Hungarian Historical Phonology honn

honn 'zu Hause'

hon 'fatherland [18th c. coinage]'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

Forms honn' and 'hon' are found in dialects (ÚMTSz II: 992, s.v. honn)

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Pre-Hu/PU *kunV

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

See UEW s.v. kota

Commentary

The suggested etymologies for Hungarian honn (and the coined hon, derived from it) are uncertain, as both TESz and EWUng admit. However, a new explanation can be suggested: hon(n) could be regularly derived from Proto-Uralic *kunV, reflected in Khanty V kŏṇ, DN χŏn, O χŏn 'Bauch' and Komi ki̮ne̮m 'Bauch' (see Uralonet). The Khanty and Komi words denote 'belly', but it can be assumed that the meaning of Hungarian 'at home' could have developed from 'inside', which would not be far from the meaning 'belly'. It is also possible that a more general meaning 'internal parts' or 'inside something' was the meaning of the Uralic word.

It has already been suggested that *kunV is reflected by Hungarian compounds like Old Hungarian iunhum 'Herz, Sinn, Leber, Lende'. This is a plausible idea.

Conclusion

This new etymology involves less phonological uncertainty than the previous explanations.

References

EWUng: 573, s.v. hon, s.v. honn: Derived either from PU/PFU pronoun *ku- or the noun *kota

TESz: 1371, s.v. hon, 1372, s.v. honn: Derived either from PU/PFU pronoun *ku- or the noun *kota