| Hungarian alphabet magyar ábécé | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | 11th century to present |
| Official script |  Hungary |
| Languages | Hungarian |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
| Hungarian language |
|---|
Hungarian alphabet |
| Alphabet |
| Grammar |
| History |
| Other features |
| Hungarian and English |
TheHungarian alphabet (Hungarian:magyar ábécé,pronounced[ˈmɒɟɒrˈaːbeːt͡seː]) is an extension of theLatin alphabet used for writing theHungarian language.
The alphabet is based on theLatin alphabet, with several added variations of letters, consisting 44 letters. Over the 26 letters of theISO basic Latin alphabet it has five letters with anacute accent, two letters with anumlaut, two letters with adouble acute accent, eight lettersmade up of two characters, and one lettermade up of three characters. In some other languages, characters with diacritical marks would be considered variations of the base letter, however in Hungarian, these characters are considered letters in their own right.[1]
One sometimes speaks of thesmaller (or basic) andgreater (orextended) Hungarian alphabets, differing by the inclusion or exclusion of the lettersQ,W,X,Y, which can only be found in family names, and in foreign words. (As for Y, however, it exists as part of four digraphs.)
As an auxiliary letter sometimes Ë is used in academic documents to show different pronunciation of spoken dialects, though it is not part of the alphabet.[2]
| Majuscule forms (also calleduppercase orcapital letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Á | B | C | Cs | D | Dz | Dzs | E | É | F | G | Gy | H | I | Í | J | K | L | Ly | M | N |
| Ny | O | Ó | Ö | Ő | P | Q | R | S | Sz | T | Ty | U | Ú | Ü | Ű | V | W | X | Y | Z | Zs |
| Minuscule forms (also calledlowercase orsmall letters) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| a | á | b | c | cs | d | dz | dzs | e | é | f | g | gy | h | i | í | j | k | l | ly | m | n |
| ny | o | ó | ö | ő | p | q | r | s | sz | t | ty | u | ú | ü | ű | v | w | x | y | z | zs |
Each sign shown above counts as a letter in its own right in Hungarian. Some, such as the letter ⟨ó⟩ and ⟨ő⟩, are inter-filed with the letter preceding it when sorting words alphabetically, whereas others, such as ⟨ö⟩, have their own place in collation rather than also being inter-filed with ⟨o⟩.
Whilelong vowels count as different letters,long (or geminate) consonants do not. Long consonants are marked by duplication: e.g. ⟨tt⟩, ⟨gg⟩, ⟨zz⟩ (ette 'he ate' (det.obj.),függ 'it hangs',azzal 'with that'). For the di- and tri-graphs a simplification rule normally applies (but not when the compound is split at the end of a line of text due to hyphenation), only the first letter being duplicated, e.g.
An exception is made at the joining points ofcompound words, for example:jegygyűrű 'engagement ring' (jegy +gyűrű) rather than*jeggyűrű.
Hyphenation of individual letters ⟨Dz⟩ and ⟨dzs⟩ were changed in the 11th edition ofHungarian orthography (1984).[3] Prior to that, they were allowed to separate as two-letter combinations ⟨d⟩+⟨z⟩ and ⟨d⟩+⟨zs⟩.
The pronunciation given for the following Hungarian letters is that ofstandard Hungarian.
| Letter | Minuscule Form | Name | Phoneme (IPA) | Complementaryallophones (IPA)[4] | Close to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | a | /ɒ/ | similar to British English hot | Lot, got, bot might describe it better. | |
| Á | á | á | /aː/ | eye | Not nearly as open as thea in American Englishhat, but closer to it than Hungariana (without the accent mark) | |
| B | b | bé | /b/ | asby, absence etc. | ||
| C | c | cé | /t͡s/ | like pots | ||
| Cs | cs | csé | /t͡ʃ/ | ascheck,cheek, etching etc. | ||
| D | d | dé | /d/ | deck, wide etc. | ||
| Dz | dz | dzé | /dz/ | like in kids | Uncommon. When neither post- nor preconsonantic, always realised as ageminate. | |
| Dzs | dzs | dzsé | /dʒ/ | John,jam, bridge | Uncommon, mostly in loanwords. when final or intervocalic, usually realised as a geminate:maharadzsa/mɑhɑrɑdʒɑ/[mɑhɑrɑd͡ʒːɑ] 'maharajah',bridzs/bridʒ/[brid͡ʒː] 'bridge (card game)', butdzsungel/dʒuŋɡɛl/[d͡ʒuŋɡɛl] 'jungle', fridzsider/fridʒidɛr/[frid͡ʒidɛr] coll. 'refrigerator' | |
| E | e | e | /ɛ/ | like less, cheque,edge, bed | about 40-50% of speakers also have a phoneme/e/ (see below at Ë)./e/ is not considered part ofstandard Hungarian, wherein/ɛ/ takes the place of/e/. | |
| É | é | é | /eː/ | café | ||
| F | f | ef | /f/ | find, euphoria | ||
| G | g | gé | /ɡ/ | get, leg,go etc. | ||
| Gy | gy | gyé | /ɟ/ | (not used in English; soft form of/d/. Mostly similar toduring, as pronounced in Received Pronunciation) | denoting/ɟ/ by⟨gy⟩ is a remnant of (probably) Italian scribes who tried to render the Hungarian sound. <dy> would be a more consistent notation in scope of⟨ty⟩,⟨ny⟩,⟨ly⟩; (see there), as the⟨y⟩ part of digraphs show palatalisation in the Hungarian writing system. | |
| H | h | há | /h/ | 1.[ɦ] 2.∅ 3.[x] 4.[ç] | Basic:hi 1. behind 2.honest 3. Loch,Chanukah 4.human | 1. when in intervocalic position. 2. not rendered usually when in final positionméh/meː/ 'bee',cseh/tʃɛ/ 'Czech' 3. seldom, in final position, such as indoh 'dampness',MÉH 'metal recycling facility' 4. seldom, such as inihlet 'inspiration' |
| I | i | i | /i/ | bin, tin | Pronounced the same as Í, only shorter | |
| Í | í | í | /iː/ | leek, leave, seed, sea | Vowel length is phonemically distinctive in Hungarian:irt = 'to exterminate' andírt = 'to write (past tense)' | |
| J | j | jé | /j/ | [ç],[ʝ] | you,yes, faith | allophones occur when/j/ occurs after a consonant; (voiceless after voiceless, voiced after voiced consonants). e.g.férj 'husband',kapj 'get! (imperative)' |
| K | k | ká | /k/ | key,kiss, weak | ||
| L | l | el | /l/ | leave,list | ||
| Ly | ly | elly, el-ipszilon | 1./j/ 2./ʎ/ | play, pray | Most dialects pronounce it as /j/; seeyeísmo. | |
| M | m | em | /m/ | mind, assume,might | ||
| N | n | en | /n/ | [ŋ] | thing, lying (beforek, g), need, bone (anywhere else) | allophone before/k/,/ɡ/ |
| Ny | ny | eny | /ɲ/ | canyon | ||
| O | o | o | /o/ | force, sorcerer | A shorter, more open variant of Ó. Unlike with shorte, which is opened to/ɛ/ in standard speech, shorto remains/o/, rather than opening to/ɔ/ where it would come close to clashing with shorta. | |
| Ó | ó | ó | /oː/ | fraud, cause (Southern England, Australian or New Zealand English) | Same as/o/ except longer. It is important to pay attention to. (Minimal pair tokor = 'age' andkór = 'disease') | |
| Ö | ö | ö | /ø/ | learnt,earl, fern | (Corresponds to (short) German Ö); similar to shwa /ə/ (e.g. cola) except with rounded lips. A shorter, more open variant of Ő | |
| Ő | ő | ő | /øː/ | bird (BroadNew Zealand accent) | (A longer, more closed variant of Ö.) Minimal pair to/ø/:öt = 'five' andőt = 'him/her (Hungarian pronouns do not specify gender)' | |
| P | p | pé | /p/ | peas, apricot, hope | ||
| R | r | er | /r/ | The closest equivalent isr | also calledapical trill as pronounced by trilling the tip of the tongue (the apex) and not the uvula. | |
| S | s | es | /ʃ/ | share, wish,shout | This notation is unusual for European writing systems where⟨s⟩ usually stands for/s/. In Hungarian,/s/ is represented by⟨sz⟩. | |
| Sz | sz | esz | /s/ | say, estimate | ||
| T | t | té | /t/ | tell, least, feast | ||
| Ty | ty | tyé | /c/ | tube | ||
| U | u | u | /u/ | rude | ||
| Ú | ú | ú | /uː/ | do, fool | Minimal pair to/u/:hurok = 'loop' andhúrok = 'cords' | |
| Ü | ü | ü | /y/ | (not used in English, corresponds to German Ü) | A shorter, more open variant of ű | |
| Ű | ű | ű | /yː/ | (not used in English, corresponds to a longer version of the German Ü) | ||
| V | v | vé | /v/ | very, every | ||
| Z | z | zé | /z/ | desert, roses | ||
| Zs | zs | zsé | /ʒ/ | pleasure, leisure, rouge |
The letterë is not part of the Hungarian alphabet; however, linguists use this letter to distinguish between the two kinds of shorte sounds of some dialects. This letter was first used in 1770 by György Kalmár, but has never officially been part of the Hungarian alphabet, as the standard Hungarian language does not distinguish between these two sounds. However, theë sound is pronounced differently from thee sound in 6 out of the 10 Hungarian dialects and the sound is pronounced asö in 1 dialect. It is also used in names. Other letter for this sound isĖė (rarely).
A more open variety of/ɛ/, close to[æ], may be denoted asÄä in the Hungarian linguistics literature.
The digraphch also exists in some words (technika,monarchia) and is pronounced the same ash. In names, however, it is pronounced likecs as well as likeh ork (as in German) (see below).
The letter Y is only used in loanwords and several digraphs (gy, ly, ny, ty), and thus in a native Hungarian word, Y never comes as the initial of a word, except in loanwords. So, for native Hungarian words, the capital Y only exists in all caps or small caps formats, such as the titles of newspapers.
Old spellings (sometimes similar to German orthography) used in some Hungarian names and their corresponding pronunciation according to modern spelling include the following:
| Historic spelling | Pronounced like modern spelling |
|---|---|
| bb | b |
| cz | c |
| tz | c |
| z | c |
| ch | cs |
| cz | cs |
| č | cs |
| ć | cs |
| ts | cs |
| csh | cs |
| tsch | cs |
| tzsch | cs |
| chs | cs |
| cy | cs |
| ʟ | cs |
| dd | d |
| dsz | dz |
| ds | dzs |
| ff | f |
| ph | f |
| gh | g |
| dgy | ggy |
| dy | gy |
| g | gy |
| gi | gy |
| gj | gy |
| gʹ~g′ | gy |
| ǵ | gy |
| ġ | gy |
| j | gy |
| jj | j |
| l | j |
| y | j |
| ck | k |
| kh | k |
| x | ks |
| xy | ksz |
| xz | ksz |
| qu | kv |
| ll | l |
| l | ll |
| w | lv |
| j | ly |
| l | ly |
| li | ly |
| ry | ly |
| lly | ly |
| ′l(ʹl)~l′(lʹ)~ŀ | ly |
| n | ny |
| ni | ny |
| nʹ~n′ | ny |
| ń | ny |
| ṅ | ny |
| my | ny |
| ph | p |
| pp | p |
| rh | r |
| rr | r |
| ꝛ | r |
| sch | s |
| ss | s |
| ss | ssz |
| s | sz |
| sc | sz |
| sy | sz |
| z | sz |
| th | t |
| tt | t |
| ti | ty |
| tʹ~t′ | ty |
| ṫ | ty |
| ky | ty |
| u | v |
| w | v |
| s | z |
| s | zs |
| ss | zs |
| zy | zs |
| ['s] | zs |
| Historic spelling | Pronounced as in modern spelling |
|---|---|
| a | á |
| aa | á |
| aá | á |
| áá | á |
| áh | á |
| ä | e |
| ae | e |
| ai | e |
| ay | e |
| áe | é |
| ái | é |
| áy | é |
| e | é |
| ee | é |
| eé | é |
| éh | é |
| i | í |
| ié | í |
| íh | í |
| ii | í |
| ií | í |
| å | o |
| o | ó |
| óh | ó |
| oo | ó |
| oó | ó |
| ua | ó |
| â | ö |
| åe | ö |
| åi | ö |
| åy | ö |
| eö | ö |
| ew | ö |
| oe | ö |
| oi | ö |
| oy | ö |
| eö | ő |
| eő | ő |
| ew | ő |
| ia | ő |
| ö | ő |
| őh | ő |
| öö | ő |
| öő | ő |
| óe | ő |
| ói | ő |
| óy | ő |
| üa | ő |
| u | ú |
| úh | ú |
| uó | ú |
| uu | ú |
| uú | ú |
| ue | ü |
| ui | ü |
| uy | ü |
| ü | ű |
| űh | ű |
| üő | ű |
| üü | ű |
| üű | ű |
| úe | ű |
| úi | ű |
| úy | ű |
| aë | aj |
| aï | aj |
| aÿ | aj |
| ei | aj |
| áë | áj |
| áï | áj |
| áÿ | áj |
| åë | oj |
| åï | oj |
| åÿ | oj |
| eu | oj |
| oë | oj |
| oï | oj |
| oÿ | oj |
| óë | ój |
| óï | ój |
| óÿ | ój |
| au | uj |
| uë | uj |
| uï | uj |
| uÿ | uj |
| úë | új |
| úï | új |
| úÿ | új |
| (g)y ~gÿ | gi |
| y | ji |
| ý | jí |
| (l)y ~lÿ | (l)i |
| (n)y ~nÿ | (ny)i or (n)i |
| (t)y ~tÿ | ti |
Onáá:[6]
Generally,y in historic spellings of names formed with the-i affix (not to be confused with a possessive-i- of plural objects, as inszavai!) can exist after many other letters (e.g.:Teleky,Rákóczy,Dézsy). Here are listed only examples which can be easily misread because of such spelling.
Examples:
| Name | Pronounced as if spelled |
|---|---|
| Madách | Madács |
| Széchenyi | Szécsényi orSzécsenyi |
| Batthyány | Battyányi |
| Gajdátsy | Gajdácsi |
| Thököly | Tököli |
| Weöres | Vörös |
| Eötvös | Ötvös |
| Kassay | Kassai |
| Debrődy | Debrődi |
| Karczagy | Karcagi |
| Vörösmarty | Vörösmarti |
| Cházár | Császár |
| Czukor | Cukor |
| Balogh | Balog |
| Vargha | Varga |
| Paal | Pál |
| Gaál | Gál |
| Veér | Vér |
| Rédey | Rédei |
| Soós | Sós |
| Thewrewk | Török |
| Dessewffy | Dezsőfi |
In early editions the articlea/az was written according to the following rules:
The abbreviated form of the conjunctionés (and), which is always written today ass, was likely to be written with an apostrophe before —’s (e.g.föld ’s nép).
The di- and the trigraphs are capitalised in names and at the beginning of sentences by capitalising the firstglyph of them only.
In abbreviations and when writing with all capital letters, however, one capitalises the second (and third) character as well.
Thus ("The Rules of Hungarian Orthography", a book edited by theHungarian Academy of Sciences):
While the characters with diacritical marks are considered separate letters, vowels that differ only in length are treated the same when ordering words. Therefore, for example, the pairs O/Ó and Ö/Ő are not distinguished in ordering, but Ö follows O. In cases where two words are differentiated solely by the presence of an accent, the one without the accent is put before the other one. (The situation is the same for lower and upper-case letters: in alphabetical ordering,varga is followed byVarga.)
The polygraphic consonant signs are treated as single letters.
| comb | |
| cukor | |
| csak | <cs> comes after <c> |
| ... | |
| folyik | |
| folyó | <ó> is sorted as <o> |
| folyosó | |
| ... | |
| fő | and <ő> is sorted as <ö>, |
| födém | but <ö> comes after <o> |
| ... |
The simplified geminates of multigraphs (see above) such as <nny>, <ssz> arecollated as <ny>+<ny>, <sz>+<sz> etc.,if they are double geminates, rather than co-occurrences of a single letter and a geminate.
Similar 'ambiguities', which can occur with compounds (which are highly common in Hungarian) are dissolved and collated by sense.
These rules make Hungarian alphabetic ordering algorithmically difficult (one has to know the correct segmentation of a word to sort it correctly), which was a problem for computer software development.
The standard Hungarian keyboard layout is German-based (QWERTZ). This layout allows direct access to every character in the Hungarian alphabet.
The letter "Í" is often placed left of the space key, leaving the width of the left Shift key intact. "Ű" may be located to the left of Backspace, making that key smaller, but allowing for a larger Enter key. Ű being close to Enter often leads to it being typed instead of hitting Enter, especially when one has just switched from a keyboard that has Ű next to backspace. The German "Ä" and "ß", the Polish "Ł", and the Croatian "Đ" are also present.
The most common letters in Hungarian aree anda.[7]
The list below shows the letter frequencies for thesmaller Hungarian alphabet in descending order (sample: 9620 letters).[7]
| Letter | Frequency |
|---|---|
| e | 12.256% |
| a | 9.428% |
| t | 7.380% |
| n | 6.445% |
| l | 6.383% |
| s | 5.322% |
| k | 4.522% |
| é | 4.511% |
| i | 4.200% |
| m | 4.054% |
| o | 3.867% |
| á | 3.649% |
| g | 2.838% |
| r | 2.807% |
| z | 2.734% |
| v | 2.453% |
| b | 2.058% |
| d | 2.037% |
| sz | 1.809% |
| j | 1.570% |
| h | 1.341% |
| gy | 1.185% |
| ő | 0.884% |
| ö | 0.821% |
| ny | 0.790% |
| ly | 0.738% |
| ü | 0.655% |
| ó | 0.634% |
| f | 0.582% |
| p | 0.509% |
| í | 0.499% |
| u | 0.416% |
| cs | 0.260% |
| ű | 0.125% |
| c | 0.114% |
| ú | 0.104% |
| zs | 0.021% |
| ty | <0.010% |
TheOld Hungarian script is a writing system formerly used for the Hungarian language. It was derived from theOld Turkic script.[8] Its usage began to decline after the Kingdom of Hungary adopted the Latin alphabet.
Epigraphic evidence for the use of the Old Hungarian script in medieval Hungary dates to the 10th century.[9] At the turn of the 11th century, with the coronation ofStephen I of Hungary, Hungary became akingdom and theLatin alphabet was adopted as official script.
The runic script was first mentioned in the 13th century Chronicle ofSimon of Kéza,[10] where he stated that theSzékelys may use the script of theBlaks.[11][12][13]Johannes Thuróczy wrote in theChronica Hungarorum that theSzékelys did not forget theScythian letters and these are engraved on sticks by carving.[14]
Its usage between the 11th and 19th centuries is believed to have been limited, although it featured in folk art of theEarly Modern period. The script experienced a revival in the 20th century. Beginning withAdorján Magyar in 1915, the script has been promulgated as a means for writing modern Hungarian.
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