Hungarian Historical Phonology kert

kert 'garden, place for animals'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

? 1055 kert (EWUng 739, s.v. kert)

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Proto-Hungarian *kärtV

WOT: 1334: Ancient Hungarian *kärtə

Cognates suggested in earlier research

[coming] Honti 2017

Loan etymology

1. WOT: 1334: Hu kert < Ancient Hungarian *kärtə ← Alanic *kärtä (cf. Ossetic kært ‘dvor’)

2. WOT: 535-537, 1334: Hu kert ? ← Turkic (← Ir)

Commentary

The Hungarian word kert is clearly a loanword, but different sources have been suggested. The word has been discussed in detail by WOT (535-537, 1334), and the conclusion is that the word is probably an Iranian loan, although a Turkic etymology remains possible. Many details of the Iranian etymology as suggested in WOT remain uncertain and require commentary.

WOT assumes that Ossetic kært, Hungarian kert and Chuvash karta (< ? West Old Turkic kärtä) are loanwords from am East Iranian reflex of Proto-Iranian *grda- 'house'. This has been considered unlikely by Holopainen and Czentnár (2021): *g- would be expected in Ossetic, and it is not clear what should be the substitution of Iranian *g- in Hungarian. The relationship of Ossetic kært to Proto-Iranian *grda- remains unclear, but kært cannot be a regular reflex of *grda-.

Holopainen and Czentnár assume that Hungarian kert is an Alanic loan: there are no phonological problems in explaining the word from Alanic *kært, and although Turkic origin for kert is also possible, Turkic loans in Hungarian are often bisyllabic. More research is needed on the relationship of Chuvash karta and Ossetic kært, as well as the similar forms in various Caucasian languages, such as Proto-Nakh *kart.

For a native etymology of kert, see Honti (2017).

Conclusion

Although it is difficult to assess the suggested loan etymologies of kert due to the Wanderwort-like character of the suggested sources, an Iranian origin for the Hungarian word seems most plausible.

References

Abaev 1958–1989 I: 586–587

Christol 2019: 27

EWUng 739, s.v. kert: Unclear origin, probably derivative from an FU base

Holopainen & Czentnár 2021 (handout): Hu probably ← Alanic

Honti 2017

Róna-Tas 2017: 51: Hu ← Alanic or Turkic

WOT: 535-537, 1333: Hu ← Alanic or Turkic