Hungarian Historical Phonology él

él 'Schneide; Spitze'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

(Disputed:)

UEW: ? PUg *elɜ '(cutting) edge; Schneide'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Improbable (phonologically irregular)

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Mansi: South (TJ) iľmət, East (KU)iľəm, West (P) iľəm, North (So) ēlmi 'Schneide' < PMs ?

Commentary

UEW considers the Ugric etymology uncertain and notes that the etymology is correct only if m in Mansi is a derivative suffix. However, this is unclear.

Moreover, the background of Mansi vocalism is unclear: most of the variants point to Proto-Mansi *i (which could reflext PUg *e), but Sosva ē does not regularly reflect *i. Hungarian é clearly points to Proto-Ugric *e.

The reconstruction of a Proto-Ugric form is unlikely, and the words could be parallel loanwords from somewhere.

Conclusion

Due to phonological irregularities, no Proto-Ugric form can be reconstructed.

References

UEW s.v. elɜ: ? Proto-Ugric Uralonet