The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1
The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Siberia, since people often found tusks and whole skeletons of this animal. The understanding of the mammoth as a giant fish with horns is specific for central-western Siberia. This image is most character...
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Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta
2022
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:db8e40cab8124e4db2539c48742e6595 2023-05-15T16:09:14+02:00 The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 Vladimir V. Napolskikh 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.3.030 https://doaj.org/article/db8e40cab8124e4db2539c48742e6595 RU rus Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2022-volume-19-issue-3-2 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-2400 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-2451 doi:10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.3.030 1994-2400 1994-2451 https://doaj.org/article/db8e40cab8124e4db2539c48742e6595 Вопросы ономастики, Vol 19, Iss 3, Pp 65-82 (2022) altaian language etymology ket language khakas language languages mammoth mythology and folklore of siberia pumpokol language yeniseian languages History of Civilization CB3-482 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.3.030 2023-01-15T01:29:44Z The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Siberia, since people often found tusks and whole skeletons of this animal. The understanding of the mammoth as a giant fish with horns is specific for central-western Siberia. This image is most characteristic of the culture of the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians and Evenks. In the epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas, as well as in their shamanic tradition, there is a notable image of a giant fish, ker balyq, often represented as a giant pike living underwater and underground (similarly to the mammoth-fish known among the peoples of the taiga zone). The term ker is applied in the Altai and Khakas traditions to some other mythological creatures, including mammoth bones found in the ground. The word ker is not explained from the Turkic languages and has no etymology. The epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas featuring ker balyq reveal very good parallels with the mythological texts of the Kets, Selkups, and Khanty in which the mammoth-fish (Ket tel) appears in the place of ker balyq. Based on the Ket tēľ ~ Yug čel ‘mammoth-fish,’ it is possible to reconstruct Proto-Yeniseian *čer — a form that in the Pumpokol language should have given a regular form *kher which is obviously the source for the Altai and Khakas ker. Thus, the Altaian-Khakas ker should be considered as a borrowing from the Pumpokol *kher, and the reconstruction of Proto-Yeniseian *čer (according to S.A. Starostin) / *ťèkər (according to H. Werner) ‘mammoth-fish’ can be considered quite reliable. Article in Journal/Newspaper Evenks Ket language khanty taiga Siberia Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Yug ENVELOPE(39.802,39.802,63.633,63.633) Вопросы Ономастики 19 3 65 82 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
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Russian |
topic |
altaian language etymology ket language khakas language languages mammoth mythology and folklore of siberia pumpokol language yeniseian languages History of Civilization CB3-482 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 |
spellingShingle |
altaian language etymology ket language khakas language languages mammoth mythology and folklore of siberia pumpokol language yeniseian languages History of Civilization CB3-482 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 Vladimir V. Napolskikh The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 |
topic_facet |
altaian language etymology ket language khakas language languages mammoth mythology and folklore of siberia pumpokol language yeniseian languages History of Civilization CB3-482 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 |
description |
The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Siberia, since people often found tusks and whole skeletons of this animal. The understanding of the mammoth as a giant fish with horns is specific for central-western Siberia. This image is most characteristic of the culture of the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians and Evenks. In the epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas, as well as in their shamanic tradition, there is a notable image of a giant fish, ker balyq, often represented as a giant pike living underwater and underground (similarly to the mammoth-fish known among the peoples of the taiga zone). The term ker is applied in the Altai and Khakas traditions to some other mythological creatures, including mammoth bones found in the ground. The word ker is not explained from the Turkic languages and has no etymology. The epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas featuring ker balyq reveal very good parallels with the mythological texts of the Kets, Selkups, and Khanty in which the mammoth-fish (Ket tel) appears in the place of ker balyq. Based on the Ket tēľ ~ Yug čel ‘mammoth-fish,’ it is possible to reconstruct Proto-Yeniseian *čer — a form that in the Pumpokol language should have given a regular form *kher which is obviously the source for the Altai and Khakas ker. Thus, the Altaian-Khakas ker should be considered as a borrowing from the Pumpokol *kher, and the reconstruction of Proto-Yeniseian *čer (according to S.A. Starostin) / *ťèkər (according to H. Werner) ‘mammoth-fish’ can be considered quite reliable. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
author_facet |
Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
author_sort |
Vladimir V. Napolskikh |
title |
The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 |
title_short |
The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 |
title_full |
The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 |
title_fullStr |
The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1 |
title_sort |
khakas-altaian mythonym ker and the proto-yenissean word for ‘mammoth’. 1 |
publisher |
Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.3.030 https://doaj.org/article/db8e40cab8124e4db2539c48742e6595 |
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ENVELOPE(39.802,39.802,63.633,63.633) |
geographic |
Yug |
geographic_facet |
Yug |
genre |
Evenks Ket language khanty taiga Siberia |
genre_facet |
Evenks Ket language khanty taiga Siberia |
op_source |
Вопросы ономастики, Vol 19, Iss 3, Pp 65-82 (2022) |
op_relation |
http://onomastics.ru/en/content/2022-volume-19-issue-3-2 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-2400 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-2451 doi:10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.3.030 1994-2400 1994-2451 https://doaj.org/article/db8e40cab8124e4db2539c48742e6595 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.3.030 |
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Вопросы Ономастики |
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19 |
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