sóher
Hungarian
FWOTD – 8 March 2022
Etymology
From Yiddish שחור (shokher, “black”), possibly through German schocher (used in argot), having the same semantic shift of “black” → “poor” as occurred with schwarz.[1][2]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈʃoːɦɛr]
- Hyphenation: só‧her
- Rhymes: -ɛr
Adjective
sóher (comparative sóherebb, superlative legsóherebb)
- (colloquial) poor (with little or no money)
- Synonyms: pénztelen, szegény
- (colloquial, derogatory) stingy (unwilling to spend, give, or share)
- Synonyms: garasoskodó, krajcároskodó, smucig, fösvény, fukar, szűkmarkú, zsugori
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | sóher | sóherek |
| accusative | sóhert | sóhereket |
| dative | sóhernek | sóhereknek |
| instrumental | sóherrel | sóherekkel |
| causal-final | sóherért | sóherekért |
| translative | sóherré | sóherekké |
| terminative | sóherig | sóherekig |
| essive-formal | sóherként | sóherekként |
| essive-modal | sóherül | — |
| inessive | sóherben | sóherekben |
| superessive | sóheren | sóhereken |
| adessive | sóhernél | sóhereknél |
| illative | sóherbe | sóherekbe |
| sublative | sóherre | sóherekre |
| allative | sóherhez | sóherekhez |
| elative | sóherből | sóherekből |
| delative | sóherről | sóherekről |
| ablative | sóhertől | sóherektől |
| non-attributive possessive - singular | sóheré | sóhereké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural | sóheréi | sóherekéi |
Noun
sóher (plural sóherek)
- (colloquial) a pauper (someone who is poor)
- 1975, Imre Kertész, Sorstalanság, Budapest: Magvető Könyvkiadó (2016), →ISBN, page 25:
- – A tizenkettedik órában vagyunk – így szólt, egyre a kezét dörzsölgetve. S még azt is hozzátette: – Bár olyan biztos lettem volna akármelyik tippemben, mint ebben, akkor most nem egy sóher lennék!
- “We are in the twelfth hour,” he said, rubbing his hands together constantly. And then he added: “I wish I had been this sure of some of my other tips. I wouldn't be a pauper now.” [Katharina M. Wilson and Christopher C. Wilson]
- “We are now at the twelfth hour,” was how he put it, rubbing his hands all the more. To that he also added, “If I had ever been so sure about any of my tips as I am about this one, I wouldn’t be stone broke now!” [Tim Wilkinson]
-
Declension
| Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | sóher | sóherek |
| accusative | sóhert | sóhereket |
| dative | sóhernek | sóhereknek |
| instrumental | sóherrel | sóherekkel |
| causal-final | sóherért | sóherekért |
| translative | sóherré | sóherekké |
| terminative | sóherig | sóherekig |
| essive-formal | sóherként | sóherekként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | sóherben | sóherekben |
| superessive | sóheren | sóhereken |
| adessive | sóhernél | sóhereknél |
| illative | sóherbe | sóherekbe |
| sublative | sóherre | sóherekre |
| allative | sóherhez | sóherekhez |
| elative | sóherből | sóherekből |
| delative | sóherről | sóherekről |
| ablative | sóhertől | sóherektől |
| non-attributive possessive - singular | sóheré | sóhereké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural | sóheréi | sóherekéi |
| Possessive forms of sóher | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | sóherem | sóhereim |
| 2nd person sing. | sóhered | sóhereid |
| 3rd person sing. | sóhere | sóherei |
| 1st person plural | sóherünk | sóhereink |
| 2nd person plural | sóheretek | sóhereitek |
| 3rd person plural | sóherük | sóhereik |
References
- Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN
- sóher in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)
Further reading
- sóher in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN