Hungarian Historical Phonology sas

sas 'eagle; (OHu) vulture; Adler, Aar; (altung.) Geier'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

1213 Sos place name (EWUng)

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Disputed

UEW: PFU *čaćkɜ ‘a species of ravener (eagle, hawk, falcon, vulture); eine Art Raubvogel (Adler, Geier, Falke, Habicht)‘

Sammallahti 1988: 549: PFU *śä/e/åksi 'osprey'

Loan etymology

? Wanderwort, cf. Ossetic cærgæs 'eagle', Sogdian crks 'bird of prey' etc. (Cheung 2002: 176)

Cognates suggested in earlier research

MSzFE, UEW:

? Saami: Friis cisku 'Falco lithofalco; astur nisus', cicka 'accipiter' (see Álgu: North čiekčá, Ume tjeäkttja, Skolt čiõhčč 'osprey' < Proto-Saami *čiekče̮)

? Komi: źuś 'eine Falkenart (Falco lanarius)', śuź 'Uhu (Strix bubo)'

Sammallahti 1988: 549:

? Finnish: sääksi 'osprey'

? Saami: https://kaino.kotus.fi/algu/index.php?t=sanue&sanue_id=5437&kkieli=en North čiekčá, Ume tjeäkttja, Skolt čiõhčč 'osprey' < Proto-Saami *čiekče̮]

? Komi: čikči 'seagull'

? Khanty: East (V) süγəs, South (DN) siwəs 'Fischadler, Sturmmöve', North (O) siwəs 'Fischadler'

? Mansi: East (KU) siws, West (P) siws 'seagull', North (So) siγəs 'a kind of bird in folk poetry'

Commentary

Various solutions have been suggested for the etymology of Hungarian sas 'eagle', but none is entirely convincing. Two competing Uralic (Finno-Ugric) etymologies can be found in the literature: MSzFE and UEW hesitantly connect the Hungarian word with Komi źuś, śuź and the obscure Saami words cicku, cicka. A possible reconstruction *čaćkɜ is given in the UEW. This reconstruction does not account for the suggested Saami cognates that show aberrant vocalism (as noted by the MSzFE already). EWUng (1309) is hesitant of the possible Uralic (Finno-Ugric origin) and notes that the etymology involves phonological irregularities. As the alleged cognates do not even refer to a same kind of bird, it is possible that we are dealing with accidental lookalikes.

On the other hand, the Hungarian and Komi cognates might indeed reflect Proto-Uralic *čaćka. Hungarian word-final s could reflect Proto-Uralic word-internal ćk regularly, and also Komi ś could be derived from earlier *ćk. Hungarian word-initial s can be derived from Proto-Uralic *č. The Komi sibilants are more problematic, as the variant źuś shows irregular word-initial voicing, whereas śuź shows the expected outcome of Proto-Uralic word-initial *ć, but the voiced ź would not be a regular reflex of the word-internal cluster *ćk.

Sammallahti (1988) connects the Hungarian word (with a question mark) with Fi sääksi 'osprey' and other Finno-Ugric cognates (see above); Sammallahti follows here an earlier idea rejected in the MSzFE (see s.v. sas and SSA s.v. sääksi for references to earlier research). This etymology is likewise problematic, which can be seen from Sammallahti's reconstruction *śä/e/åksi. Hungarian sas clearly cannot reflect the same Uralic word as the words like Fi sääksi and Saami N čiekčá, pointing to Uralic *śäksi.

Cheung (2002: 176) mentions Hungarian sas in his commentary of the etymology of Ossetic cærgæs 'eagle'. Cheung notes that the Ossetic word and similar words in other Iranian languages (like Sogdian crks 'bird of prey', Avestan kahrkāsa-, Middle Persian kargās 'vulture') cannot be regularly connected and might be Wanderwörter, and he also mentions Uralic words like Hungarian sas, Komi źuś, Finnish kotka 'eagle' and Mansi šεrkeš, šarkš́ 'eagle'. Cheung does not comment the possible connections of the Uralic and Iranian words further. The Mansi word mentioned by Cheung is quite clearly an Alanic loanword (see Holopainen 2019: 267), but Hungarian sas cannot be derived from any Iranian form without problems.

Conclusion

Hungarian sas could reflect earlier *čaćka. The possible Komi cognate requires more research. The connection with Ossetic cærgæs should be rejected.

References

Cheung 2002: 176: possibly a Wanderwort somehow connected to Ossetic cærgæs 'eagle' and other Iranian words with similar meaning

EWUng 1309, s.v. sas: uncertain origin, ? PFU

MSzFE 543-544, s.v. sas: ? PFU

Sammallahti 1988: 549: ? PFU

UEW: ? PFU Uralonet