Etymologically
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vesz

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Pronunciation

Forms

vesz[1] Irregular forms: past vett, infinitive venni, imperative végy, vegyen; the old and regional third person singular is veszen.[2][1] Dialect forms include vösz (Szeged, Ormánság) and vejszem (1863).[3][4][5]

Etymology

It probably split off at a very early stage, in Proto-Hungarian or perhaps already in the Ugric period, from visz “to carry”.[6][7][8] That verb is inherited from Proto-Uralic *wike- (“to take, grasp; to carry”), a word of the Finno-Ugric period, and its Ob-Ugric cognates mean “to take”: Mansi wü-, Khanty wĕ-.[7][9] In other languages, too, one word or related words cover both taking and carrying, as Latin ferō (“to carry”), Russian брать (bratʹ, “to take”) and German nehmen (“to take”) beside mitnehmen (“to take along”).[6][7][8] In the old language the use of the verbs for taking and for carrying overlaps so much that many records, especially with preverbs, cannot be assigned to either, and old spellings with ⟨i⟩ may stand for ⟨e⟩.[6][7][8]

In form it belongs with the verbs whose stem in ⟨v⟩ is extended with ⟨-sz⟩, like tesz and lesz; the vowel of the stem ⟨vènd-⟩ comes from a merger of /ë/ and /e/.[6][7] Some senses with preverbs follow German: bevesz “to capture (a town)”, and ⟨kiveszi magát⟩ “to look, come across (in some way)” after German sich ausnehmen.[6][7] TESz adds that separating this verb from the verb “to carry”, or the Ob-Ugric cognates of the latter, is not well enough founded.[6]

Wiktionary takes another view: it derives the word from an earlier stem ⟨vewə-⟩ (compare vevő “buyer”) and that from Proto-Uralic *wexe- (“to take”), and doubts the connection with the verb “to carry”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first secure record is the personal name Cwsveth of 1211, which contains vét “taking”, a derivative of the verb (compare húsvét “Easter”).[5][7] Older names such as Weudi may belong here but are uncertain.[5][7] The first records in texts are weged “take it upon yourself” in the Königsberg Fragment of the early 13th century, and the line Wegh halal engumet “Take me, death” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary.[7][5]

Semantic evolution

ÚESz derives the other senses from the first recorded one, “to take (food or drink)”, partly under the influence of the verb “to carry”.[7] The Jókai Codex already has most of the main senses: “to grasp, take, lift”, “to buy”, “to acquire; to conquer (a town or land)”, “to understand, consider”, “to receive, gain” and “to take something in a certain way”.[5][7] “To put on (clothes)” follows in the Vienna Codex, and with preverbs the verb took many special senses: körülvesz “to surround” (1517), rávesz “to persuade; to trick” (1580) and kiveszi magát “to look, appear” (1832).[5]

The derivatives include vétel “taking; purchase” (after 1372), vevő “buyer” (1466), kivétel “subtraction” (1591), later “rarity” (1748), and kivételes “exceptional” (1834).[5][8]

Regional senses include “to marry (a wife)”, “to put on (clothes)” and “to collect (a debt)”.[10][11][3] The word list of the Munich Codex also gives “to marry” and “to receive as a guest”.[12]

Timeline

  • 1211 – Cwsveth, a personal name containing vét “taking”.[5][7]
  • early 13th century – weged “take it upon yourself” in the Königsberg Fragment (TESz: about 1350).[7][5]
  • mid-13th century – Wegh halal engumet “Take me, death” in the Old Hungarian Lament of Mary (TESz: about 1300).[7][5]
  • c. 1448 – “to buy”, “to grasp” and “to conquer”, and the derivative vétel, in the Jókai Codex (a copy of a text written after 1372).[5][7]
  • c. 1450 – “to put on (clothes)” in the Vienna Codex.[5][7]
  • 1466 – vevő “buyer” in the Munich Codex.[5]
  • 1580 – rávesz “to trick; to persuade”.[5]
  • 1591 – kivétel “subtraction” in Heltai's arithmetic.[5]
  • 1834 – kivételes “exceptional”.[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take in one's hand, pick up: Kezébe vette a könyvet.[2][1]
  2. To take (food or drink), help oneself; to take (a breath): Vegyél még a süteményből![2][1]
  3. To buy (from: -tól/-től): Új kerékpárt vettünk.[2][1]
  4. To get, receive, obtain; to take on (a task or responsibility).[1][5]
  5. To take (as), regard, consider: tréfára vesz “to take as a joke”, rossz néven vesz “to take amiss”.[1][3]
  6. To marry (a woman): feleségül vesz.[1][10]
  7. To put on (clothes): magára vesz.[1][11]
  8. To take (classes or lessons): zongoraórákat vesz.[1]
  9. To capture, take (a town or land).[5][7]

Word family

  • vevő
  • vény
  • vétel
  • tesz-vesz
  • kivétel
  • kivételes
  • körülvesz
  • rávesz
  • húsvét

Usage notes

Many set phrases are formed with the verb, such as részt vesz “to take part”, figyelembe vesz “to take into account” and tudomásul vesz “to take note of”.[1] The intransitive vesz “to perish” of the ÉrtSz is a variant of vész, a separate verb.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Bálint, Sándor (1957), Szegedi szótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 662
  4. ^ Kiss, Géza (1952), Ormánysági szótár, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 588
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 1125
  6. ^ a b c d e f Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 1126
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  8. ^ a b c d e Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
  9. ^ Lakó, György (ed.) (1967–1978), A magyar szókészlet finnugor elemei, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 694
  10. ^ a b Szinnyei, József (1893–1901), Magyar tájszótár, 2 vols., Budapest: Hornyánszky, p. 2, 966
  11. ^ a b B. Lőrinczy, Éva (ed.) (1979–2010), Új magyar tájszótár, 5 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 5, 701
  12. ^ 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. 516