The football season is still going, but the limited-edition sunflower seed Túró Rudi is quietly disappearing from shelves. New flavours will follow, but this campaign has already done one thing well — the word szotyi is now lodged in the memory of anyone who saw it, even if they’d never heard it before. Much like kézfertőtlenítő (hand sanitiser) did during Covid.
But Hungarian actually has another interesting word for sunflower seeds — makuka.
It’s a regionalism, found mainly in Miskolc and the north-east of the country. The word came into Hungarian from the Slavic makucha/makuch, which originally meant the pressed cake left over after extracting oil from seeds. Over time the meaning shifted, and makuka became an everyday word for sunflower seeds.
That’s why in this song by Bohemian Betyars you can hear the line:
Lajbim zsebében makuka-szívem. — In the pocket of my waistcoat — my sunflower-seed heart.
Bohemian Betyars songs are a real find for anyone who enjoys living, colloquial Hungarian — dialect words from the north-east turn up in them all the time.
Bonus. Sorsod Borsod — a few more words from the Borsod dialect. Click on the translation to reveal it:
- Furik — wheelbarrow
- Dumó — heel of a loaf of bread
- Süsü — hood
- Tócsni — potato pancakes
- Firhang — curtain
- Pacuha — slob, messy person
- Büszke — gooseberry
- Lipityóka — seesaw
- Levonó — sticker