Hungarian Historical Phonology ara

ara 'Braut'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

ara 'Bruder der mutter oder der Schwester; Schwiegertochter'

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Disputed:

UEW: *arɜ (arwa) ‘maternal relative; mother's (younger) brother; (jüngerer) Bruder der Mutter‘

Status of the Ugric etymology

False

Loan etymology

Proto-Ugric ← Iranian, cf. Ossetic ærwad, ærwadæ ‘brother’ (Korenchy 1972)

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (V) oľi 'Neffe, Sohn des Bruders (oder der Schwester)', North (O) orti 'Bruder der Mutter' (the Khanty words continue various derivatives), North (Kaz) wǫrtĭ 'jüngerer Bruder der Mutter, männliche Nachkommen des jüngeren Bruders der Mutter, Sohn des jüngeren Bruders der Mutter'

Mansi: East (K) or 'сородичи по мaтеринской линии, предки по мaтери', West (LM) oår 'anyai részről való rokon; mütterlicherseits verwandt', North (N) å̄r 'anyai részről való rokon; mütterlicherseits verwandt'

Commentary

The Ugric etymology is filled with problems, as the semantic relations between the words in Hungarian and Ob-Ugric are quite problematic, and the phonological correspondences are irregular. It is not even certain that all the Khanty words listed in the UEW belong together.

The idea of an Iranian loan is likewise problematic. The etymology would require an Ossetic-like form with prothetic a, but this is a relatively late development. Also the semantic side of the loan etymology is problematic.

If Hungarian ara 'bride' is separated from the Old Hungarian ara 'mother's brother', it might be possible to derive the latter one from Alanic, but the meanning 'Schwiegertochter', also attested for the latter word, is problematic in this sense.

Conclusion

Due to phonological and semantic difficulties, both the Ugric etymology and the idea of an Iranian loan have to be rejected.

References

Holopainen 2019: Not PUg, not ← Iranian

Korenchy 1972: PUg ← Iranian

UEW: PUg ← ? Iranian Uralonet