Hungarian Surnames of Osmanic-Turkish Origin

Hungarian Surnames of Osmanic-Turkish Origin

Gyula Décsy

37th Meeting of the PIAC, Chantilly 1994

Osmanic-Turkish appellative loans in Hungarian (taken over during the Turkish rule in the 16–17th centuries) have been investigated thoroughly (last time in an article by Ms. Zs. Kakuk in the Róna-Tas Festschrift). However, little attention has been paid to surnames of Osmanic-Turkish origin in Hungarian. Several (altogether 15) of them will be listed in this paper. The Turkish forms are given according to Redhouse.

  • Bajaz < Bajazd, perhaps also Bajusz reshaped folk etymologically after the appellative ‘moustache’). A “new-Christian” surname of the Eger area.
  • Csanak/Czanik < çanak ‘master potter, Kesselmacher’.
  • Csicsman/Sismány < şişman ‘fat, obese’ (may be pre-Osmanic).
  • Göz < göz ‘eye’, and apparently ‘guard’.
  • Hamza/Hamzsa < Hamza, personal name <pre-Islamic-Arabic.
  • Hodzsa < hoca ‘Lehrer’ (well-known surname in Slovak too).
  • Kalik < kalık ‘remaining, left, defective’ probably also ‘defector’.
  • Kara < kara ‘black, unlucky, gloomy’; perhaps also Gara. (this pre-Osmanic).
  • Kaszap/Kaszab < kasap ‘butcher’.
  • *Köpe (as well as Köpeczi/ Köpeczky/Köpeczky, all < köpek ‘dog’; -k was regarded as a Hungarian plural ending and “abstracted”).
  • Labád(i) < laabada ’patience dock, Rumex obtusifolius, Rumcx patientiae’; also Lábadi under the influence of Hungarian láb ‘leg, foot’.
  • Mollay < molla(h), mullah ’chief judge, doctor or student of Muslim law’ < Arabic mevla.
  • Murát < Murad personal name (1543 Hungarian Murat).
  • Szocsan < sıçan ’rat, mouse’.
  • Timár < tımar ‘small military fief and/or its leader’.

Semantically, the names can be divided in three groups: 1. Original names mostly of Arabic origin (Bajaz, Hamza/Hamzsa, Murát). 2. Names of profession (Csanak/Czanik, Göz, Hodzsa, Kaszap/Kaszab, Mollay, Timár). 3. Nickname, often metaphorically offensive/derogative (Csicsman/Sismány, *Köpe, Kalik, Kara, Labád(i), Szocsan).