Hungarian Historical Phonology ég
ég 'to burn'
First attestation/Old Hungarian data
? Egueteu 1211 (see EWUng)
Important dialectal forms
íg
Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction
(Disputed:)
UEW: ? PUg *äŋɜ- 'fire, burn; feuer, brennen'
Loan etymology
See the commentary below.
Cognates suggested in earlier research
UEW:
Khanty: East (Vj) jäŋləl-, North (Kaz) jaŋəʌ- 'am Feuer rösten'
Mari: (KB) əŋγä- 'schwelen, anbrennen, angesengt werden, verkohlen', (U, B) eŋa- 'schwelen, anbrennen, angesengt werden, verkohlen', eŋ 'Feuer'
Komi: i̮ń 'Flamme', i̮ńal- 'flammen, entbrennen'
Commentary
Hungarian ég 'burn' is considered a possible inherited Uralic/Finno-Ugric word by most etymological dictionaries: however, the Uralic etymology has various problems, and especially the connection of the Mari word here has been doubted (see MSzFE, UEW, Bereczki 2013). The é-vocalism of the Hungarian word is problematic, as is noted by EWUng. Proto-Uralic *ä is regularly reflected by Hungarian e (or the alternating é : e), whereas long é usually points to PU *e.
Metsäranta (2020) accepts the connection of the Permic and Mari cognates, reconstructing PU *äŋə-. However, some sources (MSzFe, UEW, Bereczki 2013) consider the Mari word a possible Turkic loan, from a Turkic word reflected by Chuvash ən- 'ohne Flamme brennen'. Bereczki (2013) reconstructs a Volga Bulgar *iŋ- as the source of the Mari word. At the moment it seems that both the Uralic and Turkic explanations for the Mari word are formally possible.
Regarding the origin of Hungarian ég, a loan from Turkic *iŋ- might be possible as well, even though in this case i or í would be more probable in Hungarian. There are dialectal forms showing í, and if these reflect the original vocalism, this might make the Turkic loan more likely. However, further research is needed.
Conclusion
The origin of Hungarian ég remains uncertain and further research is needed.
References
EWUng: 295, s.v. ég1
Bereczki 2013: Mari eŋ- not < PFU
MSzFE: 139-140, s.v. ég2: ? PFU
UEW s.v. äŋɜ: ? PFU Uralonet
WOT: 1274: PFU