Hungarian Historical Phonology szakad

szakad 'reißen, zerreißen, zerrissen werden'

szakít 'reißen, zerreißen, abreißen'

észak 'Nord'

éjszaka 'Nacht'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

szak 'apró darab, rész, törmelék; kleines Stück, Teil, Schutt, Gebrösel'

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

? PUg *sakkV

Disputed:

UEW: PUg/?PFU *śakkɜ (śukkɜ) 'piece, bit, part; Stück, Teil'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Plausible

Loan etymology

None suggested so far

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (V) săkaγəl- 'Schaden leiden zerbrochen werden (der Mensch, der Hund, die Flinte, besonders durch Zauber, vor allem durch den 'bösen Blick'); aufplatzen (ein Pferd)', (Vj) săk: jöŋsăk 'Eisbrei (im Frühling vom Eis abgebröckelt)', South (DN) săχat- 'brechen, zerbrechen, in Stücke schlagen, zerkleinern (ein Gefäß, ein Boot, Glas, einen Napf, ein Schloß u. a.); zerbrechen, zerschellen (Eis)'

? Finnish: sukku 'zerquetschter Zustand'

Commentary

The possible Proto-Finno-Ugric etymology mentioned by the UEW has to be rejected, as Fi sukku cannot be regularly derived from the same source as Hungarian szak- and Khanty săkaγəl- etc. The Khanty words seem to reflect Proto-Khanty *i̮ (in Zhivlov's 2006 system). This vowel is not a regular reflex of PU *u, *o or *a (Zhivlov 2014: 124), but it can appear as the high ablaut grade of Proto-Khanty *a, which can reflect PU *a (Aikio 2013). Hungarian szak can reflect PU *a, so it seems possible to reconstruct a Proto-Ugric *sakkV.

There are no semantic problems in the connection of Hungarian szakad, szak etc. and the Khanty words refering to 'piece' and 'breaking'.

Conclusion

There are no phonological or semantic problems, and a Proto-Ugric word can be reconstructed.

References

MSzFE: 561-562, s.v. szak: PUg (? PFU)

UEW s.v. śakkɜ (śukkɜ): PUg (? PFU) Uralonet