Ugric_language
Ugric languages
Subdivision of the Uralic languages
The Ugric or Ugrian languages (/ˈjuːɡrɪk, ˈuː-/[1] or /ˈjuːɡriən, ˈuː-/[2]) is a highly controversial proposed branch of the Uralic language family.
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2019) |
Ugric languages by some includes three subgroups Hungarian, Khanty, and Mansi. The last two however, have been traditionally been considered as single languages, classified as to belonging to the Samoyedic language family, though their main dialects are sufficiently distinct that they may also be considered small subfamilies of three to four languages each. Hungarian is commonly considered as unrelated to the two. A common Proto-Ugric language is posited to have been spoken from the end of the 3rd millennium BC until the first half of the 1st millennium BC, in Western Siberia, east of the southern Ural Mountains. Although there are no sources or early mentions of this hypothesis, some linguists are still persistent to prove the theory, although their number has been declining in recent years. Khanty and Mansi languages are grouped in with the Samoyedic language family and it is generally accepted in the linguistic and community. The three languages, Khanty and Mansi have traditionally been set apart from Hungarian as Ob-Ugric, though the features uniting Mansi and Hungarian in particular are not known to date.
The name Ugric is taken from ugry (угры), the Old Russian exonym for the then Finnic inhabitants of the Ugra river in Russia. The exonym is also named after a north-western region in Russia of Yugra. A connection between these words with the word Magyar was first suggested in the beginning of 19th century. However, according to István Vásáry the etymological connection between these two words has not been verified, and the name Ugric is based on a folk etymology.[3]