temperature terms

[Edith A Moravcsik]

Yes, Daniel is right! In English or German, if you say "It is
warm." ("Es ist warm.") it is ambiguous between a specific neuter thing
being warm (to the feel) or the weather being warm. In Hungarian, there is
no such ambiguity:

   (Ez) meleg. "(that) warm"  means 'That/it is warm.' in reference to a
               specific object
   Meleg van.  "warm is" means 'The weather is warm.'

The same distinction also applies to the color terms for 'red', 'yellow',
and 'green'. If these describe a specific object, there is no copula; for
example:

   (Ez) piros. "(that) red" 'That/it is red.'

But if reference is to the traffic light, there is a copula:

   Piros van. "red is" 'The traffic light is red.'

(I think there is a similar phenomenon in German. Can't you say "Rot ist."
in reference to the traffic light?)

By the way, I have found one temperature term in Hungarian which I believe
cannot be used for tactile heat but only for radiated heat, such as
coming from the sun or from fire. The term is _perzselo"_ (accent mark
belongs on the preceding vowel), which is the present active participle of
the verb _perzsel_ 'to scorch' or 'to parch'.

Edith Moravcsik


On Wed, 26 Sep 2001, Daniel Abondolo wrote:

> But Hungarian does distinguish syntactically, no? -- with [+/-] van, scil.
>
> meleg (van), hideg (van)
>
> Daniel Abonolo
>
> [][][][][]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Edith A Moravcsik" <edith at CSD.UWM.EDU>
> To: <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 5:56 PM
> Subject: temperature terms
>
>
> > I have not been able to think of Hungarian temperature terms that observe
> > a tactile-nontactile distinction, nor of terms specifically for heat
> > coming from the sun.
> >
> > Edith
> >
> >
> >
> ************************************************************************
> > Edith A. Moravcsik
> > Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
> > University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> >          Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
> >                          USA
> >
> > E-mail: edith at uwm.edu
> >          Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/
> >     (414) 332-0141 /home/
> >          Fax: (414) 229-2741
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>


   ************************************************************************
			 Edith A. Moravcsik
			 Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
			 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
		         Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
                         USA

			 E-mail: edith at uwm.edu
		         Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/
				    (414) 332-0141 /home/
		         Fax: (414) 229-2741