7 Austrian Words With Hungarian Origins

Bussi

Equal to the standard German Küsschen, or “little kiss,” it originally comes from the Hungarian word puszi (pou-sih).

Fogosch

Zander in standard German and “pike-perch” in English, is the transliteration of the Hungarian fogas (phog-ush); usually used to refer to a fish soup made from the same.

Hotter

No, this does not relate to global warming or even the prettiest girl at the bar. This slang word used in Burgenland and South Styria means “border,” a slight mispronunciation of the Hungarian határ (hut-aar).

Maschekseite

This word has been in use in spoken language in Austria since the 1990s, to mean on the backside, which is not exactly the equivalent of the meaning of másik, (maa-shik), which means “other” rather than “opposite.”

Mulatschag

The Austrian German word for a big party is the Hungarian word mulatság (mooh-lut-chaag) – a good reflection of who was working and who was having fun during the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Patschert

This word, which means “awkward” or “clumsy” in Austria, has traveled even further from the meaning of the original Hungarian word bocsánat (bo-chaah-nut), meaning “I am sorry.”

Teschek

In Hungarian, when you don’t understand, you ask back, tessék (tesh-sheik), which means, “What’s that again? Could you repeat it?” So, what do the Austrians use this word for? To refer to someone with a disadvantage or a handicap.

So, next time you want to give a kiss to a clumsy pike-perch having fun with the disadvantaged on the other side of the borderlands, you can just say,“Bussi, patscherter Fogosch bei einem Mulatschag der Tescheks an der Maschekseite des Hotters.”

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