Hungarian Genealogical Word List

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The Hungarian Genealogical Word List shows Hungarian words and their English translations for many words that are found in documents used to research Hungarian ancestors. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Hungarian-English dictionary. (See the "Additional Resources" section.)

Hungarian is unrelated to most European languages and only remotely related to Finnish and Estonian. Hungarian was used along with Latin and German in the records of all areas of the old kingdom of Hungary before 1918. This includes present-day Hungary, Slovakia, southwestern Ukraine, western Romania, Serbia, Croatia and the easternmost part of Austria. To read Hungarian records in these languages, use the Latin Genealogical Word List and German Genealogical Word List. In addition, the Hungarian language may be found in the records of Hungarian communities in the United States, Canada, and other areas settled by Hungarians.

Variant Forms of Words
In Hungarian, as in English, the forms of some words vary according to how they are used in a sentence. Who, whose, whom, or marry, marries, married are examples of words in English with variant forms. This word list gives most words in the standard form, but some are given in the form most commonly seen in genealogical sources.

Hungarian uses numerous word endings to express complex grammatical relationships. These suffixes can be combined to add additional meaning. For example:

gyermek = child (standard form)

gyermeke = his or her child

gyermekei = his or her children

gyermekeinek = of his or her children

As you read Hungarian records, be aware that most words vary with usage. The following table shows the various endings that can appear on Hungarian words with their meaning. Most endings have variant forms because the vowel in the ending must "harmonize" with the vowel in the root word.

Common Grammatical Endings
Plural forms of Hungarian words usually end with-k. This may be proceeded by one of the following vowels: a, e, o, or ő. Thus könyv (book) becomes könyvek (books); nap (day) becomes napok (days); lány (daughter) becomes lányok (daughters). The suffix -i is used instead of -ek when combined with possessive suffixes.

Possessive Endings
Possession is shown by the endings -a, -e, -ja, -je, (singular) or -nak, -nek (plural). These endings are attached to what is possessed. For example:

fi = son; János fia = son of János

nő = wife; János neje = wife of János

ház = house; János házai = houses of János.

Prepositions and Postpositions
In many cases Hungarian word order is the opposite of English word order. For example, the English phrase "according to the book" in Hungarian könyve szerint, "the book according to." The preposition is placed after the noun and becomes a postposition. Most Hungarian prepositions and postpositions are included in this word list. In addition, many word endings act as prepositions or postpositions.

Common Hungarian Endings
This table is in alphabetical order by the last letter of the ending.

Alphabetical Order
The Hungarian alphabet is different from the English alphabet. Some letter combinations are considered as distinct letters. There are also two vowels not found in English: ö and ü.

Hungarian dictionaries and indexes use the following alphabetical order:

a b c cs d e f g gy h i j k l ly m n ny

o p q r s sz t ty u v w x y z zs

This word list follows the standard English alphabetical order. However, when working with a Hungarian dictionary or alphabetized Hungarian records, use the Hungarian alphabetical order.

Vowels can include length marks (á, é, í, ó, ö, ő, ú, ü, ű) but these marks do not affect alphabetical order.

The letters q, w and x are not used in Hungarian, but may appear in some foreign words.

Spelling and Pronunciation
Hungarian has several letter combinations that may be unfamiliar to English speakers and some letters are pronounced differently than in English (see the examples below). Because spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries, spelling varies in old records.

Spelling and Pronunciation

Additional Resources
This word list includes only the words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Hungarian-English dictionary. Several are available at the Family History Library in the European collection. The call numbers begin with 494.511321.

The following dictionary is also available on microfilm for use in Family History Centers:

Bizonfy, Ferenc. Angol-magyar szótár; Magyarangol szótár (English-Hungarian dictionary; Hungarian-English dictionary). Cleveland, Ohio: Liberty Pub., 1956. (FHL film1045410; item 1.)

Additional dictionaries are listed in the subject or locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under:

HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE—DICTIONARIES

HUNGARY—LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

General Word List
This general word list includes words commonly seen in genealogical sources. Numbers, months, and days of the week are listed both here and in separate sections that follow this list. Hungarian words are listed in alphabetical order.

In this list, optional versions of Hungarian words or variable endings (such as some plural or feminine endings), are given in parentheses. Words in parentheses in the English column clarify the definition.

Some Hungarian words have both a male and female form, such as:

polgár = male citizen

polgárnő = female citizen

The words in the following list usually show only the male form of words:

Key Words
In order to find and use specific types of Hungarian records, you will need to know some key words in Hungarian. This section gives key genealogical terms in English with Hungarian translations. Words that have a hyphen (-) before or after them are root words and occur with various prefixes and suffixes (endings) in actual usage.

For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriage. In the second column you will find Hungarian words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Hungarian records to indicate marriage.

Numbers
In some genealogical records, numbers are spelled out. This is especially true with dates. The following list gives the cardinal (1, 2, 3) and the ordinal (1st, 2nd, 3rd) versions of each number. Days of the month are written in ordinal form:

Dates
In Hungarian records, dates are sometimes written out: július huszonötödikén Az Úrnak ezernyolcszázharminchatodik esztendejében = on the twenty-fifth of July in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred thirty and six

To understand Hungarian dates, use the following lists as well as the preceding “Numbers” section:

Caution: It is important to note that in some early 1800 Hungarian records months were identified by Roman or Arabic numerals corresponding to the Latin roots in the names of the last four months of the year – September through December. It would be natural to assume that the 6th day of the X th month would be 6 October, when in fact the actual date is 6 December (with the X representing the Latin root “decem” and not the 10th month). Therefore, when you come across a date with the month represented by a numeral (either Arabic or Roman), very carefully check the context to make certain you have the correct month. Very often that number will represent a kind of short hand for the Latin root of the month’s name:

In more modern records the use of a Roman numeral will represent the number, rather than the name of the month. In that case “1999.VII.6” would represent 6 Aug 1999.