A linguist, Dr. Gyula Lónay, wrote a book with the title A magyar nyelv misztériuma (the mystery of the Hungarian language). In his work he tried to describe the origin of the Hungarian words going back to the ancient times when there was nothing but nature around our people. The only reference they had so that they could create new words was nature. He postulates that R, S, K, T, M, P and H were the first sounds humans managed to pronounce. These seven sounds had the following meanings:

R > meanings: Lord, God, sublimity, ”height” / variations: L, J
S > meanings: unity, unification; separation; former connection / variations: SZ, Z, ZS, CS, C
K > meanings: stone, hardness; continuity – multitude, plularity (as the parts of a split stone fly apart and there is a great number of splits); diminution / variations: G, GY; C
T > meanings: place; nailed down to something / variations: D, GY, C, Z
M > meanings: mother earth / variations: N, NY
P > meanings: height, something up there / variations: B, F, V
H > meanings: soul, habit, intimate; hole space / one variation: K

Side note: G has the characteristic of gathering, being one. SZ shows a certain tendency for separation. L expresses life many times in our words.

Let‘s see a couple of examples for root words and their meanings:

B-R > water moving uninterruptedly

LáB leg, foot; as water flows, our legs brings us continuously where we want to.
TaLP sole; same as LáB
BéRC crag, peak; a place where water flows
BéR salary; a certain equalization effect of water
BíRó judge; same as BéR
BoRul > primary meaning: to be covered. Like water covers the river bed.
BuRkol to cover; same kind of meaning as BoRul
BeRek mountain; a place where water flows (see: BéRC)
öBöL bay
BáLna whale; B-L refers to water and N in na refers to mother earth as a variations of M > the mother of water.

P-S > water that lets something in; expresses a certain type of continuity as water flows in rivers. The meaning can be literal and figurative.

PiSil to pee
PaCSkol to splash
PoCSolya puddle
SzoP to suck
SeB wound: original meaning is to flow

The opposite of this root is S-P with consonant alterations like:
CsaP tap; a tap capture the water and holds it in a certain path
CsaPda trap; as humans used smaller bays to capture fish
CiPő shoes; it brings/conducts you somewhere
PaPuCS slipper; same as CiPő
BoSSZú revenge > original meaning: the equalizing effect of water

P and its variations: refers to height

Fa tree
FáRaó pharao > F = height, R = Lord
PaLoTa palace > P = height, L = Lord; T = place >> place of Lord up there, very high
éPüL to be constructed > P = height, L = Lord >> something constructed upwards

K and its variations: refers to plurality, continuity, diminution and hardness

Kő stone
éK wedge > opposite of Kő; if you split a stone, it can be a wedge
Kemény hardness
tálCa tray > diminutive suffix for tál-bowl

Of course, K is the suffix for expressing plurality: házaK houses, erdőK forests

M and its variations: refers to mother earth

MaMa mom
aNYa mother
Nő woman
NéNe aunt

MaG seed > M = mother earth, G = together, one >> something is one in mother earth

SZ and its variations: separation

aSSZoNY woman > SZ – separation, NY – mother earth >> in our context a woman is different/separated from men
SzüL to bear > SZ – child separates from mother, L – Life

It would be a long list to write every words, so I will continue with words that were fundamental to our ancestors. It should be also noted that our words are built up like this:

sounds create source words
>
source words create primary words
>
primary words create secondary words

sounds P-N > source words NaP (sun) > primary word PiNce (cellar) > secondary word PiNcér (waiter)

The cellar is related to the sun because that is where life comes from. Food is stored in the cellar and food is what keeps us alive. So the primary word is related to the source word. However, the secondary words has nothing to do with the source word. It is derived from the primary as needed.

P-N variations:

FeNN up
FeNYő pine > a tree is shooting upwards as it grows (English kept that meaning, too P-N=PiNe)
FéNY light > comes from God, from very high
FőNök boss > a man leading in a hierarchy

So much for now. I will try to write more. Bye 🙂