Cafrang and csáprág ‘saddlecloth’

Authors

  • Tamás Tölgyesi Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Szláv és Balti Filológiai Intézet, Szláv Filológiai Tanszék; Universität Wien, Institut für Slawistik

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18349/MagyarNyelv.2023.3.331

Keywords:

etymology, language contacts, borrowing, Turkism, saddlecloth

Abstract

It is still debated whether the Hungarian cafrang, csáprág originates from the Turkish çaprak ‘saddlecloth’ or vice versa. In my article, I would like to show that Czech čabraka, Slovak čabraka, čabrak, Polish czaprag most likely come via Hungarian csáprág [ʧaːpraːg] from Turkish çaprak. German Schabracke, Czech šabrak, šabraka, Slovak šabrak, šabraka, Polish szabrak, szabraka and Slovenian šabraka forms were borrowed via Hungarian sabrák [ʃɒbraːk] from Turkish şaprak ‘id.’. For centuries, saddlecloths were made of felt. The Turkish verb čap- means, among other things, ʻto hit, to beatʼ. This refers to the old technique of felting. Wet wool was compressed by beating it into a felt cloth.

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Published

2023-11-21

Issue

Section

Szó- és szólásmagyarázatok