Hungarian Historical Phonology szekér

szekér 'Wagen, Fuhrwerk, Fahrzeug; Fuhre, Fuder'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

[coming]

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Proto-Hungarian *säkärä

(Disputed:)

UEW: ? PUg *säkɜrɜ 'some kind of vehicle; irgendein Fahrzeug'

Status of the Ugric etymology

Implausible

Loan etymology

← Ir, cf. OI śakaṭa-, śakaṭí 'wagon' (Korenchy 1972)

← East Ir *saka-kara- 'wagon' (Harmatta 1997: 76)

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (V) liker, (Vj) iker, (VK) jikər 'Schlitten; Narte'

Commentary

The irregularity of the Ugric etymology (Hungarian sz does not correspond to the Khanty lateral) is noted by Korenchy (1972) and UEW, who note that the words might be parallel borrowings from Indo-Iranian. However, the loan etymology is also very problematic; it has been assumed that the words are borrowed from an Iranian word akin to Old Indic śakaṭa-, śakaṭí 'wagon', but it is unlikely that this word ever existed in Iranian or Proto-Indo-Iranian (EWAia s.v. śakaṭí). According to Parpola (2020), the Indic word is a Dravidian loan. Harmatta (1997: 76) reconstructed East Iranian *saka-kara- as the donor form of the loan but this idea is entirely hypothetical.

Conclusion

Due to phonological irregularities the Proto-Ugric etymology has to be rejected and also the loan etymologies are problematic.

References

DEWOS

EWUng

Harmatta 1997

Korenchy 1972

UEW s.v. säkɜrɜ: ? Proto-Ugric Uralonet