Reconstruction:Proto-Yeniseian/tewk

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.
This Proto-Yeniseian entry contains original research. The reconstruction in this entry is based on published research, but the specific form presented here is not found in prior works.

Proto-Yeniseian

Alternative reconstructions

  • *tʰigəλ (“downriver”) (per Werner 2002)
  • *tɨ (per Starostin 1994-2005)[1]
  • *tʰɯx (for Proto-Yeniseian), *tʰɯ̄ˑ (for Proto-Ketic), *tʰɯgal, *tʰɯːλ, *tʰɯ̄ˑλ (“downriver”) (per Vajda-Werner 2022)
  • *tɯg (for Proto-Yeniseian), *tol-, *tɬa- (for combined stem, per Fortescue-Vajda 2022)
  • *tɯj? (per Cologne group. Pattern: t.2-?)[2]

Reconstruction notes

Proto-Yeniseian diphthong *-ew- after an alveolar onset yields Arin -a- in stressed or -o- in unstressed position. Stress in Proto-Yeniseian fell into the word-initial syllable[3], which agrees with the explanation by Vovin (2003), a potential compound "Northern-ruler" (Proto-Yeniseian *tewtɬ.qan > Old Arin ~*taλ.kan) that also corroborates the findings by Bonmann & Fries (2025) that the elite or the ruling class of Xiōngnú may have spoken an Arin-type language. No cognate in the entire Arin corpus, which amounts to around 400 words, has been identified to confirm this hypothesis, however.

Etymology

This root *tewk, and the combined stem *tewtɬ [< *tewk-atɬ] is compared to Proto-Athabaskan *tɬʼaˑx̣, *tɬʼaˑɣ̇ə (“underside, bottom of...”)[4], Navajo tłʼááh (“bottom, underside”) and Tlingit tlooxʼ (“to crawl on hands on toes, to creep”).[5]

The Yenisei River flows north from the Transbaikal region to the Kara Sea. The Yeniseian people have lived near the tributaries of the Yenisei River long enough for the gloss 'downriver' to have acquired the meaning 'north', as noted by Vajda (2004).[6]

Adjective

*tewk (adjectival form *tewk-Vŋʷ)

  1. down, below
  2. (navigation) located downriver; north, northward
Derived terms
  • *tewk- (thematic consonant in various terms with the meaning 'travel downriver', 'drop' or 'fall')[7]
  • *tewtɬoɢ (“underside, bottom”, literally “low-exposed surface”)
  • *tɬadʳ (“vulva”, literally “low-body part”)

Descendants

  • Ketic:
    • ⇒ Ket: ты (tɨ̄ˑ, “concave portion of a riverbank”)[8]
  • ⇒ Proto-Ketic: *tʰɯ-bej (“Northern wind, Borea”, literally “down[river]-wind”)[9]
    • Ket: тыйбей (tɨ́jbɛj) (Southern dialects)[10]
    • Yug: тыбей (tɨ́bej)
  • ⇒ Proto-Yeniseian: *tewk-atɬ (“low, down; downriver; north”, literally “down-part”) (Monosyllabic stem: *tewtɬ)
    • Ketic:
      • Ket: тыль (tɨ̄ˑlʲ)[11]
      • Ostyak Yug: tugul'as (M.)
        • Yug: тыр (tɨ̄r)
          • Yug: тыркет (tɨ́rget, “Ket people”, literally “downriver-people”)[12]
    • Kottic:
      • Assan: t'ugiga, túgiga (“low, down”) (W., VW., Kl.)
      • Kott: tʰîga (“down, below”) (C.)
      • Kott: tʰigal, tʰegäl (“downriver”) (C.)
    • Arinic:?
      • ⇒? Xiongnu: 單于 (*dar.ɦʷa /⁠*darƣʷa⁠/, “Chányú”, honorific, title, literally “Northern-ruler?”)[13]

See also

  • Proto-Yeniseian entry guidelines § Bibliography

References

  1. ^ https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=%2fDATA%2fYENISEY%2fYENET&text_number=703&root=config
  2. ^ Bonmann, Svenja; Fries, Simon; Korobzow, Natalie; Günther, Laura; Hill, Eugen (2023), “Towards a New Reconstruction of the Proto-Yeniseian Sound System. Part I: Word-Initial Consonants”, in International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics‎[1], number 5, Brill, →DOI, →ISSN, page 70 of 39-82
  3. ^ Vajda, Edward (2024), The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia: Language Families (The World of Linguistics [WOL]; 10.1)‎[2], volume 1, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, page 374
  4. ^ Leer, Jeff (1996), Comparative Athabaskan Lexicon‎[3], volume tL1a-tL1u, Alaska Native Language Archive, page 5
  5. ^ Twitchell, X̱ʼunei Lance (2020), Tlingit Online Dictionary, Juneau, Alaska: Independently published, supported by Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and the University of Alaska Southeast, →ISBN, page 223
  6. ^ Vajda, Edward (2004), Ket (Languages of the World/Materials; 204), LINCOM GmbH, page 2
  7. ^ Fortescue, Michael; Vajda, Edward (2022), Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America (Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas; 17)‎[4], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 427
  8. ^ Kotorova, Elizaveta; Nefedov, Andrey (2015), Большой словарь кетского языка, Münich: LINCOM, →ISBN, page 379
  9. ^ Vajda, Edward; Werner, Heinrich (2022), “*tʰɯ̄bej”, in Comparative-Historical Yeniseian Dictionary (Languages of the World/Dictionaries; 79, 80), volume 2, Muenchen: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 929
  10. ^ Kotorova, Elizaveta; Nefedov, Andrey (2015), Большой словарь кетского языка, Münich: LINCOM, →ISBN, page 380
  11. ^ Kotorova, Elizaveta; Nefedov, Andrey (2015), Большой словарь кетского языка, Münich: LINCOM, →ISBN, page 381
  12. ^ Georg, Stefan (2007), A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak) Part 1: Introduction, Phonology, Morphology, Cromwell: Global Oriental, →ISBN, page 14
  13. ^ Vovin, Alexander (2020), “Two Newly Found Xiōng-nú Inscriptions and Their Significance for the Early Linguistic History of Central Asia”, in International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, volume 2, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, pages 315-322

Further reading

  • 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[5], volume 0, →DOI, pages 1-24
  • Fortescue, Michael; Vajda, Edward (2022), “28.) ~*tɬaq-ej < ~*toɬ-q-ej”, in Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America (Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas; 17)‎[6], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 339
  • Vajda, Edward; Werner, Heinrich (2022), “*tʰɯ̄ˑ”, in Comparative-Historical Yeniseian Dictionary (Languages of the World/Dictionaries; 79, 80), volume 2, Muenchen: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 929
  • Vajda, Edward; Werner, Heinrich (2022), “*tʰɯgal, *tʰɯːλ- / *tʰɯ̄ˑλ-”, in Comparative-Historical Yeniseian Dictionary (Languages of the World/Dictionaries; 79, 80), volume 2, Muenchen: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, pages 930, 932
  • Werner, Heinrich (2002), “1tɨˑl' (I)”, in Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Jenissej-Sprachen, volume 2, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, pages 312-313
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