Hungarian and Eskimo-Aleut

ALFRÉD TÓTH : HUNGARIAN AND ESKIMO-ALEUT — with Paleo-Siberian Cognates
3. Conclusions
Almost all of the 1317 Sumerian-Akkadian-Rhaetic etymologies of Hungarian also apply to the
Eskimo-Aleut and Paleo-Siberian cognates. Moreover, it was possible to add a few dozens more
Sumerian-Hungarian-Eskimo-Aleut etymologies, totally 1080. This proves without doubt that the
Eskimo-Aleut languages are – speaking in the traditional manner of Finno-Ugrists – members of the
Finno-Ugric, but not of the Uralic languages, since the Paleo-Siberian languages seem to be much
closer to the Samoyed languages than to the Finno-Ugric languages. Eskimo-Aleut is closer to
Hungarian than Yupik and the other related languages. Only a systematic analysis of the possible
Sumerian-Obugrian cognates could decide if the Eskimo-Aleut languages are closer to Hungarian or to
Ostyak and Vogul, but everything points to a closer relationship between Eskimo-Aleut and Hungarian.
In many dozens of cases new etymologies and corrections of the standard Proto-Finno-Ugric and
Proto-Uralic forms were possible, because the Proto-Eskimo-Aleut and Proto-Yupik forms stand in the
time-frame between Sumerian and Hungarian. Because the dissolution of Uralo-Siberian and Uralo-
Yukagir coincides in time approximately with the dissolution of the Uralic languages (6000-4000 B.C.,
cf. Fortescue 1998, p. 219 and Décsy 1990, p. 12), Proto-Eskimo-Aleut and Proto-Yupik forms could
be added instead of Proto-Uralic and Proto-Finno-Ugric forms, thus “filling the temportal gap”
between Sumerian and Hungarian. After our result here one really wonders why traditional Finno-
Ugrists and Uralists did not yet come to the idea to consider Proto-Eskimo-Aleut forms in cases where
f.ex. Hungarian words are considered to be “of unknown origin”: the idea to connect Eskimo and
Hungarian goes back to 1746!
Of very special interest is the fact that we have cases where Rhaetic words show up directly – i.e. not
mediated via Sumerian or Akkadian – in Hungarian and in Eskimo-Aleut. This fact seems to point to a
certain dissolution already amongst the Sumerian peoples.
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