History
The origin of the Hungarian language can be traced back to the natives of the Ural mountains. People from the Ural mountains used to speak the Uralic languages which over time transformed into many different languages including the old Hungarian. Even though the roots of the Uralic languages can be traced back to 4000 BC, a more clear form of Hungarian language was first heard in the 9th century after the conquest of Carpathian basin by the Hungarians. The language they spoke in the 9th century was known as the Old Hungarian. Since then the Hungarian language has remarkably transformed. Hungarian is one of the most unique languages in Europe. Most of the prominent European languages are derived from the old roman languages however Hungarian has been derived from Uralic languages. Let’s take a look at some of the amazing facts about the Hungarian language.
Amazing Facts About The Hungarian Language
Speakers
There are a total of 13 Million speakers of the Hungarian language. Out of these, around 10 million are native Hungarian residents while 3 million speakers live in other parts of the world.
Alphabets and Vowels
There are 44 letters in the Hungarian alphabets. Some of the letters have more than one version. Some alphabets in the Hungarian language are made up of two or three letters. For example, SZ is pronounced as S in the Hungarian language. In addition to that the Hungarian language has 14 vowels.
Original Name
One of the most important facts about the Hungarian language is that it is not actually known as the Hungarian language. It is easy for people who live outside Hungary to use the words “Hungarian Language”. In reality it is known as Magyar. Magyar is what the Hungarian people call their language. Surprisingly that is also the word used to describe the citizens of Hungary.
Word Order
Even though there are certain rules that have to be followed while speaking and writing the Hungarian language, there is no specific word order. You can slightly change the word order in a sentence and it would still be grammatically correct and it would still make sense to the reader.
Longest Word
The longest word in the Hungarian language is Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért. It is 44 letters long and means “for you continued behavior as if you could not be desecrated”.
Relation To Other Languages
Hungary belongs to the Ugric group. It is closely related to other Finno Ugric languages like Estonian, Finnish, Lappic, Mansy, Khanty and other local Russian languages.
Places Around The World
From cities and lakes to hills and villages, it is believed that many places in the world are named with Hungarian words. It is a surprise to the historians considering Hungarian language did not have a strong influence in the old days.
Hungarians In North America
Old Hungarian scripting has been found on a stone in Nova Scotia. This denotes that the Hungarians visited North America even before Christopher Columbus.
A ‘Hard To Learn’ Language
Anyone who has ever tried to learn the Hungarian language will tell you how difficult it is to learn the language. It is a very complex language when it comes to alphabets and grammar. This is why it is considered as one of the hardest languages to learn.
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