Regular sound correspondences between Hungarian and other Uralic languages

Hungarian language
Closeup view of a Hungarian keyboard
Alphabet
ő ű cs dz dzs gy ly ny sz ty zs
Grammar
Noun phrases Verbs T-V distinction
History
Sound correspondences with other Uralic languages
Other features
Phonetics and phonology Vowel harmony Orthography (Old Hungarian script) Hungarian names Tongue-twisters
Hungarian and English
Hungarian pronunciation of English English words from Hungarian
Regulatory body

There are numerous regular sound correspondences between Hungarian and the other Uralic languages. For example, Hungarian á corresponds to Khanty 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 Khanty are closely connected, either genealogically or as part of a language area. The distance between Hungarian and the Finnic languages is greater, but the correspondences are also regular. The relationship is most obvious when comparing all Uralic languages together, for then individual idiosyncrasies are averaged out, but here we will just compare Hungarian with Finnish and Estonian (two Finnic languages). One important innovation of Hungarian is the lenition of the stop consonants *p *k in initial position:

• Hungarian [f] corresponds to Finnish and Estonian [p] (compare English fish to Italian pesce):

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] (as 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

External links

• Finnish-Hungarian etymologies