Wojtilla Gyula: A List of Words Sanskrit and Hungarian by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös.
II. Csoma and Sanskrit Studies
56 standard of research and the problems around them. The most striking examples are as follows: 1. Gyul-: Skt. jvalati- /catches fire/. "It is of unknown origin... its Iranian derivation is wrong." MNyTESZ I, 1137. Earlier Munkácsi proposed an India origin of the word (ÁKE 314) and Schmidt (Nyelvőr 62:65) revived this theory; A.J. Joki pointed out the inprobability of borrowing. 2 2 2. Nád-: Skt. nada- /reed/. "It is of unknown origin. Its agreement with Finno-Ugrian and its derivation from IndoIranian are unacceptable". MNyTESZ II, 991. Mayrhofer (EWA II, 127-29) holds the derivation of the Stk . word doubtful; it is likely that an Indo-European form has been undergone the influence of aboriginal languages of India. Joki suggests a possible Sarmatian origin for the Hung, substantive. Borrowing might have taken place in the territory of Pannónia in the llth-12th centuries. Joki sharply criticizes the entry in MNyTESZ calling it "very superficial and partially misleading." 2 3 3. Szekér-: Skt. sakata- /cart/. "It is of uncertain origin. It is probably an Iranian loan-word borrowed before 896 A.D. cf. Middle-Iranian sakar- /?säkär-/ "szekér"; and Skt. sakata-, Prakrit sagada- "kordé, szekér:; the Skt. word is of non-Aryan origin; it is a loan from Proto-Dravidian. It reached Ugrian through the mediation of an Iranian branch of Indo-Scythians ." MNyTESZ III, 702. The research concerning this vocable has its own history. A lot of linguists were working on the etymology of it. After Csoma, F. Mátyás proposed a relation between the Hungarian and Skt. word. K. Fiók took it for an Ugrian /Hungarian loan in Sanskrit. L. Patrubány explained it for a compound saka-r at h a- "scythischer Wagen". 24 Schmidt rejected Patrubány's explanation. According to him a Prakrit sakara- (<"sakala- < xsakada-) was borrowed by Finno-Ugrian. Indo-Scythian acted as intermediator in borrowing (Magyar Nelvőr 52:20, 53:99). 0. Szemerényi connected Skt. sakata- with an Iranian root bak- "to go, flow, run". 5 5 Kuiper held the derivation of Hung, szekér- from Skt. sakata- untenable. Earlier Th. Burrow suggested a Dravidian origin for Skt. sakata-, however later he gave up this idea. According to Mayrhofer the origin of this word is not satisfactorily explained, the relation between Hung, szekér- and Skt. sakata- is problematic and the Hung, szekér- does not prove the existence of an Iranian counterpart of Skt. sakata-. (EWA III, 285). 4. Vászon-: Skt. vasana-, vastra- /linen/. "It is of unknown origin. Its Iranian derivation requires further research." MNyTESZ III, 1099. Joki thinks of a cultural term /Kulturwort/ of Aryan origin which reached Hungarian. It is unlikely that the word was a direct borrowing from Indian languages. 2 8
