Hungarian Historical Phonology könyörög

könyörül 'sich erbarmen, Mitleid haben'

könyörög 'flehen, inständig bitten; beten'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

1372 kenyerewle, kewnyewrewluen (see EWUng)

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Disputed:

UEW: PUg *kenɜ- 'growl, bellow; scrape (vt), plane, dress; brummen, brüllen'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Improbable (phonologically irregular and semantically problematic)

Loan etymology

Hu ← Turkic *könür- (Palló 1982: 135–136)

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (Vj) köṇəγ- 'bösartig knurren (der Hund)', South (Kr) kĕnəj- 'summen, murmeln, leise vor sich hin sprechen od. singen', North (Kaz) keṇĭ- 'brummen (der Bär)' < PKh *käṇəγ- (Zhivlov 2016: 296)

Mansi: East (KM) kēnγ-, North (So) kēnγ- 'muhen, winseln' < PMs *kīnəγ- (Zhivlov 2016: 296)

Commentary

The Ugric etymology is presented as uncertain in UEW and EWUng due to semantic difficulties and the possibility that the Ob-Ugric words can be of onomatopoetic origin. Already Barczi (1943: 176) rejected the Ugric etymology. Also Zhivlov (2016: 296) mentions the possibility that the Ob-Ugric words can be onomatopoetic. He also considers the relation to Hungarian könyörög- improbable.

The phonological relations between the Ob-Ugric and Hungarian words are unclear. Hungarian ö often goes back to Proto-Ugric/Uralic *ü, and also often to *i, although in the latter case there usually is variation ë ~ ö within Hungarian; in this case such variation is not found in modern Hungarian, but it is unclear whether Old Hungarian attestations like kenyerewle reflect an illabial vowel. The Ob-Ugric words cannot reflect *ü regularly, but Khanty *käṇəγ- could reflect PUg *kiṇ-. However, it would be difficult to derive Mansi *kīnəγ- from such a form. The relationship between the Khanty and Mansi words requires further research, but it is quite clear that it is impossible to reconstruct a Proto-Ugric form that would account for all of the suggested reflexes. The Proto-Ugric reconstruction *kenɜ- in the UEW is in any case impossible.

A Turkic etymology has been suggested by Palló (1982: 135–136) who assumes a source form *könür-, based on Old Turkic kön- 'to straight'; however, WOT (1191-1192) rejects this possibility, as the derivative *könür- is not attested and also the semantic connection is unclear. WOT considers the Hungarian to be of unknown origin.

Conclusion

The Proto-Ugric etymology should be rejected, and the origin of the Hungarian word-family könyörül', könyörög remains unclear.

References

Barczi 1943: 176, s.v. könyörög: not PUg

EWUng 818, s.v. könyörül: ? PUg

Palló 1982: 135–136: Hu ← Turkic

UEW s.v. kenɜ-: ? PUg Uralonet

WOT 1191-1192: not PUg, not ← Turkic

Zhivlov 2016: 296: not PUg