Hungarian Historical Phonology tidó

tidó 'äußere Rinde der Birke'

First attestation/Old Hungarian data

[coming]

Important dialectal forms

The word is found only in dialects of Szeklerland/Székelyföld (in Transilvania).

Uralic/Ugric/Pre-Hungarian reconstruction

Disputed:

UEW: Proto-Ugric *tȣntɜ ‘birch-bark; Birkenrinde‘

Status of the Ugric etymology

Implausible

Loan etymology

None suggested so far

Cognates suggested in earlier research

UEW:

Khanty: East (V) tŏnteγ, South (DN) tŏntə, North (O) tonti, (Kaz) tŏntĭ 'Birkenrinde'

Mansi: North (N) tōnt 'Birkenrinde'

Commentary

The Ugric etymology of tidó is impossible, for reasons listed already in the UEW. UEW notes that the interdialectal vowel-correspondencies within Khanty are irregular, and also mentions that Hungarian tidó is restricted to dialects in Szeklerland. It is quite clear that Hungarian tidó cannot be regularly related to any of the Khanty words listed here. The Mansi word is attested only in the northern dialects, making it a possible Khanty loan.

An alternative explanation for the phonological developments within Ugric has been presented by Pystynen in a blog post. He reconstructs a derivative *tojə-ntV, but it is not quite clear how this would explain the phonology of the Ob-Ugric words, and it also remains unclear what exactly is the stem *tojə-.

Conclusion

The Ugric etymology should be rejected as phonologically impossible.

References

Pystynen 2014 (blog post 05.09.2014, accessed 29.04.2022)

UEW s.v. tȣntɜ: ? PUg Uralonet