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Hungarian actually had a language reform in the late 1800s to remove foreign words and replace them with pure Hungarian equivalents. These days though, quite a
by yosito 4y ago
Hungarian actually had a language reform in the late 1800s to remove foreign words and replace them with pure Hungarian equivalents. These days though, quite a few loanwords have crept back in. I'm not sure if the Latin-based words actually came via French or via English. And there are very many Slavic loan words in Hungarian too, and some Germanic ones. My favorite loan word in Hungarian is "vásziszdász" from German "Was ist das?", it's used to mean deal, as in "not a big deal", "nem egy nagy vásziszdász".
- sopchi 4y agoInterestingly, that German phrase also has its application in French: the word Vasistas [1], used to refer to roof windows. Ended up completely different than both German and Hungarian versions. [1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasistas https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasistas
- riffraff 4y ago> I'm not sure if the Latin-based words actually came via French or via English Or via anything else, really. E.g. the word for car "kocsi" seems oddly similar to Spanish "coche" (I think French would be voiture) and "tombola" to mean "bingo" seems Italian (french/english should be raffle, I think).
- yosito 4y agoCoach/coche/kocsi all come from Hungarian. There is a Hungarian town called Kócs. Kócsi literally means "(a thing) from Kócs". Hungary used to sell some horse drawn carriages made in Kócs and from there, the word entered German and then English. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kocs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kocs
- riffraff 4y agoah, TIL, thanks!
- biztos 4y agoA related one I like is “vonundzu” which I guess you’d have to spell as “fanencú?” I’ve never seen it spelled, but it’s dismissive slang for aristocrats both real and self-appointed.
- eru 4y agoIt has the same meaning in German.