Hungarian Historical Phonology meztelen

meztelen 'naked'

mezítláb 'barefoot'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

mesztelen

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

(Disputed:)

UEW: PUg *mećɜ- ~ *meśɜ- 'put on clothes; ein Kleid anziehen'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Improbable

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

Mansi: South (TJ) mäš-, East (KU) mǟš-, West (P) mǟš- 'kleiden', North (So) mas- 'anziehen, ankleiden' < Proto-Mansi *mǟš-

Commentary

Due to the mismatch between Proto-Mansi *š and Hungarian z, the etymology is problematic and no Proto-Ugric word can be reconstructed. Hungarian z derives regularly from Uralic *t between vowels, and the phoneme also appears in Iranian and Turkic loanwords. However, a relationship Hu z ~ Ms š is completely irregular, and there are no convincing parallels to this. Forms with sz are found in dialects, and it is unclear which sibilant should be considered the original.

There is also a semantic mismatch between the Hungarian and Mansi words: Hungarian meztelen means 'naked', mezitláb 'barefoot', whereas Mansi *mǟš- means 'to put on clothes'. It is possible that the Hungarian and Mansi words have nothing to do with each other.

Conclusion

The Proto-Ugric etymology cannot be correct as such due to problems with historical phonology.

References

EWUng

UEW s.v. mećɜ, meśɜ: Proto-Ugric Uralonet