Hungarian Historical Phonology savanyú

savanyú 'sour; sauer'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

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Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

MSzFE:

PUg *čawɜ

or ? PFU *čappa(-)

UEW: PUg ? PFU *čawɜ (čapa)

Status of the Ugric etymology

Irregular

Loan etymology

None suggested

Cognates suggested in earlier research

MSzFE, UEW:

Khanty: East čĕγ-, North (O) suw- 'sauer werden, gären (der Teig)', (Kaz) šŭw 'Teig, Vorteig'

Mansi: East (KU) šɔ̈̄γm 'muffig (vom Mehl)', West (LU) šē̮w- 'säuern', North (LO) šāw- 'säuern'

? Finnish: hapan 'sour'

? Mordvin: E čapamo, M šapama 'sour'

? Mari: 'KB 'šapə̑ 'sauer', B šowo 'Kwas'

Commentary

MSzFE and UEW suggest an Ugric etymology and cautiously connect the etymology to the words meaning 'sour' in more western Uralic forms. However, as noted already by MSzFE, the relationship to the western form is irregular, and this idea has to be rejected as impossible. More recent sources like Aikio (2015) reject the relationship between the Ugric forms and those in Finnic, Mordvin and Mari; Aikio (2015) reconstructs PU *sappa / *ši̮ppa 'sour' to account for the latter forms.

Regarding the Ugric words, their relationship is also problematic. Aikio (UED manuscript) notes that the alleged Khanty cognate cannot be regularly connected with the words in Hungarian and Mansi. This makes the whole Ugric etymology unlikely: it is probable that we are dealing with a parallel loan, as is the case with many other "Proto-Ugric" words.

Conclusion

Even though the Hungarian, Khanty and Mansi words are somehow connected, the Ugric etymology cannot be accepted as such due to irregular sound-correspondences.

References

Aikio (UED manuscript): Khanty cognate irregular

MSzFE: 544-545, s.v. savanyú: Proto-Ugric or ? Proto-Finno-Ugric

UEW s.v. čawɜ (čapa): Proto-Ugric or ? Proto-Finno-Ugric [1]