WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Hungarian grammar cover

Hungarian grammar

Chapter 71: CHAPTER XIV ETYMOLOGY
By Charles Arthur Ginever
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Language & CommunicationTeaching & Education

About This Book

This work provides a comprehensive overview of the Hungarian language, focusing on its grammar and phonetics. It begins with an introduction to the alphabet, detailing the fourteen distinct vowel characters and their pronunciations, including distinctions between short and long vowels. The text explains the classification of vowels into flats, sharps, and mediates, and discusses the implications of these classifications on word formation and suffix usage. Additionally, it covers the absence of diphthongs in Hungarian and offers insights into compound word formation. The structure is designed to aid learners in understanding the complexities of Hungarian grammar.

CHAPTER XIV
ETYMOLOGY

New words are formed in two ways:—

(a) By means of suffixes called formatives.

(b) By putting two or more words together.

Those of the first class are called derivatives, and those of the second class compounds.

A derivative may take a further formative, in which case the derivative is called the primitive of the new word. In the following example each preceding word is the primitive or stem of the following derivative:—

  • harc (substantive), battle.
  • harc-i (adjective), pertaining to battle.
  • harci-as (adjective), brave, warlike.
  • harcias-kod (ni) (verb), to act in a warlike way.
  • harciaskod-ás (abstract noun), the state of being at war.
  • harciaskodás-i (adjective), pertaining to warlike behaviour.

This example shows how rich the Hungarian language is in its capacity for forming words and expressing the finer shades of meaning.

The principal formatives only are here given:—

I. Substantives are formed—

(a) By adding -ság, -ség to adjectives.

  • jó-ság, goodness; szép-ség, beauty.

(b) By adding -ás, -és to verbs.

  • vág-ás, the act of cutting; fest-és, the act of painting.

(c) By adding -as, -es, -os, -ár, -ér to substantives.

  • asztal, table; asztal-os, joiner.
  • kés, knife; kés-es, cutler.
  • kád, tub; kád-ár, cooper.

(d) All present participles may be used as substantives.

  • olvasó, reader; arató, reaper.

(e) Diminutives of substantives are formed by adding -ka, -ke, ocska, ecske, &c.

  • leány-ka, a little girl; ablak-ocska, a small window.

II. Adjectives are formed by adding—

(a) -as, -os, -es, -ös to substantives.

  • máz, enamel; máz-as, enamelled.
  • arany, gold; arany-os, golden.
  • hely, place; hely-es, proper.
  • köd, fog; köd-ös, foggy.

(b) -talan or -telen to substantives, creating negatives.

  • hely-telen, improper.
  • virág-talan, without flowers.

(c) -i, especially to names of places.

  • budapest-i, of or pertaining to Budapest.
  • ház-i, domestic.

(d) Diminutives are formed by adding -s to adjectives ending with a vowel, or -es, -ás, -os to those ending with a consonant.

  • sárga, yellow; sárgá-s, yellowish.
  • öreg, old; öreg-es, elderly.

III. Verbs are formed by adding—

-al, -ol, -el, -oz, -ez to substantives.

  • ház, house; ház-al (ni),⁠[10] to peddle.
  • dal, song; dal-ol (ni), to sing.
  • tél, winter; tel-el (ni), to pass the winter.
  • szalag, ribbon; szalag-oz (ni), to adorn with ribbons.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] ni is merely the infinitive ending.