Hungarian Historical Phonology merül

mer 'schöpfen'

merít 'schöpfen, tauchen'

merül 'sinken, versinken, tauchen'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

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Important dialectal forms

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Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

? *märV-

(Disputed:)

UEW: PUg *märɜ- 'dive, plunge; untertauchen'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Unclear

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (J) mȧ̆rət- 'untertauchen', South (DN) mĕrət- 'tauchen', North (O) mȧ̆rət- 'tauchen'

Mansi: East (KM) mɔ̈̄rəŋ pat 'далеко ныряет эта утка', West (LM) marėχt- 'öfters tauchen', North (LO) wās jol-māraχtės 'утка нырнула', (N) jol-mārėχt- 'öfters untertauchen' < PMs *mǟr-

Commentary

Hungarian mer- and Mansi *mǟr- could be derived from Proto-Ugric *märV-; however, the Khanty vocalism is problematic, and it cannot be derived from Proto-Ugric *ä regularly.

Semantically the etymology is plausible. Because of the problems with the Khanty word, the Ugric etymology is not correct as such, but for the Hungarian and Mansi cognates a common proto-form could be reconstructed.

Conclusion

The Khanty word cannot be derived from PUg *märV-, but the relationship of Hu mer- and Mansi *mǟr- is possible.

References

UEW s.v. märɜ-: Proto-Ugric Uralonet