37.1784, Qs: The Etymologies of Hungarian nap 'sun' and nép 'people'

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1784. Fri May 15 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1784, Qs: The Etymologies of Hungarian nap 'sun' and nép 'people'

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Date: 15-May-2026
From: Alexis Manaster Ramer [manasterramer at gmail.com]
Subject: The Etymologies of Hungarian nap 'sun' and nép 'people'


The first word is generally agreed to be of unknown origin and the
second as either that or a compound that seems to me be
folk-etymological.  But I keep finding HINTS that one or the other had
at some point been said by someone to be Iranian, this etymology being
then dismissed as too silly to discuss--and there is never a reference
to who actually said it and what exactly they said or where.  If
anyone could help me find any such proposals, no matter how old, I
would be grateful.

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics

Subject Language(s): Hungarian (hun)

Language Family(ies): Iranian
                      Uralic



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