A Possible Slavic Etymology of Hungarian komor ‘gloomy’ and komoly ‘serious’ Cover Image
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A Possible Slavic Etymology of Hungarian komor ‘gloomy’ and komoly ‘serious’
A Possible Slavic Etymology of Hungarian komor ‘gloomy’ and komoly ‘serious’

Author(s): Ádám Galac
Subject(s): Phonetics / Phonology, Lexis, Semantics, Historical Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics, Finno-Ugrian studies, South Slavic Languages
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Slavic languages; Hungarian; etymology; loanwords; Turkic languages

Summary/Abstract: The Hungarian words komor ‘gloomy’ and komoly ‘serious’ are of unknown origin. The present paper aims to elucidate this question from various angles: it gives an overview of what the Hungarian etymological dictionaries say on this topic, shows that komoly is a relatively late development out of komor, spread by the language reformers (especially by Ferenc Kazinczy) at the end of the 18th century, and presents the attempts to prove the Turkic origin of komor. Finally, it offers a Slavic etymology based on the Slavic stem *chmur-, demonstrates that semantically the two words match perfectly, and dissolves the phonological doubts that may arise at first sight.

  • Issue Year: 63/2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 225-231
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: English