page 9 note 1 Cf. Zsigmond Simonyi, Die ungarische Sprache 2–24 (Strassburg, 1907); József Szinnyei, Finnisch-ugrische Sprachwissenschaft 19 (Berlin und Leipzig, 1922).

page 9 note 2 Dr. Imre Várady, Grammatica della Lingua Ungherese xi (Rome, 1931).

page 10 note 3 Cf. Simonyi 131–151.

page 11 note 4 Zoltán, Gombocz, Über die Haupttypen der ungarischen Verbalformen, Ungarische Jahrbücher 10.1–15.

page 12 note 5 The lists of nouns, verb-roots, etc. (§§20–25, 36, 46–49, 71, 82, 86) have been based on those in Várady, revised and supplemented from other sources.

page 13 note 6 I have preferred to keep the signs < and > for processes of development in the course of time.

page 14 note 1 Long consonants are normally written by repeating the letter for the short consonant: bb [b:], cc [c:], gg [g:], etc. This procedure, if followed also in the case of consonantal phonemes written with digraphs, would give such results as szsz [s:], gygy [:], etc. It is this procedure which is followed when a word with such a double digraph is to be divided at the end of a line: asz-szony ‘woman’; fagy-gyú ‘tallow’. When not divided at the end of a line, however, such double digraphs are simplified by the omission of the second letter of the first digraph, with such resultant spellings as ssz, ggy, etc.: asszony, faggyú, etc.

page 15 note 2 E.g. Simonyi 194; Várady 3.

page 20 note 3 Cf. §4 for the consonantal function of [j].

page 21 note 4 The above-indicated division of syllables is followed in the orthography when a word is to be divided at the end of a line. For the division of double consonants which are indicated by abbreviated double digraphs, cf. fn. 1 to this chapter.

page 26 note 1 Nouns of this group are of two types according to origin : those in which the shorter stem-form arose through syncopation in the suffixed forms (e.g. ökör ~ ∗ökörök > ökrök); and those in which the shorter stem-form was original, and the lengthened nominative form arose through svarabhakti in the final consonant group (e.g. ∗álmu > ∗álṃ > álom ~ álmok); Simonyi 341. This is one of the cases, however, where an historical approach, with consequent division of this group of nouns into two sections according to origin, would be meaningless in a descriptive grammar.

page 28 note 2 Except the noun elem ‘element’ itself.

page 29 note 3 An alternative form for hév (§20.2).

page 32 note 4 Except when the pronoun thus formed indicates the members of a family: Mészárosék ‘the Mészároses’; see §40.2.b.

page 32 note 5 The customary procedure is to present -a -e, -ja -je as the third person singular possessive suffix, and -uk -ük, -juk -jük as the third person plural suffix, without further analysis. This is unsatisfactory, however, from several viewpoints, notably in the light of the behavior of the plural suffix -i when added to nouns in the third singular or plural possessive (§30). In all persons except the third singular, the possessive suffix in its barest form is added after the plural suffix -i (e.g. könyveim, könyveid, etc.; 3. pl. könyveik); and in such forms the preceding -a- or -e- can be interpreted only as an auxiliary vowel between stem and plural suffix. When we come to the third person singular of nouns provided with the plural suffix (könyvei) it is hard to see anything but a zero-ending to indicate the third singular. Transferring this consideration to nouns in the singular, we can hardly escape the conclusion that the -a -e, -ja -je and -u- -ü-, -ju- -jü- seen in the third person singular and plural are simply auxiliary vowels preceding the possessive endings zero and -k respectively.

Otherwise, with the formulation mentioned at the beginning of this note, we are forced to consider (as does, for example, Várady 43 f.) the -a- -e-, -ja- -je- seen before the plural suffix -i- as a carrying over of the third person singular possessive suffix into the pluralized noun in a new use—that of auxiliary vowel : a phenomenon without parallel in the rest of the Hungarian language. Or else we must establish a troublesome exception to the rule of the order of suffixes set up in §26.

The formulation here proposed has two advantages: that of permitting an unexcepted formulation of the rule of the order of suffixes; and that of bringing the personal possessive suffixes fully into line with the corresponding verbal endings (cf. Table IV, Personal Endings of Verbs).

page 33 note 6 Alternate forms for use with back-vowel, front-unrounded-vowel, and front-rounded-vowel words, respectively, when permitted by the character of the intervening auxiliary vowel.

page 33 note 7 Note, however, that certain of the nouns ending in -t which require the glide -j- before the auxiliary -a- -e- of the third person possessive suffixes when in the singular, do not require it when the possessive suffixes are preceded by the plural suffix -i-: e.g. barátja ‘his friend’ ~ barátai ‘his friends’.

page 35 note 8 Cf. fn. 7 to this chapter for nouns which substitute -a- -e- for -ja- -je- when declined in the plural.

page 36 note 9 Except in nouns ending in -a or -e, cf. §25.

page 37 note 10 It will be noticed that, as mentioned in §25, even nouns ending in -a or -e take no vowel-lengthening or auxiliary vowel before the suffixes -kép, -képen, -ként and -kor. These words, moreover, have no alternate forms to harmonize with the vowel structure of the word preceding in case it be a front-vowel word. As a matter of fact, kép and kor are simply nouns, meaning ‘form’ and ‘time’ respectively, and form loose compounds of adverbial function with the preceding word, whereas képen is an adverbial expression ‘in the form of’ built on the noun kép with the adverbial suffix -n (§82.1).

page 38 note 11 Corresponding in function to our prepositions, except that they follow directly the noun they govern; cf. §101.

All the elements ordinarily listed as postpositions have been included here, although in reality the category of postpositions is of somewhat syncretic origin, and various of its members are really adverbs or participles (cf. fnn. 12, 13, 14 to this chapter).

page 39 note 12 Really an adverb.

page 40 note 13 Really the present gerund of the verb-root fog- ‘to catch, seize, take hold, begin’.

page 40 note 14 Really the present gerund of múl- 'to pass (of time)', and constructions with this postposition are really absolute constructions: tíz perc múlva 'decem momentibus transeuntibus'.

page 44 note 15 Listed here as a pronoun, according to custom, because of its use in pronominal sense.

page 49 note 16 Cf. Gombocz, Ung. Jb. 10.1–15.

page 50 note 17 I.e., when it takes the auxiliary vowel -i- immediately following, instead of the -já- of back-vowel verbs in these persons. Thus emli ‘he raises it’, emlitek ‘you raise it’, emlik ‘they raise it’, as opposed to dobolja 'he drums it (beats it like a drum)', doboljátok 'you drum it', dobolják ‘they drum it’.

page 52 note 18 Future perfect forms with both future and past tense signs (e.g. akarandottam ‘I shall have wished’, etc.) are now totally obsolete.

page 52 note 19 Unless, abnormally, the auxiliary vowel, which is present almost throughout, is to be considered a tense-sign. This is inadvisable from two points of view: all other tense- and mood-signs are consonantal; and the alternation -á- -é- shows the adaptability to the preceding vocalic harmony which is characteristic of auxiliary vowels. Only in the first singular subjective, where -é- alone is present, is sufficient vocalic independence shown to permit even the possibility of considering the vowel as a tense-sign; but then, that is only one person out of the twelve in the subjective and objective conjugations.

page 53 note 20 Inasmuch as the future uses the present endings almost throughout, it has not been listed here separately except when special peculiarities called for notice; for full treatment of the future endings, see §54.

page 55 note 20a The -j- of this and the following (-já- -jé-) fuse with preceding -s-, -sz- and -z- as does the -j- of the imperative mood-sign (§50.6) to give -ss-, -ssz- and -zz-respectively.

page 56 note 21 < a + u, e + ü respectively.

page 57 note 22 In which case, however, the resultant -ál -el may be replaced by a zero-ending without preceding auxiliary vowel, cf. §52.2.d.

page 57 note 23 Which may be replaced by -d attached directly to the root, without intervening mood-sign or auxiliary vowel. The root hagy- ‘to leave’ forms the irregular alternative 2. sg. imperative hadd.

page 58 note 24 And the irregular forms jön ‘he comes’: jöv-; van ‘there is’ : vagy-; and a few alternative forms such as mén ‘he goes’ : megy- (§68), etc.

page 65 note 25 The form tessék 'may it please (you)' is frequently used as an interjection of courtesy, to accompany acts of requesting, offering, etc.: tessék parancsolni 'may it please you to give your order'; tessék a könyv ‘bitte, (hier ist) das Buch’, etc.

page 68 note 26 Used chiefly as an adjective meaning ‘true’; also ‘for the purpose of’, ‘consisting of’, with preceding verbal or adverbial phrases, etc.

page 73 note 1 For which egy fél may also be used.

page 74 note 2 Adjectives in -a or -e receive the usual lengthening of the final vowel to -á- or -é- (§25).

page 76 note 3 Except in első ‘first’ and második ‘second’.

page 82 note 4 This section is based on the chapter ‘Composition’ in Simonyi, Die ung. Spr. 263–338.