Etymologically
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szó

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Pronunciation

Forms

szó (plural szavak or szók)[1] The stem has a v: szavak or szók “words”, szava “his or her word”, like hó, ló and tó.[2][3][1] Old spellings include ſcovol, ſcouuo and ʒauÿt; regional forms are szova- (Brassó county) and szovuk (Göcsej).[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Ugric *sawɜ (“word, speech”), one of the words Hungarian inherited from the Ugric period.[3][4][2][6][7][1] Its cognates are in the Ob-Ugric languages: Mansi såw (“word; sound, voice”), sow (“melody”) and Khanty săw (“wailing; singing voice, (in another dialect) melody”).[7][4][3]

The Ugric word was itself a loan from Turkic, taken after the Ugric change of /*č/ to /s/ had begun: compare Old Turkic sab (“word, speech”) of the Old Turkic inscriptions and Ottoman Turkish sava (“news, good tidings”).[3][4][6] Ligeti thought that the Turkic word passed to Ugric from a pre-Turkic language in the sense “message, order, news”, which alone explains why it was borrowed.[8] Róna-Tas and Berta list it among the West Old Turkic loanwords, from Bulgar *sav (“word”).[9] ÚESz finds a direct borrowing from Turkic into Hungarian, and an Iranian one, less likely, and TESz and MSzFE reject separating the Hungarian word from its Ob-Ugric cognates.[4][3][6]

TESz also rejects the view that the word is a common heritage of a supposed Uralic–Altaic family, its other Uralic comparisons, its comparisons with words of the Indo-European languages, and a Slavic origin.[3] Bárczi in 1941 still doubted the Turkic source.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record may be the personal name Zoufa in the Váradi Regestrum of 1213, known from a copy of 1550, perhaps “voice, call”; both TESz and ÚESz query it.[11][4] ÚESz dates the Königsberg Fragment, with ſcovol “with a word”, to the early 13th century, and reads the word there as “word”;[4][11] TESz dates the fragment to about 1350.[4][11] The Old Hungarian Lament of Mary has O ygoz ſymeonnok bezzeg ſcouuo ere “O, the word of righteous Simeon has truly come to pass”, with the sense “what someone says, speech”.[11][4]

Semantic evolution

TESz and ÚESz take the senses “voice, call”, “speech, what someone says”, “word” and “conversation, debate” to be old, and derive “rumour” (from about 1518) and “usage, wording, pronunciation” (from 1536) from “speech”.[3][4] A tyúk-szó “hen's call” is recorded in 1326, and animals' calls and the sound of instruments are still szó: madárszó, dobszó, harangszó.[11][12][13] A promise is also szó: szavamat adom “I give my word”.[13][14]

Many derivatives are old: szól “to speak” from the early 13th century, szólás and szózat in the Jókai Codex, szólal from 1416 and szólít from 1508.[2][4] Szózat meant “sound, noise” and “speech” in the codices; it became “proclamation” in 1790 and “vote” in 1839.[11] The language reform made szónok “orator” (1805) and szólam “phrase; part (in music)” (1812), and compounds such as szószék “pulpit”.[2][15]

In dialects szó can also mean “language”, “human voice” and “the words of a song”.[16][17] Romanian has său only in the phrase are său rău pe mine “he is angry with me”, which Tamás connects, probably, with the Hungarian word.[18]

Timeline

  • 1213 – Zoufa, a personal name in the Váradi Regestrum (copy of 1550), uncertain.[11][4]
  • early 13th century – ſcovol “with a word” in the Königsberg Fragment (TESz: about 1350).[4][11]
  • mid-13th century – ſcouuo “his word” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[4][11]
  • 1326 – “call” in tyúk-szó “hen's call”.[11][4]
  • after 1372 (copy of about 1448) – szólás “speaking” and szózat “sound” in the Jókai Codex.[4]
  • c. 1518 – “conversation, debate” and “rumour” in the Peer Codex.[11][4]
  • 1536 – “usage, wording; pronunciation”.[11][4]
  • 1805 – szónok “orator”, a word of the language reform.[2]
  • 1812 – szólam, also from the language reform.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A word: the smallest unit of language with its own sound, form and meaning; also a written word, or a headword in a dictionary.[13][1]
  2. speech, what someone says; a remark, request or piece of advice: Hallgass a szavamra![13]
  3. Conversation, talk, discussion: Szóba elegyedtek a vonaton.[13]
  4. The right to speak at a meeting; a say in a matter; a vote.[13][1]
  5. A promise, one's word of honour.[13][1]
  6. An expression, a turn of phrase.[13]
  7. A human voice; the call of an animal, especially a bird; the sound of an instrument.[13][1]
  8. The words of a song, as opposed to its tune.[13][17]

Word family

  • álszó
  • szavas
  • szóbeli
  • szócska
  • szól
  • szónok
  • szótlan
  • szólás
  • szózat
  • szólal
  • szólít
  • Mansi såw
  • Khanty săw

Usage notes

Both plurals are used: szavak is the usual one, szók is found especially in linguistic use and set phrases.[1][12] Szó is also the name of the fifth note of the scale in solmization, “sol”, with the plural szók.[13][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 774
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  5. ^ Munkácsi, Bernát (1901), Árja és kaukázusi elemek a finn-magyar nyelvekben I: Magyar szójegyzék, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p. 575
  6. ^ a b c Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 591
  7. ^ a b Rédei, Károly (ed.) (1986–1991), Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó / Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz; online as Uralonet, uralonet.nytud.hu
  8. ^ Ligeti, Lajos (1986), A magyar nyelv török kapcsolatai a honfoglalás előtt és az Árpád-korban, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 139
  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. 159
  11. ^ 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, 773
  12. ^ a b Czuczor, Gergely; Fogarasi, János (1862–1874), A magyar nyelv szótára, 6 vols., Pest: Emich Gusztáv / Athenaeum
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bárczi, Géza; Országh, László (eds.) (1959–1962), A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára, 7 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online at ertelmezo.oszk.hu
  14. ^ Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 512
  15. ^ Szily, Kálmán (1902–1908), A magyar nyelvújítás szótára, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 312
  16. ^ B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 5, 191
  17. ^ a b Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky
  18. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 692