Reconstruction:Proto-Yeniseian/kʷetʳ

This Proto-Yeniseian entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Yeniseian

Alternative reconstructions

  • *əˀλ, *(k)əλə, *(dʲ)əλə, *xəˀr- (“frog”) (per Werner 2002)
  • *xǝʔr-, *jVʔra (per Starostin 1994-2005)
  • *ʌˀl, *ʌˀλ, *(k)ʌˀλ, *(H)ʌλʌ (per Vajda-Werner 2022)
  • *Hʌr₁ (per Cologne group 2024. Pattern: ?-l.2)

Reconstruction notes

Yugh *ʌˀr is expected. Usually, Proto-Yeniseian *-tʳ in coda position yields Proto-Ketic *-r/λ, which results in Ket -lʲ and Yugh -r. This particular change occurs only once, which is suggestive of a borrowing from Ket instead.

Etymology

Khabtagaeava (2019)[1] assumes Kott d'ira (dʲira, “lizard”) and its variants to be borrowings from Proto-Turkic *yï̄lan (“snake”). Vajda (2024) on the other hand argues against this in light of the regular sound correspondences between Proto-Yeniseian and Kottic.

Arin descendant is also problematic. Cologne group (2024) argues that the Arin kerep and kerép (“boat”)[2] are indicative of a misglossing for the Arin "reflex", as also pointed out by E. A. Helimski (1986:193). This would mean taj (“boat, or frog”) is the intended gloss, and kere is irrelevant. Despite this, Vajda (2024) still includes Arin as a descendant, as does Werner (2002) and Vajda-Werner (2022) and more recently, Bonnman-Fries (2025) in their dissertation on Xiōngnú Confederacy having possibly spoken an Arin-type language based on the available data.

Noun

*kʷetʳ (plural *kʷetʳ-ja-n)

  1. (zoology) frog
  2. (zoology) lizard
    Synonym: *toɬkawn

Descendants

  • Ketic:
    • Ket: ъ’ль (ʌˀlʲ, “frog”)
      • → Yug: ъ’л (ʌˀl, “frog”)
  • Kottic:
    • Kott: d'ira (dʲira), d'era (dʲera), d'ipi (dʲipi), díbaŋ (“lizard”)
  • Arinic:

References

  1. ^ Khabtagaeva, Bayarma (2019) Language Contact in Siberia: Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic Loanwords in Yeniseian (The languages of Asia series; 19)‎[1], Brill, →ISBN, page 51
  2. ^ Werner, Heinrich (2005) “kere [?] (H), kerep (M, W), kerép (VW, W, Kl)”, in Die Jenissej-Sprachen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 159
  3. ^ Bonmann, Svenja, Fries, Simon (2025) “Linguistic Evidence Suggests That Xiōng-nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo-Siberian Language”, in Transactions of the Philological Society‎[2], volume 0, →DOI, page 7, 9 of 1-24

Further reading

  • Hill, Eugen, Fries, Simon, Korobzow, Natalie, Günther, Laura, Svenja, Bonmann (2024) “Towards a New Reconstruction of the Proto-Yeniseian Sound System. Part II: Word-Final Consonants”, in International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics‎[3], number 6, Brill, →DOI, →ISSN, page 263 of 216-293
  • Vajda, Edward, Werner, Heinrich (2022) “*(H)ʌλʌ > *(k)ʌˀλ/*ʌˀλ”, in Comparative-Historical Yeniseian Dictionary (Languages of the World/Dictionaries; 79, 80), Muenchen: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 323
  • Vajda, Edward, Werner, Heinrich (2022) “*ʌˀl (1)”, in Comparative-Historical Yeniseian Dictionary (Languages of the World/Dictionaries; 79, 80), Muenchen: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 1043
  • Vajda, Edward (2024) “*kʷetʳ-ja, *kʷetʳ-ja-n”, in The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia: Language Families (The World of Linguistics [WOL]; 10.1)‎[4], volume 1, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, page 421
  • Werner, Heinrich (2002) “²ʌˀl'”, in Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Jenissej-Sprachen, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 415
  • Werner, Heinrich (2005) “frog”, in Die Jenissej-Sprachen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 298
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