Now what: is Hungarian language Finno-Ugric or Turk?

According to Éva Csávi, Hungarian turcologist, one cannot simply decide whether Hungarian is more related to the Finno-Ugric or Turkish language families. The turcologist gave an interview to Zoom.hu about the origins of the Hungarian language.

There have been numerous theoretical and more down-to-earth debates about the origins of the Hungarian language. Some claim that Hungarian belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family, while others are convinced that its origins reach back to the Turk connections, and there are also those most enthusiastic about the Hun linguistic origins. Éva Csáki, Hungarian turcologist tries to capture some of the essential problems of this topic.

What turcology exactly examines might be the first question that pops into the readers’ mind when discussing language theories. According to Éva Csáki, the turcologists are mainly dealing with linguistic, ethnographic and religious aspects and, of course, contribute to the study of the origins of the Hungarian language.

The Hungarian language has acquired many of its verbs and words during its geographical journey, resulting in a linguistic journey every time Hungarians use their language.

This means that we have “borrowed” many words from Mongols and Turks. Our first fruitful meeting with the Turks was when both groups journeyed through the trajectory connecting Asia and Europe.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no clear evidence whether our language may be connected to the Hun language family, as there are no remaining sources from that period. No matter how tempting it may be to claim with certainty that the Hungarian language belongs to this or other language families, it would be misleading to do so, as the turcologist says.