01
Origins
Hungarian is the most widely spoken Uralic language and the most distant from its relatives in geography and appearance. After the Ugric split its speakers lived for more than a thousand years on the steppe, among Turkic- and Iranian-speaking peoples, and their language absorbed a great deal from them. Sound changes also reshaped the inherited words: initial *p became f (fészek 'nest', Finnish pesä), and *k before back vowels became h (hal 'fish', Finnish kala).
The steppe years left a large layer of West Old Turkic vocabulary, borrowed from a Chuvash-like language: búza 'wheat', szőlő 'grape', ökör 'ox', gyümölcs 'fruit'. Much of the vocabulary of farming and animal-keeping comes from this source.
02
The Conquest and the First Texts
In 895–896 the Hungarian tribes crossed the Carpathians and settled the basin of the middle Danube, the event Hungarians call the honfoglalás ('conquest of the homeland'). The kingdom adopted Latin Christianity around 1000, and Latin remained the language of state for centuries.
Hungarian first appears as words embedded in Latin documents, most famously the founding charter of Tihany Abbey (1055). The first connected text is the Halotti beszéd ('Funeral Sermon', c. 1192–1195). There was also a native script, the Old Hungarian rovás runes, carved on wood and stone. How old it is and where it came from are disputed.
03
Language Reform
At the end of the 18th century, Hungarian writers led by Ferenc Kazinczy set out to make Hungarian fit for science, law and literature in competition with Latin and German. The nyelvújítás ('language renewal') coined or revived about ten thousand words, many of which are standard today, such as szótár 'dictionary' and jármű 'vehicle'. In 1844 Hungarian replaced Latin as the official language of the Kingdom of Hungary.
In its own words
Látjátuk feleim szümtükhel, mik vogymuk
- Látjátuk
- feleim
- szümtükhel,
- mik
- vogymuk
Sources (2)
Where it’s spoken
- Hungary
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Serbia
- Ukraine
Turning points
- Sound lawContested
Initial *p becomes f
*p at the start of a word becomes f: *pesä 'nest' → fészek, beside Finnish pesä. Khanty and Mansi keep p, so the change is Hungarian alone. Its exact date is unknown, but the earliest Hungarian records already have f.
Compare with other consonant shifts across families →
Sources (1)
- ContactContested
West Old Turkic loanwords
Several hundred words enter from a Chuvash-type ('Oghur') Turkic language, especially for farming, animal husbandry and social life: búza 'wheat', szőlő 'grape', ökör 'ox'. Where and when the contact happened is debated.
Sources (1)
- Split
Into the Carpathian Basin
The Hungarian tribal federation settles the Carpathian Basin. Separated from the steppe, Hungarian now develops among Slavic, German and Latin neighbours and takes many Slavic words (király 'king', asztal 'table').
Sources (1)
- Writing
From the Tihany charter to the Funeral Sermon
Hungarian place names and phrases appear in the Latin founding charter of Tihany Abbey (1055), and the Funeral Sermon (c. 1192–1195) is the first continuous Hungarian text. Both are in Latin letters, adapted with some difficulty to Hungarian sounds.
Sources (1)
- Revitalization
Nyelvújítás: the language renewal
Kazinczy and his circle coin and revive thousands of words to modernise Hungarian. By Act II of 1844 Hungarian replaces Latin as the official language of the kingdom.
Sources (1)
Contested classifications
- Largely rejected
Turkic origin of Hungarian
Evidence for
Ármin Vámbéry argued in the 1870s–80s from the large Turkic vocabulary, the steppe culture of the early Hungarians, and Byzantine sources that called them 'Turks'. The debate, known as the 'Ugric–Turkic war', was also a fight over national identity.
Evidence against
József Budenz showed that Hungarian's basic vocabulary, pronouns, numerals and inflection correspond regularly with Khanty, Mansi and the rest of Uralic, while the Turkic words are loans that can be dated by their Chuvash-like shapes. The Uralic affiliation is not disputed among linguists today.
Sources (2)