Etymologically
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szép

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Pronunciation

Forms

szép[1] The comparative szebb keeps the original short vowel.[2][3] Regional forms include szíp, szépp, szőp and szebbebb.[4][5]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][4][1] The usual explanation is that it is inherited from Proto-Uralic *śeppä (“skilful”), inherited from the Finno-Ugric period: TESz offers it with a “perhaps”, EWUng and ÚESz as probable, and MSzFE calls the origin disputed.[2][6][3][4][7][8] The cognates are Finnish seppä (“smith, master, artist; skilful”), Estonian sepp (“smith, craftsman”) and Northern Sami čæp'pe (“clever, skilful; smith”).[7][3][2]

On this view “skilful” became “beautiful” in Hungarian and “master, smith” in Finnic and Sami.[2][8] The regional sense “neat, pretty” of ügyes “skilful” is a parallel, and so is Khanty tus, “master” in one Khanty dialect and “beautiful” in another.[2][3][4] The medial /pp/ was shortened to /p/ as in lep and lép, and the stem vowel was a short ⟨ë⟩ or ⟨i⟩, lengthened when the final vowel was lost.[3][8] The comparative szebb keeps it short.[3][8][4]

A Turkic origin has also been proposed, from the source of Chuvash шеп (šep, “beautiful”).[1][4] MSzFE thinks it less likely because the Chuvash word is known only in a small area, but Róna-Tas and Berta list the word among the West Old Turkic loanwords, as Bulgar *sip (“beautiful”).[4][9] TESz finds the Turkic origin even less likely than the Finno-Ugric one.[2] A comparison with Khanty words for “beauty” fails on the sounds, and a link with szil “to split” and Budenz's comparison with Finnish hyvä (“good”) are not accepted.[4][2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are names: perhaps Scipched in a charter of 1127–1131, then Zepeſiensi (1138, with a Latin ending) and the place name Ciploc of about 1200, both derivatives.[3][11] A woman called Scepa was one of the washerwomen of a church in the Váradi Regestrum (1217).[12] The word itself first appears in the derivative ſcepſegud “your beauty” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary, and the adjective ʒepp, with the comparative ʒeb, in the Jókai Codex.[3][11]

Semantic evolution

All the senses grew out of “pleasing, beautiful”.[2][3] “Morally good, fitting” is recorded from 1525, with Finnish hyvä (“good; beautiful”) as a parallel;[3][11][6] “considerable, large”, as in szép summa “a tidy sum”, from 1608, compared by ÚESz with Italian bello; and “favourable, useful” from 1644.[3][11][6] As a noun szép meant “the best of something” in the codices, “a beauty” from 1590 and “beauty” from 1815.[11][3]

The compounds szépanya (1533) and szépapa (1565) first meant “grandmother” and “grandfather”, with szép in the sense “great”, like nagyanya and nagyapa; only later did they come to name more distant ancestors.[2][6] In dialects szép also means “good”, especially of a smell (szép szaga van “it smells good”), and “big”.[13][14][15]

Timeline

  • 1127–1131 – Scipched, a personal name, perhaps a derivative.[3][6]
  • c. 1200 – Ciploc, a place name.[3]
  • 1217 – Scepa, a woman's name in the Váradi Regestrum.[12]
  • mid-13th century – ſcepſegud “your beauty” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[3]
  • after 1372 (copy of about 1448) – ʒepp and the comparative ʒeb in the Jókai Codex.[3][11]
  • c. 1423 – szépít “to make beautiful”.[3][8]
  • 1525 – “morally good, fitting”.[3]
  • 1533 – szépanya “grandmother”.[2]
  • 1608 – “considerable, large”.[11][3]
  • 1644 – “favourable, useful”.[11][3]
  • 1815 – the noun “beauty”.[11][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. beautiful, pretty, handsome: pleasing to look at or listen to: szép lány, szép dal.[16][1]
  2. Of a work of art: giving aesthetic pleasure.[16]
  3. Attractive on the surface but empty or false: szép szavak.[16]
  4. pleasant, happy, favourable: szép napok; of weather, fine and clear.[16]
  5. Morally fine, kind, praiseworthy; of a name, respected.[16]
  6. Excellent of its kind, proper; ironically, shameful: Szép kis dolog![16]
  7. considerable, large: szép kort ért meg.[16][15]

Noun

  1. A beautiful woman, a beauty; beauty as such.[11][16]

Word family

  • szépeleg
  • szépen
  • szépít
  • szépség
  • szépül
  • szépséges
  • szépapa
  • szépanya
  • Finnish seppä

Usage notes

As the first part of a compound szép- names the generation before the great-grandparents: szépapa, szépanya.[1][2] The proverb szép szó vasajtót nyit “a kind word opens an iron door” is recorded in the Ormánság.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 727
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 581
  5. ^ Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
  6. ^ a b c d e Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1993–1997), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Ungarischen, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó
  7. ^ a b Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  8. ^ a b c d e Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  9. ^ Róna-Tas, András; Berta, Árpád (2011), West Old Turkic: Turkic Loanwords in Hungarian, 2 vols., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Turcologica 84); word list via Lexibank
  10. ^ Bárczi, Géza (1941), Magyar szófejtő szótár, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Egyetemi Nyomda, p. 156
  11. ^ 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, 726
  12. ^ a b Jerney, János (1854), Magyar nyelvkincsek Árpádék korszakából, Pest, p. 129
  13. ^ Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky
  14. ^ B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 5, 137
  15. ^ a b Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 494
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  17. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 509