Latin and (Proto-)Romance loanwords in Hungarian from the ProtoHungarian period?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18349/MagyarNyelv.2018.2.201Keywords:
Proto-Hungarian, putative Latin/Romance loanwords, methodological problems in research on early loanwordsAbstract
A book published in 2016 in Aachen promises a genuine surprise for historical linguistics: the author tries to demonstrate the appearance of Latin and (Proto-)Romance loanwords in Proto-Hungarian (István Fritsche, Koinzidenzen. Eine Studie über echte oder vermeintliche lexikalische Einflüsse der Romania aufs Urungarische. Shaker Verlag). Why a surprise? According to a consensus view of etymologists, such loanwords cannot be attested from the Proto-Hungarian period (prior to 895 BC). The author of the present paper submitted the book to intense study. The result is as follows. The author of the book does not make clear where and when Hungarians could be claimed to have maintained intensive contacts with speakers of Latin or (Proto-)Romance prior to 895 (this would be a prerequisite for borrowing dozens of words). Furthermore, the proposed etymologies do not comply with strict requirements of etymological studies. The author of the book comes up with imaginative ideas but, taking into consideration the unclarified nature of the historical events and the lack of dated presentation of (Proto-)Romance data, these ideas do not pass the test of reliability. In sum: the book does not prove that Latin and (Proto-)Romance loanwords would have been borrowed into Hungarian in the Proto-Hungarian period.
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