weight, and pomp, attach, such as tó, the lake; nap, the sun; hold, the moon; tábor, a camp; had, war—that e and i occur where swiftness or alacrity are denoted; as, vig, gay; vidit, to exhilirate—that disagreeable associations are usually connected with u; as, rut, ugly; buta, stupid; bu, grief: ö and ü generally represent vagueness and confusion; as, göz, vapor; füst, smoke; sötét, dark; gödör, ditch; sürü, thick. So the short vowels for the most part express rapidity, and the long ones slowness; as sebes, hasty; röpül, to fly; szalad, to run—lassú, slow; csúsz, creeps; mász, crawls. In the same manner it will be found that the hard and soft consonants are adapted to the different ideas conveyed; as for example, kö, stone; kard, sabre; durva, rude; while lágy, anya, leány, soft, mother, girl, have a sweetness suited to the objects they represent.[1]
- ↑ A very curious example of two distinct meanings to the same syllables, when differently arranged, is given in the Szép Literatúrai Ajándek, for 1820, p. 65.
Boris te! nem amor ostoba
Nyila zörömböl. Tsö́je
Meg tompult a' lángon.
Domboru tán Bora kedvellö́je.Bor Istene! mámoros tóba
Nyil az öröm böltsö́je
Megtompul talán gondom
Por utan. Bor a' kedv Ellö́je.
