The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2
The article continues the research on the names of mammoth or other mammoth-like monsters as characteristic elements of the mythological onomasticon of some Siberian traditions (Turkic, Yenissean, Tungusic). In the first part of the article, the author identified a reconstructed Proto-Yenissean form...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Russian |
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Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Вопросы ономастики |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2023-volume-20-issue-1-1 |
| _version_ | 1797838354284281856 |
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| author | Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
| author_facet | Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
| author_sort | Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article continues the research on the names of mammoth or other mammoth-like monsters as characteristic elements of the mythological onomasticon of some Siberian traditions (Turkic, Yenissean, Tungusic). In the first part of the article, the author identified a reconstructed Proto-Yenissean form *čer / *ťèkə́r ‘mammoth (giant horned fish)’ > Ket 1tēľ ~ Yug 1čel ~ Pumpokol *kher (> Altaic, Khakass, Teleut ker, kär ‘a monster, especially a giant fish’) as a possible origin of these names. In this part, the author proposes a pre-Yenissean (Sino-Caucasian) etymology for it: *c̣HírV[ʁ]V (> North-Caucasian *c̣irVχV ‘caterpillar, snail; line’ ~ Sino-Tibetan *čaŋ ‘lizard’ ~ (?) Burushaski hargin ‘dragon, a monster that a snake turns into.’ It is assumed that the image of the mammoth-fish (as opposed to a more widely known and probably more ancient image of mammoth-bull) was formed in the Proto-Yenissean tradition after the speakers of the Yenissean proto-language migrated from the southern ancestral homeland to Siberia. It is based on ideas about the transformation of a snake, fish or similar chthonic animal into a giant dragon-like creature that existed among the Sino-Caucasian ancestors of the Yenisseans spread in the Pamir-Hindukush region, and was known to the ancient Chinese. The formation of the image of the mammoth-fish among the Yenisseans was also influenced by the Iranian motif of the “a belt dissecting a tree.” The Yenissean image of the mammoth-fish reached Siberia, particularly, it was borrowed into the shamanic tradition of the Evenks, which is evidenced by the possible etymology of the Evenki selī ‘mammoth’ (including mammoth-horned fish) from the reconstructed form of the unknown Yenissean language *seĺ (< *čer / *ťèkə́r). |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:40:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c487d89ec784582885f6781e53b7890 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1994-2400 1994-2451 |
| language | Russian |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:40:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Вопросы ономастики |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c487d89ec784582885f6781e53b78902023-04-27T10:30:58ZrusIzdatelstvo Uralskogo UniversitetaВопросы ономастики1994-24001994-24512023-04-01201294210.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.1.002The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2Vladimir V. Napolskikh0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1549-9639Ural Federal University, Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian FederationThe article continues the research on the names of mammoth or other mammoth-like monsters as characteristic elements of the mythological onomasticon of some Siberian traditions (Turkic, Yenissean, Tungusic). In the first part of the article, the author identified a reconstructed Proto-Yenissean form *čer / *ťèkə́r ‘mammoth (giant horned fish)’ > Ket 1tēľ ~ Yug 1čel ~ Pumpokol *kher (> Altaic, Khakass, Teleut ker, kär ‘a monster, especially a giant fish’) as a possible origin of these names. In this part, the author proposes a pre-Yenissean (Sino-Caucasian) etymology for it: *c̣HírV[ʁ]V (> North-Caucasian *c̣irVχV ‘caterpillar, snail; line’ ~ Sino-Tibetan *čaŋ ‘lizard’ ~ (?) Burushaski hargin ‘dragon, a monster that a snake turns into.’ It is assumed that the image of the mammoth-fish (as opposed to a more widely known and probably more ancient image of mammoth-bull) was formed in the Proto-Yenissean tradition after the speakers of the Yenissean proto-language migrated from the southern ancestral homeland to Siberia. It is based on ideas about the transformation of a snake, fish or similar chthonic animal into a giant dragon-like creature that existed among the Sino-Caucasian ancestors of the Yenisseans spread in the Pamir-Hindukush region, and was known to the ancient Chinese. The formation of the image of the mammoth-fish among the Yenisseans was also influenced by the Iranian motif of the “a belt dissecting a tree.” The Yenissean image of the mammoth-fish reached Siberia, particularly, it was borrowed into the shamanic tradition of the Evenks, which is evidenced by the possible etymology of the Evenki selī ‘mammoth’ (including mammoth-horned fish) from the reconstructed form of the unknown Yenissean language *seĺ (< *čer / *ťèkə́r).http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2023-volume-20-issue-1-1etymologyevenki languagemammothmythology and folklore of siberiashamanismsino-caucasian languagestungus-manchurian languagesturkic languagesyenissean languages |
| spellingShingle | Vladimir V. Napolskikh The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2 Вопросы ономастики etymology evenki language mammoth mythology and folklore of siberia shamanism sino-caucasian languages tungus-manchurian languages turkic languages yenissean languages |
| title | The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2 |
| title_full | The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2 |
| title_fullStr | The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2 |
| title_short | The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 2 |
| title_sort | khakas altaian mythonym ker and the proto yenissean word for mammoth 2 |
| topic | etymology evenki language mammoth mythology and folklore of siberia shamanism sino-caucasian languages tungus-manchurian languages turkic languages yenissean languages |
| url | http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2023-volume-20-issue-1-1 |
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