Hungarian Historical Phonology sok

sok 'much, many'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

? 1138 Suk (EWUng 1342-1343, s.v. sok)

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Pre-Hu *čukkV-

UEW: *čukkɜ (čokkɜ)

WOT: 729-735: (?) šok

Loan etymology

WOT: 729-735: Hu ← West Old Turkic *čok, cf. East Old Turkic *čok << ? *tašï-ok

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Mansi: South (TJ) šaw, East (KU) šɔ̈̄w, West (P) šāw, North (So) sāw

Mari: C ćoka 'dicht', KB čakata 'dicht, fest, kompakt'

Komi: S če̮ki̮d 'dicht wachsend (z.B. Wald Saat, Gras)', P če̮k 'dicht'

Bereczki 2013: 9-10:

Mari: č́ok 'sehr, sehr viel, in großer Menge'

Commentary

Hungarian sok has competing Uralic and Turkic etymologies. The most comprehensive recent treatment of the competing etymologies is WOT (729-735; see also Róna-Tas 2017: 53), who does not reach a conclusion but keeps both possibilities open. Honti (2017: 53) defends the Uralic (Finno-Ugric) origin but does not offer any additional arguments in its favor. Honti admits the possibility that the Turkic word *čok has influenced the development of Hungarian sok that is originally of Finno-Ugric origin.

Bereczki (2013: 9-10) notes that instead of Mari ćoka, the word č́ok 'sehr, sehr viel, in großer Menge' should be considered the reflex of PFU *čukkV or *čokkV.

The Uralic etymology is rather problematic, and one gets an overtly positive picture from the above-mentioned sources. Neither of the suggested Mari words can reflect regularly *čukkV, the assumed proto-form of Hungarian sok. The Mansi cognate also shows aberrant vocalism even between Mansi dialects. Regarding the Komi word, i̮ would be the expected reflex of *u.

Because of all these problems, the Uralic inherited etymology should be reflected. The Turkic loan etymology presents no phonological or semantic problems.

Conclusion

The Uralic (Finno-Ugric) etymology is irregular, and this makes the Turkic etymology more plausible.

References

Bereczki 2013: 9-10: Proto-Finno-Ugric

EWUng 1342-1343, s.v. sok: Proto-Finno-Ugric

Honti 2017: 53: Proto-Finno-Ugric

MSzFE: 553-554, s.v. sok: Proto-Finno-Ugric

Róna-Tas 2017: 53: PFU or ← Turkic

UEW s.v. čukkɜ (čokkɜ): Proto-Finno-Ugric Uralonet