Szövege

Szövege is the third-person possessive form of the Hungarian noun szöveg, which means text in a broad sense. The base word szöveg covers written content in documents and speeches as well as the lyrics of a song. Szövege, therefore, can mean “his/her/its text” or, in phrases referring to a specific work, “the text of …”

In usage, szöveg appears in phrases that denote ownership or association with a work. For example, beszéd szövege means “the text of the speech,” and dalszövege means “the lyrics of the song” (dalszöveg is the common compound for “song lyrics,” with dalszövege as its possessive form). The form szövege is typically used after a noun indicating the owner or source, similar to other possessive constructions in Hungarian.

Semantics depend on context. In literature, journalism, or academia, szöveg generally refers to the content of a text. In music or entertainment, it more often refers to the lyrics. The term may appear in discussions of copyright, translation, transcription, or textual analysis, where distinguishing the text itself from other elements (such as formatting or audio) is important.

Related terms include szövegírás (the act of writing text or lyrics) and szövegkönyv or dalszöveg, the latter being a common noun for song lyrics. Plural forms such as szövegek denote multiple texts or sets of lyrics. Szöveg and its derivatives are core vocabulary for discussing written content in Hungarian.