High German nio (“never”) and mer (“more”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary, of the middle of the 13th century, as ſumha: en iumhumnok bel bua qui ſumha nym hyul, “the inner sorrow of my heart, which never cools”, with the sense “never”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The forms with ⟨m⟩ and ⟨n⟩ lived on into the 16th century (ſonha in the Jókai Codex, ſzomha in 1550), beside soha, which appears in 1458.^[2][3][5] The sense “ever, at some time”, from 1510, parallels the same shift in semmi.^[3][2] The Transylvanian records add “not once” and “not at all” from the 16th century, and the phrase soha míg a világ “never while the world lasts”.^[6][7] In Szeged soha napján “on Never-day” means “never”.^[8]

The word was borrowed by neighbouring languages: Romanian dialects have șohan, sohan “never” from 1768; eastern Slovak dialects šoha and šohanigda; and Transcarpathian Ukrainian шуга, шога, recorded from the 17th century.^[9][10][11]

Timeline

• mid-13th century – ſumha “never” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.^[2][3]
• after 1372 (copy of about 1448) – ſonha in the Jókai Codex.^[2]
• 1458 – soha, the modern form, on the back of a charter.^[3][12]
• 1510 – “ever, at some time” in the Legend of Saint Margaret.^[3][2]
• 1550 – ſʒomha, still with ⟨m⟩.^[2]
• 17th century – Transcarpathian Ukrainian шога “never”.^[11]
• 1768 – Romanian sohan “never”.^[9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. never, at no time: Soha nem jártam Párizsban.^[13][1]
2. Never as a rule, habitually not.^[13]
3. Not once (within a given time): never before, or never again: Soha többé!^[13]
4. Under no circumstances; as an intensifier, not at all.^[13][14]

Related words

• sem
• ha
• semmi
• senki

Usage notes

Soha is usually followed by a second negative, nem, sem or se; it is strengthened as soha-soha or soha de soha.^[13] In the Csángó dialect of Szabófalva soha is expresses surprise, “really?”.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 567
4. ^ a b c Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
5. ^ a b c Horger, Antal (1924), Magyar szavak története: közérdekű magyar szófejtések gyűjteménye, Budapest: Kókai, p. 152
6. ^ Szabó T., Attila (ed.) (1975–2014), Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár, 14 vols., Bukarest: Kriterion / Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, p. 11, 841
7. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky
8. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 410
9. ^ a b Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 737
10. ^ Gregor, Ferenc (2023), A szlovák nyelv magyar elemei, ed. András Zoltán, Budapest: Kairosz, p. 784
11. ^ a b Lizanec, Petro N. (1976), Vengerskie zaimstvovanija v ukrainskih govorah Zakarpat'ja, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 640
12. ^ Szamota, István; Zolnai, Gyula (1902–1906), Magyar oklevél-szótár, Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 853
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Csűry, Bálint (1935–1936), Szamosháti szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, p. 2, 299
15. ^ B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 4, 922