# szenes



## LeBro

Jó napot kívánok!

I would like to ask for your help to clarfiy, i.e. to what _szenes _here refers to in the following sentence:

E némajátékkal kölcsönösen elmondtuk egymásnak, hogy az ügyletet nyélbe ütöttük, most már csak a forma kedvéért akadékoskodott a _szenes_.

As far as I know it means "coaly". So does it refer to the man with whom the protagonist "nyélbe ütött az ügyletet" and who now pro forma "akadékoskodik" with the protagonist?

That is, does it mean "szenes ember" (the man covered with coal dust)?

Original from I. Örkény, _Néhány Perc Külpolitika_.

Köszönöm szépen a válaszókat!


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## francisgranada

LeBro said:


> That is, does it mean "szenes ember" (the man covered with coal dust)?


_Szenes _or _szenes ember_ could mean also the person that delivers or supplies coal to the customers  (that use the coal for heating the house).

(From the linguistical point of wiev, _szenes _is an adjective from _szén (coal)_, so it can have various meanings according to the context ....)


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## LeBro

francisgranada said:


> _Szenes _or _szenes ember_ could mean also the person that delivers or supplies coal to the customers (that use the coal for heating the house).



Yes, I couldn't think of it : the coal dealer 

The protagonist finds him in a külvárosi pincében. Maybe that's where he (szenes) seemingly deals with selling coals but no more detail is given in the story as to what kind of a pince it is.

Thank you, @francisgranada!



> (From the linguistical point of wiev, _szenes _is an adjective from _szén (coal)_, so it can have various meanings according to the context ....)



Unfortunately, the context doesn't provide much clue, at least to me


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## francisgranada

LeBro said:


> Unfortunately, the context doesn't provide much clue, at least to me


Unfortunately I have not read Örkény's _Néhány Perc Külpolitika . _Perhaps he used this word in some other, figurative meaning ...


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## AndrasBP

LeBro said:


> Maybe that's where he (szenes) seemingly deals with selling coals but *no more detail is given in the story as to what kind of a pince it is*.


It's obvious if you have the right cultural background. 
The first paragraph of the story is about "tüzelés", which means "coal/wood heating", so it's a "szenespince" (coal cellar) without a doubt.


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## LeBro

AndrasBP said:


> The first paragraph of the story is about "tüzelés", which means "coal/wood heating", so it's a "szenespince" (coal cellar) without a doubt.



 You are right! There already was a clue about the pince even in the very first sentence which I seemed to have forgotten about, i.e. "Már végigjártam a környék _tüzelőtelepeit_..." I should have thought of it . Thanks for drawing my attenion to it.


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## Zsanna

I don't think that keeping coal/wood in a 'cellar' (or shed) is a Hungarian specificity. Anywhere (in Europe, at least) where people have to store material for heating in the winter, it is a usual the place.


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## AndrasBP

Zsanna said:


> I don't think that keeping coal/wood in a 'cellar' (or shed) is a Hungarian specificity.


I didn't mean to suggest that. I just thought it might be less common in Turkey, where winters are milder.


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## Fredsky

Agreeing with francisgranada: szenes = szenet hozó ember, szénkereskedö, "akinek a szén a biznisze". Similar: jeges, kocsis, szekeres, betonos, etc.


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