kígyót melenget a keblén

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Hungarian

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Aesop's fable The Farmer and the Viper.[1] Literally, to keep warm a snake on one's bosom.

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): [ˈkiːɟoːt ˈmɛlɛŋɡɛt ɒ ˈkɛbleːn]

Verb

[edit]

kígyót melenget a keblén

  1. (idiomatic) to nourish a viper in one's bosom, to cherish a snake in one's bosom (to patronize and support a person who pays for goodness with evil)

Conjugation

[edit]
  • For the verb, see melenget (to keep warm).
  • The accusative noun kígyót (snake) remains unchanged.
  • The noun kebel (bosom) takes the appropriate possessive suffix according to the logical subject of the sentence plus the superessive suffix: keblemen (on my bosom), kebleden (on your bosom), keblén (on his/her/its bosom), keblünkön (on our bosom), kebleteken (on your bosom), keblükön (on their bosom).

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Forgács, Tamás. Magyar szólások és közmondások szótára (’Dictionary of Hungarian Idioms and Proverbs’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2004. →ISBN