Hungarian Historical Phonology fecske

fëcske 'swallow; Hirundo rustica'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

1333 Feskekorongya (see EWUNg, MSzFE)

Important dialectal forms

feske

fëske

föcske

föcsöke

See UEW

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

(Disputed:)

UEW: PFU *päćkɜ ‘swallow; Schwalbe; Hirundo rustica‘

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

[coming]

See UEW Uralonet

See Etymologiadata:imsm:pääsko→

Commentary

See the discussion at Etymologiadata:imsm:pääsko→

There are competing views of the etymology: the Uralic background mentioned by MSzFE (186, s.v. fëcske) and UEW is disputed by EWUng and Zaicz (2006), who consider the Uralic words onomatopoetic rather than inheritance from Proto-Finno-Ugric. MSzFE mentions that the words are "hangfestő jellegűek", but it remains unclear what this should mean exactly. Also SSA (s.v. pääsky) mentions the possible onomatopoetic origin, but it is not quite clear whether the idea is that the Proto-Finno-Ugric word is originally onomatopoetic, or that the suggested cognates are all of onomatopoetic origin.

MSzFE mentions that Hungarian fecske has been derived from the verb fecseg 'schwatzen, zwitschern' in earlier research, but MSzFE considers this incorrect as the meaning of fecseg appers in texts much later than the bird name fecske, and there are phonological difficulties in deriving fecske from fecseg. It is not clear what these phonological difficulties are, however, so formally the possibility of considering fecske a derivative from fecseg remains a possibility.

It is of course possible that the words are originally cognates, but their phonological shape has been influenced by later association with onomatopoetic words: however, it is impossible to prove these developments.

The vowel-relations between the alleged cognates are irregular, which makes the idea of an inherited word unlikely.

It is unclear what is the original vowel in Hungarian (both ë and e are found in dialects): the suggested Finnic cognates (Fi pääsky etc.) point to *ä.

Hungarian cs is not a regular reflex of PU *ć (*ś). Forms with s are found in dialects. As the Hungarian word is in any case a derivative, it is not quite clear what cs reflects here exactly.

Conclusion

The Uralic origin of Hungarian fecske is highly uncertain due to phonological irregularities.

References

EWUng: 363-364, s.v. fecske: rather onom. than PFU

MSzFE: 186, s.v. fëcske

SSA s.v. pääsky: PFU, possibly of onomatopoetic

UEW s.v. päćkɜ: PFU Uralonet

Zaicz 2006 s.v. fecske: onomatopoetic, not PFU