On the ethnonyms Orok and Uryangkhai

• Main Author: Janhunen, Juha
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Polish
• Published: Uniwersytet Jagielloński. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2014
• Subjects: hist; anthro-se; Sakhalin; Uilta
• Online Access: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/700056.pdf; https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/700056

The paper discusses the etymology of the ethnonym Orok, as used for one of the aboriginal populations of the Island of Sakhalin. It has been generally assumed that this ethnonym is connected with the Tungusic term for ‘reindeer’, especially since the Orok, also known by the name Uilta, are reindeer herders. The author demonstrates the unlike- liness of this etymology and proposes instead a connection with the widespread generic ethnonym Uryangkhai. This term was transferred on the Orok via the languages of their neighbours, the Sakhalin Ainu and the Sakhalin Ghilyak.