Etymologically
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sok

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Pronunciation

Forms

sok[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Uralic *čukkɜ (“dense, thick”) (or *čokkɜ), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Finno-Ugric period.[2][3][4][5][6] The related words mean “many” in Mansi and “dense” elsewhere: Mansi šaw (“many”), Komi-Zyrian če̮k (“dense”), Western Mari čakata (“dense, firm, compact”) and Khanty šək (“thicket”).[3][6][2]

Finno-Ugric /kk/ between vowels became Hungarian /k/, as in csuk and rak, and corresponds to Mansi ⟨w⟩, as in rokon.[7][4][5] The dialect variant ⟨sik⟩ points to an early Hungarian back vowel /ɨ/.[2] The original sense was “dense”: “dense” gave “massed”, then “many”, as in több.[2][3][4]

EWUng and ÚESz list Turkish çok (“much, very”) and a Mongolian word for “heap, mass” as correspondences, but ÚESz and TESz reject a derivation of the Hungarian word from Turkic.[7][3][2] Róna-Tas and Berta's list of West Old Turkic loanwords nevertheless includes it, from Proto-Oghur *čok (“much, many”), and Wiktionary also derives it from Turkic.[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are names in Latin charters.[9][3] The doubtful personal name Suk of 1138, known from a copy of 1329, and Syca of 1215 may contain the word.[9][3] Place names show it as a second element meaning “village”, Olsuc in 1229 and Malomsok in 1271.[3][7] As a numeral it is certain in the place name Sukurtuel of 1317 and in running text in the Jókai Codex, a text written after 1372 and copied about 1448, as ſokaktol “from many”.[9][3][10]

Semantic evolution

TESz thinks the sense “dense” may still have lived in the early compound place names.[2] The sense “village” of the place-name element developed through “multitude”, as Latin cīvitās means both “citizenry” and “city”, and Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “many”) stands beside πόλις (pólis, “city, state”).[2][3][5] As a noun sok meant “multitude” in the Munich Codex (copied 1466); the numeral meant both “many, much” and “long (of time)” in the Jókai Codex.[9][3]

Most of the derivatives are as old as the codices: soká “long”, sokaság “multitude”, sokszor “often” and sokasul “to multiply” are in the Jókai Codex.[9][3] Sokasít “to increase” (copied about 1450) came to mean “to multiply” in arithmetic in 1577, and sokszoroz (1659) did the same in 1743.[3][7] sokadalom “crowd” (c. 1456) also meant “fair, market” in the dialects.[5][4] Later come sokall “to find too much” (1549), sokszoros (1743), sokszorosít (1821) and sokadik (1869).[3][4]

Moldavian Csángó has the forms sik and szik.[11][3] In Szeged the proverb Sok kicsi sokra mén “many small things go a long way” is recorded.[12]

Timeline

  • 1138 – ? Suk, a personal name (copy of 1329).[9][3]
  • 1229 – Olsuc, a place name with sok “village”.[3]
  • 1271 – Malomsok, a place name.[3][4]
  • 1317 – Sukurtuel, a place name in a Latin charter.[10][2]
  • c. 1448 – ſokaktol “from many”, and soká, sokaság, sokszor, in the Jókai Codex (a text written after 1372).[9][3]
  • c. 1456 – sokadalom.[9][3]
  • 1466 – the noun sok “multitude” in the Munich Codex.[9][3]
  • 1549 – sokall.[3][4]
  • 1577 – sokasít “to multiply” in arithmetic.[3]
  • 1659 – sokszoroz.[3][4]
  • 1743 – sokszoros.[3][4]
  • 1869 – sokadik.[3]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. many, a large but indefinite number of people or things: Sok barátja van.[13][1]
  2. much, a large quantity of a substance, food or drink: sok víz.[13]
  3. Long, of time; also often repeated over a long time.[13]
  4. Great, intense or frequent, with abstract nouns: sok szerencsét.[13]
  5. too many or too much, more than there should be: Ez már sok![13]

Noun

  1. A large amount of something.[13]
  2. Too much of something.[13]
  3. Much money, great value: sokba kerül “it costs a lot”.[13][14]
  4. (in the plural) Many people: sokak szerint.[1]

Word family

  • sokadalom
  • sokadik
  • sokall
  • sokaság
  • sokasodik
  • soká
  • sokáig
  • sokára
  • sokfajta
  • sokféle
  • sokkal
  • sokszor
  • sokszoros

Usage notes

The comparative and superlative are suppletive: több, legtöbb.[13][14] Of people it takes the ending -an like the numerals: sokan “many people”, as ketten, hárman.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 569
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  5. ^ a b c d Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 553
  6. ^ a b Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  7. ^ a b c d Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1386
  8. ^ Róna-Tas, András; Berta, Árpád (2011), West Old Turkic: Turkic Loanwords in Hungarian, 2 vols., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Turcologica 84); word list via Lexibank
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 568
  10. ^ a b Szamota, István; Zolnai, Gyula (1902–1906), Magyar oklevél-szótár, Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 853
  11. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 2, 412
  12. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 411
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  14. ^ a b c Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum