Hungarian Historical Phonology gazdag

gazdag 'rich'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

1372 kaʒdag (EWUng)

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Proto-Hungarian *kazdagV

WOT: 1332: "Ancient Hungarian" *gazdagə

Cognates suggested in earlier research

None

Loan etymology

Hu gazdag < OHu kazdag ← Iranian (EWUng; Abuáffy 1994: 11-12)

WOT: 1332: AH *gazdagə ← Al *gazdïg (cf. Ossetic qæznyg, qæzdig, ğæzdug 'rich')

Commentary

The Iranian etymology is convincing and it is accepted by all relevant sources. No competing etymologies are known. However, some phonological details and the more precise Iranian donor language require some comments. WOT reconstructs a Proto-Hungarian ("Ancient Hungarian") word with *g-, but as Abáffy (1994: 11-12) notes, the Old Hungarian data shows k-, and it is probable that g is secondary. According to EWUng, the voiced g might be due to influence from the unrelated Hu word gazda.

WOT considers the word an Alanic loan, but since the word is attested in several Iranian languages, it is not clear whether the word is borrowed precisely from Alanic. On the other hand, Alanic might be a more probable source than some other Iranian language with a voiced stop *g.

Conclusion

A convincing Iranian loan etymology.

References

Abáffy 1994: Hu ← Ir

EWUng: 451, s.v. gazdag: Hu ← Ir

Helimski 2002: Hu ← Ir

WOT: 1332: Hu ← Alanic