Hungarian Historical Phonology malágy

malágy 'eine breitblättrige, Anfang August blühende Weidenart, zum Korbflechten sehr geeignet'

malát 'von Weiden, Sträuchern bestandener, buschiger Ort; nach dem Hochwasser aus der schlammigen Erde wachsende Sträucher'

malád 'von Weiden, Sträuchern bestandener, buschiger Ort; nach dem Hochwasser aus der schlammigen Erde wachsende Sträucher'

malász 'allerlei vom Wasser ans Ufer geschwemmtes od. an der Oberfläche des Wassers schwimmendes Unkraut, Schutt, Kenricht'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

The words are attested only in Hungarian dialects.

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

(Disputed:)

UEW: PUg *malkɜ 'species of willow; eine Weidenart'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Improbable (the Hungarian word has a convincing Slavic etymology)

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (V) măγli̮, South (DN) măχtə, North (Kaz) mŏχʌa 'Silberweide'

Commentary

Although UEW considers this a certain Proto-Ugric item, TESz and EWUng support a Slavic origin for the Hungarian words listed here (EWUng and TESz list Slavic words like Slovak mlad' 'Jungwald'. Probably the divergent words are parallel loans from Slavic into Hungarian dialects; TESz and EWUng also mention that the words might have been borrowed via Romanian (cf. Romanian mladă 'grove, thicket').

Although TESz considers it uncertain whether malász belongs here, it is dubious that this dialectal word would rather be cognate to Khanty măγli̮ etc.

The exact borrowing routes and the relationship between the different variants in Hungarian require further research, but the word has no value in discussion of Proto-Ugric or early Hungarian phonological developments.

The origin of the Khanty word is unknown.

Conclusion

Due to the Slavic etymology for Hu malágy, the Proto-Ugric etymology has to be rejected

References

EWUng: 928-929, s.v. malágy: Hu ← Slavic

TESz: 827-828, s.v. malágy: Hu ← Slavic

UEW s.v. malkɜ: PUg Uralonet