Melyet

Melyet is a form of the Hungarian relative pronoun used historically to mean which in the accusative case. It appears in medieval and early modern Hungarian texts and is rarely used in contemporary language.

Grammatically, melyet derives from the interrogative determiner mely (“which”) combined with a suffixal ending that marks the accusative. It functions as the accusative form of the old relative pronoun mely and is the archaic counterpart of the modern amelyet. In current standard Hungarian, melyet is regarded as literary, archaic, or poetic and is most often found in translations, religious writings, or stylistic imitations of older texts.

Usage and style characteristics differ from modern form. In everyday Hungarian, speakers typically use not melyet but amellyet in standard written language, with amellyet or amelyet forming the common accusative relative clause. Melyet thus signals an antiquated or formal register when encountered today, and its presence can contribute a historical or solemn tone to a passage.

Examples are primarily literary or historical in nature. A sentence featuring the archaic form might appear as: Az a könyv, melyet olvastam, sokat tanított. In modern editions the same sentence would usually read: Az a könyv, amelyet olvastam.

See also: Hungarian grammar, relative pronouns in Hungarian, Old Hungarian language.