Magyar
/ˈmæɡ.jɑːr/noun
The self-designation of the Hungarian people and the Hungarian language.
Did you know?The earliest surviving written forms of the name appear in Byzantine sources, where Hungarians were often called Tourkoi, or “Turks,” despite speaking a Uralic language.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Uralic, proposed
Proto-Uralic
*mańćɜ
“A reconstructed word sometimes interpreted as “person” or “man”; its connection with Magyar remains debated.”
Proto-Ugric, proposed
Proto-Ugric
*mańćɜ
“A hypothesized ancestral form associated by some scholars with the ethnonym later appearing as Magyar.”
9th–10th Century
Old Hungarian
mogyer
“An early form of the Hungarian self-designation, recorded or reconstructed in medieval sources.”
12th Century
Byzantine Greek
Megyer
“A form connected with the Magyar tribal name; Megyer was also the name of one of the Hungarian tribal groups.”
13th Century
Latin
Moger/Mogerii
“Medieval Latin forms used for the Hungarian people.”
Modern English
English
Magyar
“The Hungarian self-name, used in English especially in historical, linguistic, and cultural contexts.”