Hungarian term for Grandma
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 389
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hungarian term for Grandma
My mom's forgotten a lot of the Hungarian she learned as a child. She will be a great grandma soon and would like this new little life to refer to her by an especially loving and sweet Hungarian word for Grandma. Something that an English speaking child could say. Can anybody out there help? Thanks.
#2
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,717
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hungarian is not a language that lends itself easily to an English tongue.
The official word for grandmother is "nagyanya"; if one is addressing one's own grandmother, one could call her "nagymama". There is also an official word for great-grandmother: "dédanya", but it's hardly loving and sweet.
Although born and raised Hungarian, I was unable to master the above words as a small child and called my grandmother "nyenye".
The problem is that I find it difficult to explain the sound of the "gy" or the "ny" combination in Hungarian.
If you would like to use "nagymama", ask your mother to pronounce the word for Hungarian: "Magyar". That will give you the "gy" combination. The "a"s are pronounced, more or less, like the "a" in "cart", but they are shorter.
The closest I can come for "nyenye" is that the "ny" is pronounced like the first "n" (the one with the tilde) in the Spanish word "manana". The "e" is pronounced like the "ea" combination in the word "weather".
The official word for grandmother is "nagyanya"; if one is addressing one's own grandmother, one could call her "nagymama". There is also an official word for great-grandmother: "dédanya", but it's hardly loving and sweet.
Although born and raised Hungarian, I was unable to master the above words as a small child and called my grandmother "nyenye".
The problem is that I find it difficult to explain the sound of the "gy" or the "ny" combination in Hungarian.
If you would like to use "nagymama", ask your mother to pronounce the word for Hungarian: "Magyar". That will give you the "gy" combination. The "a"s are pronounced, more or less, like the "a" in "cart", but they are shorter.
The closest I can come for "nyenye" is that the "ny" is pronounced like the first "n" (the one with the tilde) in the Spanish word "manana". The "e" is pronounced like the "ea" combination in the word "weather".
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 389
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi, Eloise--
We just got you reply, and my mom says thank you so much--qoszonom szepen! She says that the term you used for your own grandmother--nyenye--sounds perfect and wonderful, and she can hardly wait to use it. Many thanks from my mom Helen (Ilonka). And thanks from me, too, Eloise.
Barbara
We just got you reply, and my mom says thank you so much--qoszonom szepen! She says that the term you used for your own grandmother--nyenye--sounds perfect and wonderful, and she can hardly wait to use it. Many thanks from my mom Helen (Ilonka). And thanks from me, too, Eloise.
Barbara
#5
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 119
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Good Day!
Sorry for throwing in my 5 cents but nowadays 20 Hungarian kids out of 10!, use the word “NAGYI” for their grandmothers. Same thing applies to their parents, for instance when they say to their kids: we are going to visit grandma today. They will definitely use the word NAGYI instead of saying Nagymama or my mother.
You pronounce it kind of N-A-H-D-E-E, where D-E, sound like the Spanish manyana but a very soft D instead of N.
The word NYENYE you will mostly find on African or Africa related websites just try it with GOOGLE.
Best regards,
Bela Lukacs
Sorry for throwing in my 5 cents but nowadays 20 Hungarian kids out of 10!, use the word “NAGYI” for their grandmothers. Same thing applies to their parents, for instance when they say to their kids: we are going to visit grandma today. They will definitely use the word NAGYI instead of saying Nagymama or my mother.
You pronounce it kind of N-A-H-D-E-E, where D-E, sound like the Spanish manyana but a very soft D instead of N.
The word NYENYE you will mostly find on African or Africa related websites just try it with GOOGLE.
Best regards,
Bela Lukacs
#6
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I know it is years after the initial question, but the nice word for great grandma in Hungarian is dédi (pr. daadee). it is the short version of dédmama, and it is kind, loving and very sweeet. So use it if you can.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
RandyK
Europe
8
Apr 10th, 2006 02:02 PM