szótörzs

A szótörzs, often translated as "root word" or "stem," is a fundamental concept in linguistics, particularly in the study of morphology and etymology. It represents the core lexical unit of a word, stripped of all affixes such as prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. The szótörzs carries the primary semantic meaning of the word. For example, in the Hungarian word "olvasok" (I read), the szótörzs is "olvas" (read). Similarly, in English, "read" is the szótörzs for "reading" and "reader."

Understanding the szótörzs is crucial for analyzing word formation and derivation. Many languages employ suffixes and prefixes to modify the meaning or grammatical function of a szótörzs, creating new words or inflecting existing ones. For instance, adding "-ing" to "read" creates "reading," a gerund or present participle. The szótörzs itself is often an uninflected form. In some cases, the szótörzs might not be a directly usable word in its raw form, but rather a base from which other words are derived. Identifying the szótörzs helps linguists trace the historical development of words and understand their relationships to other words within a language or across different languages. The concept is universal across many language families, although the specific mechanisms of affixation and the nature of the szótörzs may vary.