History of the Hungarian Language
The modern Hungarian language, with its eight major dialects, is a member
of the ancient Uralic language family which is thought to have emerged many thousands of years ago in the area of the northern Urals in Russia. Like its distant cousins, Finnish and Estonian, it belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch which numbers some 15 or so related languages scattered across Eurasia.
In its early forms it was spoken by members of nomadic tribes from the steppes perhaps known as Onogouroi. These spread or were forced southwest in a series of migrations before settling in the location of what is now modern Hungary, in the Carpathian basin, the great plains through which the rivers Theiss (Tisza) and the middle Danube run. This settlement was probably completed towards the end of the 9th century AD.
The name 'Hungarian' is derived from on-ogur, (see above) the 'ten tribes', which was the name of a tribal confederation formed during an earlier stage of the migration.
The Hungarian name for themselves is Magyars, and their country Magyarország.
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