The Hungarian roots can be used like this:

-keeping the consonants and shading with vowels: magyar = megyer
-mutating the consonants: KöR (circle) > GuRul (to roll)
-using the inversion of the root: MaG (seed) <> GaM (no meaning in itself today)

The first solution can have the same meaning or it can shade the original meaning. In case of magyar-megyer it is the same meaning. Our ancestors used megyer just as magyar.

The second solution implies that consonants can be turned into other consonants. For example the M at the end of a word often changes into NG, ND, N to shade the meaning of that word. Or in case of kör-gurul the words express the same kind of thing, that is a circular motion and K often mutates into G.

I’d like to talk about the third solution in details because the inversion of the root can have the same meaning, it can shade the meaning or it can express the opposite of the base root. Look at this example: CsaVar – FaCSar. What happened in csavar? The root Cs_V was reversed and the V mutated into F, which is also very common. As a result, the two verbs have the opposite meaning. Csavar means to twist, facsar means to wring. The first implies – fundamentally – a motion inwards, the second a motion outwards.

Another example can be megy (to go) – jön (to come). Would you tell about these verbs that they are inversions? This is how it goes: MeGY <> GYeM > GYeN > GYüN > JöN.

So what is it about MaG<> GaM? They imply the same thing: something spherical that has a seed in it or it has the shape of a seed. The vowels and the consonants can change to shade the meaning. The root GaM has no meaning today, but its derivatives do. I’ll keep writing the consonants carrying the meaning in capital letters, so that you see the root better.

MaG – seed

Derivatives of MaG are:

MáK – poppy-seed
MaKK – acorn
MaGYar – Hungarian
MaGyal – holly
MaGzat – embryo
MáGlya – bonfire
MaGas – tall
and possibly NaGY – big
MeGGY – sour cherry
MeGYe – county (Originally means earth, ground. Ancient villages were circular, probably that’s the reason for this word)

The inversion of MaG is GaM. Take a look at the words that originated from it:

GuMó = GüMő – tuber
GoMB – button
GoMBa – mushroom
GoMBóc = GöMBőc – dumpling or something ball-shaped
GöMB – orb
GoMBolyag – skein, hank
GoMolyog – to wreathe
GöMBölyű – round, spherical
GuBó – cocoon
GőG – haughtiness (originally means something empty, spherical, inflatable)
GöNGYöleg – bundle, bale
GYöNGY – pearl
GYüMölcs – fruit

Other examples from our Kun ancestors. The Kuns liked to change the Hungarian consonants like this: G, GY > D, ND, NG, NT, MD, K; D > T.

áGas > áKas = today’s word is eke = plough

We had a word like KiJó. Nowadays we say KíGYó (snake). The inversion of KíGY is GYíK. GYíK means lizard. Animals belonging to the same kind of species, so to say. With consonant mutation GYíK became CSíK (streak, stripe). Obviously lizards and snakes look like a streak from the distance.

Other examples would never really ”show themselves” if we wouldn’t know their origins. Such roots are: ék, kő, üt, tű. Kő (stone) is the inversion of éK (wedge). It is obvious that a stone, especially a sharp one resembles a wedge. With a wedge you can hit things, and so some consonant and vowel mutations will allow us to create the verb üT (hit). The inversion of üt is Tű (needle). And a needle still looks like a small wedge. Out of the root éK, our eKe (plough) was born.

Another phenomenon is when the consonant H modifies the original root. Such root is aL (below, beneath). If you put an h at the beginning of the word, it becomes HaL (fish). Where do fish live? Under the ocean.

A HaL aLul van. – The fish is beneath.

The poetic way of thinking of our ancestors allowed them to identify fish with death:

HaL (fish-noun) – megHaL (to die-verb) – HaLLgat (to listen, to be silent)

What does a person do who died? If someone dies at sea, you say: That man perished at sea = Az az ember tengerbe HALT. And what does a dead person do? He’s silent like a fish, that is HaLLgat. This is how these words developed: aL (beneath) > HaL (fish-to die) > HaLott (dead) > HaLLgat (to be silent, to listen). Also, if someone’s listening to you while you’re speaking, they’re silent.

So much for now. I’ll try to write more.

Bye! 🙂