Hungarian Historical Phonology nyolc

nyolc 'eight; acht'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Disputed

UEW: *ńalɜ ‘eight ← ? bundle; acht ?← Bündel, Bund‘

Status of the Ugric etymology

Unclear

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (V) ńi̬ləγ, South (DN) ńitə, North (O) ńijəl 'acht'

Mansi: South (TJ) ńalāləw, East (KU) naləw, West (P) ńalləw, North (So) ńolāluw 'acht'

Commentary

Although the words for 'eight' in the Ugric languages clearly are somehow connected, the situation is less certain than is implied by the UEW. The vowel-correspondences between the Khanty and Mansi cognates are not clear, and it is also not quite certain what Ugric vowel Hungarian o should reflect here: UEW reconstructs *a and argues that the o reflex is due to influence from the lc cluster: the same is noted by Abondolo (1996: 121), according whom Hu a > o is regular when followed by a cluster of l + consonant.

UEW remarks that Mansi -ləw, -luw is "identical (identisch)" to Mansi low 'ten'. The vocalism is different, but this could perhaps be explained as vowel reduction in the latter part of a compound. It is also possible that the latter part of the word 'eight' (naləw etc.) has been connected with the word for 'ten' through folk etymology. East and West Mansi show disyllabic forms that resemble Khanty (V) ńi̬ləγ, whereas South and North Mansi show trisyllabic words that look more like transparent compouns (So ńolāluw etc.).

UEW assumes that the words are originally derived from a Ugric noun *ńalV 'bundle' (> Hungarian nyaláb, Khanty V ńula, DN ńuta, Kaz. ńǫʌa 'together; együtt'), but it remains unclear why should we consider the words for 'eight' such derivatives. The vocalism of the forms allegedly reflecting *ńalV is also problematic: even if Hungarian o could be explained as a conditioned change (see above), the Khanty vocalism in the words for 'eight' and 'together' cannot be regularly connected.

Conclusion

Due to irregular vocalism, it remains unclear what kind of connection there is between the words in the three Ugric languages.

References

Abondolo 1996: 121: PUg

Honti 1993: 111-115: PUg

UEW: PUg Uralonet