Hungarian Historical Phonology mély

mély 'deep'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

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Important dialectal forms

mél, mil (UEW)

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

? *melV

UEW: *melɜ ‘Tief‘ Abondolo 1996: 26 *milV

Status of the Ugric etymology

Probable (phonologically regular)

Loan etymology

PUg ← Iranian (Alanic) *mal (SKöld 1925; Rasmussen 1989)

Cognates suggested in earlier research

Khanty: North (O) mȧ̆l ‘Tief‘; East (V) mĕl; South (DN) mĕt 'deep' < Proto-Khanty ?

Mansi: North (N) mil, East (KU) mil, South (TJ) mäl, West (P) ńiľ ‘deep’ < Proto-Mansi ?

Proto-Ob-Ugric: *mil- (Honti 1982: 188, no. 637)

Commentary

The Ugric words are regular cognates (Hungarian ly is probably secondary, as form with *l are found in dialects, see UEW).

An Iranian etymology (from a form akin to Ossetic mal) has been suggested for the Ugric words already by Munkácsi, and this is supported by Sköld (1925: 30). This explanation has been discussed in detail by Rasmussen (1989: 236-239), who assumes that Ugric *melV could be an early loan from Alanic, from a predecessor of Ossetic mal 'deep water'. The etymology involves some problems: there are no known Proto-Ugric words that correspond to a relatively late stage of Alanic (showing *ry > l), and no "Proto-Ugric" loan shows *e as the reflex of Iranian *a (Sköld noted that the correspondence of Hungarian é and Ossetic a is regular, but this can be stated only in regard of later loans, not words with a possible Proto-Ugric distribution). Rasmussen is right in noting that Hu é corresponds to Ossetic a in some loans, but these are clearly later borrowings into Hungarian. Rasmussen assumes that *melV could be a much older Alanic loan, but due this explanation lacks parallels. However, semantically the etymology is unproblematic, and formally there would be no obstacle to assume an Alanic word *mal being borrowed into Ugric as *melV. It also cannot be ruled out that despite the regular relations of the Ugric words, we might be dealing with parallel loans.

Sköld mentions (with question mark) Udmurt mur 'deep' as a possible cognate. As UEW states, the Udmurt word cannot be a cognate of the Ugric words due to r. The Udmurt word can also not be a loan from the Alanic word *mal. If the Ossetic word really reflects (otherwise unattested) Proto-Indo-Iranian *mārya-, as has been assumed (see Rasmussen 1989 with references), the Udmurt word could technically be an earlier Indo-Iranian loan, but this explanation remains speculative.

Conclusion

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References

Abondolo 1996: 26: Proto-Ugric

EWUng

Honti 1982: 389, no. 163

Munkácsi Keleti Szemle, 318

Rasmussen 1989: 236-239 PUg ← Alanic

Sköld 1925: 30 ← Alanic

UEW: Proto-Ugric Uralonet