Hungarian Historical Phonology -ség

-ség, -ság 'Suffix zur Bildung von Abstrakta u. Sammelnamen'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

(Disputed:)

UEW: ? PUg *ćeŋɜ (ćiŋɜ) 'time; Zeit'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Improbable (phonologically irregular)

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Mansi: South (TJ) ćäw, East (KU) śüw, West (LU) śiγ, śi 'Zeit; ein gewisses Maß, eine gewisse Menge; Art'

Commentary

UEW considers the Ugric etymology uncertain. The etymology involves various difficulties: UEW notes that the vowel-correspondences within Mansi dialects are irregular. As this is the case, it is a wonder that the word is listed as a possible Proto-Ugric item. Also the correspondence between Mansi *γ and Hungarian *ŋ is irregular. There is no evidence here that we should assume a pre-form with *ŋ for the Mansi word.

UEW notes that the Hungarian suffix -śeg/ság probably reflects originally an independent word. This is a plausible idea, but in the light of phonological difficulties there is no reason to consider this word a cognate of the Mansi words listed in the UEW. It is also uncertain what would have been the meaning of the Hungarian word: in Hungarian there are no traces of the meaning 'time' attested in Mansi.

Conclusion

The Ugric etymology is unlikely due to both phonological and semantic difficulties.

References

UEW s.v. ćeŋɜ (ćiŋɜ): ? PUg Uralonet