There are numerous
regular sound correspondences between HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...
and the other Finno-Ugric languagesFinno-Ugric is a group of languages in the Uralic language family, comprising Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and related languages.It comprises the Finno-Permic and Ugric language families.-Status:...
. For example, Hungarian
á corresponds to
KhantyKhanty or Xanty language, also known previously as the Ostyak language, is a language of the Khant peoples. It is spoken in Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrugs, as well as in Aleksandrovsky and Kargosoksky districts of Tomsk Oblast in Russia. According to the 1994 Salminen and 1994...
o in certain positions, and Hungarian
h corresponds to Khanty
x, while Hungarian final
z corresponds to Khanty final
t. These can be seen in Hungarian
ház ("house") and Khanty
xot ("house"), or Hungarian
száz ("hundred") and Khanty
sot ("hundred").
Hungarian and
KhantyKhanty or Xanty language, also known previously as the Ostyak language, is a language of the Khant peoples. It is spoken in Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrugs, as well as in Aleksandrovsky and Kargosoksky districts of Tomsk Oblast in Russia. According to the 1994 Salminen and 1994...
are both
Ugric languagesUgric or Ugrian languages are a branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. The term derives from Yugra.They include three languages: Hungarian , and the Ob-Ugric languages, Khanty and Mansi language...
, one branch of the Finno-Ugric languages, the other being the
Finnic languagesFinnic languages may refer to:*Baltic-Finnic languages*Volga-Finnic languages*Finno-Volgaic languages, comprising the previous two groups and the Sami languages*Finno-Permic languages, comprising Finno-Volgaic and the Permic languages...
.
There are numerous
regular sound correspondences between HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...
and the other Finno-Ugric languagesFinno-Ugric is a group of languages in the Uralic language family, comprising Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and related languages.It comprises the Finno-Permic and Ugric language families.-Status:...
. For example, Hungarian
á corresponds to
KhantyKhanty or Xanty language, also known previously as the Ostyak language, is a language of the Khant peoples. It is spoken in Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrugs, as well as in Aleksandrovsky and Kargosoksky districts of Tomsk Oblast in Russia. According to the 1994 Salminen and 1994...
o in certain positions, and Hungarian
h corresponds to Khanty
x, while Hungarian final
z corresponds to Khanty final
t. These can be seen in Hungarian
ház ("house") and Khanty
xot ("house"), or Hungarian
száz ("hundred") and Khanty
sot ("hundred").
Hungarian and
KhantyKhanty or Xanty language, also known previously as the Ostyak language, is a language of the Khant peoples. It is spoken in Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrugs, as well as in Aleksandrovsky and Kargosoksky districts of Tomsk Oblast in Russia. According to the 1994 Salminen and 1994...
are both
Ugric languagesUgric or Ugrian languages are a branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. The term derives from Yugra.They include three languages: Hungarian , and the Ob-Ugric languages, Khanty and Mansi language...
, one branch of the Finno-Ugric languages, the other being the
Finnic languagesFinnic languages may refer to:*Baltic-Finnic languages*Volga-Finnic languages*Finno-Volgaic languages, comprising the previous two groups and the Sami languages*Finno-Permic languages, comprising Finno-Volgaic and the Permic languages...
. The distance between the Ugric and Finnic languages is greater, but the correspondences are also regular. The relationship is most obvious when comparing all the Ugric languages with all the Finnic languages, for then individual
idiosyncrasiesIdiosyncrasy, from Ancient Greek , idiosyngkrasía, "a peculiar temperament", "habit of body" is defined as an individualizing quality or characteristic of a person or group, and is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. The term can also be applied to symbols...
are averaged out, but here we will just compare Hungarian with
FinnishFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
and
EstonianEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
(two Finnic languages). One important innovation of Hungarian is the
lenitionLenition is a kind of consonant mutation that appears in many languages. Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change of languages....
of the
stop consonantA stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. The terms plosive and stop are usually used interchangeably, but they are not perfect synonyms. Plosives are oral stops with a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. The term is also used to...
s *p *k in initial position:
- Hungarian [f] corresponds to Finnish and Estonian [p]:
| Hungarian |
Finnish |
Estonian |
meaning |
| fa |
puu |
puu |
tree |
| fél |
pelätä |
pelgama |
to fear |
| fészek |
pesä |
pesa |
nest |
- Before front vowels, Hungarian [k] corresponds to Finnish and Estonian [k]:
| Hungarian |
Finnish |
Estonian |
meaning |
| könny |
kyynel |
küünistama |
tear |
| kéz |
käsi |
käsi |
hand, arm |
| kő |
kivi |
kivi |
stone |
- Before back vowels, Hungarian [h] corresponds to Finnish and Estonian [k] (just like English [h] in hound corresponds to Latin [k] in canis)
| Hungarian |
Finnish |
Estonian |
meaning |
| hal |
kala |
kala |
fish |
| ház |
kota |
koda |
house (Hung.), hut (Finn. and Est.) |
| húgy |
kusi |
kusi |
urine |
The third stop inherited from Proto-Uralic, *t, did not undergo such a change.
- Hungarian [t] corresponds to Finnish and Estonian [t] at the beginning of a word:
| Hungarian |
Finnish |
Estonian |
meaning |
| tél |
talvi |
talv |
winter |
| tud |
tuntea |
tundma |
to know |
| tavasz |
touko |
|
spring |
In the middle of words (note that due to the loss of the word final vocals in the Old-Hungarian language these are now at the end of the words), Hungarian has also lenited original stops, but in a different fashion.
- Hungarian [z] corresponds to Finnish and Estonian [t] (which can alterate with [d] or [s]):
| Hungarian |
Finnish |
Estonian |
meaning |
| ház |
kota |
koda |
house (Hung.), hut (Finn.) |
| kéz |
käsi : käden : käte- |
käsi : käte- |
hand, arm |
| fazék |
pata |
pada |
pot |
This is just a sample. Even in the small number of words above, other regular sound correspondences can be seen, such as Hungarian [l] corresponding to Finnish and Estonian [l].
See also
- Selected cognates in the Uralic languages
- Common vocabulary among Finno-Ugric languages
- The living fish swims in water
"The living fish swims in water" is the approximate English language translation of a complete sentence, which, in the three most widely-spoken Finno-Ugric languages of Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, is recognizable as being of common origin, and traceable to the common ancestor of the three...