Hungarian Historical Phonology fejt

fejt 'auftrennen, zertrennen; (Brgbau) abbauen, gewinnen; (Wein) abziehen'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

• päjä- or *päjə-

(Disputed:)

UEW: PUg *pejɜ- 'unpick; auftrennen'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Probable

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

Khanty: North pā́jit- 'abnehmen, herunternehmen, abwerfen, ausspannen, losmachen, fallen lassen, hinabwerfen'

Mansi: East (KU) pǟj-, West (P) pǟj- 'рыбу делаю, pää heitetään pois, kala halkaistaan selkää myöten pyrstöön asti, Kopf wird weggeworfen, der Fisch wird vom Rücken bis zum Schwanz gespaltet'

Commentary

UEW reconstructs Proto-Ugric *e, but this is an erroneous choice, as Hungarian e points to Proto-Ugric/Proto-Uralic *ä, and this would yield *ǟ in both Khanty and Mansi regularly. So the reconstruction of UEW is erroneous, but the Ugric etymology is phonologically plausible. Also semantically the etymology seems possible: the meaning of the Mansi word is quite specific, but the reconstruction meaning 'unpick' would fit all the Ugric cognates.

The word is scarcely attested in Ob-Ugric, and it is unclear whether the Khanty and Mansi words are real cognates or whether we are dealing with an internal borrowing within Ob-Ugric. However, it seems possible to reconstruct Proto-Ugric *päjV-.

Conclusion

A Proto-Ugric word can be reconstructed, as the cognates are phonologically regular and semantically plausible.

References

EWUng

UEW s.v. pejɜ-: Proto-Ugric Uralonet