"Related words" in Finnish and Hungarian

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In the last few years, many people have asked for a list of words that are related in Finnish and Hungarian. This is an attempt at a simple answer. It might be useful, however, to read the preliminaries before jumping to the list. These words, and more useful background knowledge, can also be found in many books mentioned in the bibliography at the end of this file.

The following list is neither comprehensive nor unquestionable. Many words could perhaps be added, some etymologies are uncertain or different linguists have different opinions about them. We should also bear in mind that this is not a comprehensive list of "old Finno-Ugrian words". Some words like Hung. toll 'feather' have cognates in almost all other FU languages but, as it happens, not in Finnish; likewise, Finnish has obviously ancient words whose cognate just happens to be missing in Hungarian.

The list may, however, be useful in illustrating a few important points:

Related words do not necessarily resemble each other, as sounds may have changed a lot in either or both of the languages. (You will notice, for example, that Finnish word-initial p- systematically corresponds to Hung. f-. Word-internal sounds have changed even more dramatically.) There are also many cases where the words have different suffixes in either or both of the languages: Fi. mehiläinen 'bee' corresponds to simple Hungarian méh, while Hungarian has suffixed the words fészek 'nest' and fazék 'pot' (cf. Fi. pesä, pata).
Likewise, the meanings may have changed. Additional examples: Fi. luu 'bone' might be related with Hung. láb 'leg' (the Hungarian word containing some kind of a suffix); Fi. palvoa 'to worship' could be connected with Hung. falu 'village', if we assume that both originate from a word meaning something like 'a village idol, a totem'.
A lot of the FU vocabulary has been forgotten, and the process is still going on: you will notice that this list includes old and dialectal words that are unknown to many modern speakers, like Hung. ipa 'father-in-law' or Fi. kuu 'fat'.
All that glitters is not gold. There are hundreds of similar-looking words that are borrowings from other European languages in both Finnish and Hungarian: Fi. kannu and Hung. kanna 'jug' are a good example (cf. Swedish kanna, German Kanne).
Although the vocabularies of both languages have changed a lot, this list shows the deep-going character of the FU relationship: these words belong to the "basic vocabulary". There are very few words for higher technology, showing that our common ancestors had a very vague idea of metals, for example (Finnish vaski 'copper' - Hung. vas 'iron').
The list also includes some ancient loanwords. There are words which resemble Indo-European ones, for example: the words for 'name' and 'water' have often been mentioned as ancient borrowings or maybe even evidence for very ancient "Indo-Uralic" relatedness. In principle, this possibility cannot be completely ruled out, but as long as there are only a few examples, they might be simply accidental as well. Take any two languages and you will find some words that look or sound similar.

In the following lists, the Finnish word comes first. The meaning of the Hungarian word has only been given if it differs clearly from the meaning of its Finnish cognate.

Verbs

(For Finnish verbs, the bare stem has been given, instead of the usual dictionary form (1st infinitive); for Hungarian, I have mostly used the dictionary form (3rd sg), which is either unsuffixed or carries the "reflexive" 3sg ending -ik.)

elä- 'live' - él 'live'
ime- 'suck' - (Old Hungarian) emik (cf. csecsemõ 'baby')
ui- 'swim' - úszik
katoa- 'disappear' - hagy 'leave'
kuole- 'die' - hal
mene- 'go' - men-, megy-
nuole- 'lick' - nyal
niele- 'swallow' - nyel
pelkää- 'be afraid' - fél
puno- 'plait' - fon
tunte- 'know' - tud
anta- 'give' - ad
juo- 'drink' - iszik, iv-
syö- 'eat' - eszik, ev-
kulke- 'go forth' - halad
kuuntele- 'listen' - hall 'hear'
kytke- 'link, tie together, connect' - köt 'tie'
löytä- 'find' - lel
lyö- 'hit, strike' - lõ 'shoot'
lykkä- 'shove, push' - lök
näke- 'see' - néz 'look'
pitä- 'keep, hold; like' - fûz 'tie, connect'
sula- 'melt' - olvad
teke- 'make, do' - te(sz)
tuo- 'bring' - toj- 'lay an egg'
vetä- 'pull' - vezet 'lead'
vie- 'take away' - vi(sz)
ole- 'be' - val-, vol-

Words for spatial and other relationships

ala- 'under, down' - al-
ete- 'before, in front' - el-
myö- (as in myötä 'alongside, with') - mög- 'back, behind'
vii(meinen) 'last' - vég 'end'

Relatives and other people

appi 'father-in-law' - (dial.) ipa
miniä 'daughter-in-law' - meny
?nainen 'woman', ?neiti 'maiden' - nõ 'woman'
vävy 'son-in-law' - võ
orpo 'orphan' - árva (an old Indo-European loanword in Finno-Ugric, related to Engl. 'orphan' and others)
poika 'boy, son' - fi(ú)

Artefacts, cultural items

vyö 'belt' - öv
jousi 'bow' - íj
nimi 'name' - név
ikä 'age' - év 'year'
arvo 'value' - ár 'price'
nysi (dial.) 'shaft' - nyél
nuoli 'arrow' - nyíl
vaski 'copper' - vas 'iron'
vuode 'bed' - ágy
kota 'hut' - ház 'house'
kunta 'community' - had 'army'
liemi 'broth' - lé 'broth, sap, juice'
pato 'dam' - fal 'wall'
pata 'pot' - fazék
solmu 'knot' - csomó
voi 'butter' - vaj

Nature, animals, terrain

joki 'river' - -jó (in the names of some rivers, like Sajó)
kuu 'moon' - ho(ld)
kala 'fish' - hal
pesä 'nest' - fészek
puu 'tree' - fa
vesi 'water' - víz
onsi (ontto, ontelo) 'hollow' - odú
yö 'night' - éj
jää 'ice' - jég
kivi 'stone' - kõ
koi 'dawn' - haj(nal)
kyy 'viper' - kígyó 'snake'
mehiläinen 'bee' - méh
mesi 'honey' - méz
pilvi 'cloud' - felhõ
pyy 'grouse, partridge' - fogoly
sää 'weather' - ég 'sky'
säynävä (a kind of fish) - õn
siili 'hedgehog' - sün(disznó)
salava 'elm' - szil(fa)
sarvi 'horn' - szarv (an ancient Indo-European loanword)
syksy 'autumn' - õsz
hiiri 'mouse' - egér
tyvi 'stem, base, trunk' - tõ
täi 'louse' - tetû
talvi 'winter' - tél

Body parts

jänne 'sinew, tendon' - ideg 'nerve'
kusi 'urine' - húgy
kyynel 'tear' - könny
maksa 'liver' - máj
syli 'lap, fathom' - öl
silmä 'eye' - szem
aivot 'brain' - agy
jalka 'foot, leg' - gyalog 'on foot'
kuu (dial.) 'tallow, fat' - háj
kyynär(pää) 'elbow' - könyök
käsi 'hand' - kéz
löyly 'steam (in the sauna)' [originally: 'breath'?] - lélek 'soul'
pii (dial.) "tooth" (e.g. of a comb) - fog 'tooth'
pää 'head' - fõ, fej
suoni 'vein' - ín
sappi 'gall' - epe
sydän 'heart' - szív
veri 'blood' - vér
olka 'shoulder' - váll
ydin 'marrow' - velõ

Qualities

hupa 'little, soon-to-be-consumed' - sovány 'thin'
täysi 'full' - tele
uusi 'new' - új

Numbers

kaksi '2' - kettõ
kolme '3' - három
neljä '4' - négy
viisi '5' - öt
kuusi '6' - hat
sata '100' - száz (from Indo-European)