Reconstruction:Proto-Yeniseian/xʷaj
Proto-Yeniseian
Alternative reconstructions
- *egə, *hegə (per Werner 2002)
- *xiɢa (per Starostin 1994-2005)[1]
- *Higʌ (for Pre-Proto-Yeniseian), *egʌ (for Proto-Yeniseian, per Vajda-Werner 2022)
- *xʷaj-ga (per Vajda 2024)
Reconstruction notes
Descendant forms that reflect a suffixed *xʷaj-ga are not differentiated from the bare reflexes for the sake of brevity.
A conflation and confusion of this root with the phonetically and semantically similar *χek (“day, time”) can be seen throughout the Yeniseian languages, and especially in Ket and Yugh, where the reflexes are almost identical.
Etymology
Compared to Proto-Athabaskan *šʷaˑ ~ *šaˑ (“sun”)[2][3], Navajo shá (“sun”) and Eyak xʷah (“sun”).
Noun
*xʷaj (plural *xʷaj-ga-n)
- (astronomy) sun
- (shamanism) maternalistic sun goddess
- Coordinate term: *wes (“paternalistic sky god”)
Derived terms
- *šejgxʷaj (“year”, literally “four-sun”)
Descendants
- Ketic:
- Kottic:
- Arinic:
- Arin: éja (M., W., VW.), éga (Kl.), ɛga (H.)
- ⇒ Arin: xagalɨ (“sunshine, sunrays”, literally “sun-extension”) (Str.)
- Pumpokolic:
- ⇒ Pumpokol: hixem (W., VW., Kl.), híchem (“sun, sunshine”, literally “sun-arrow”) (M.)
- ⇒ Proto-Yeniseian: *çaj-xʷaj (“moon”, literally “night-sun”) (Monosyllabic stem: *çuj)
- Kottic:
- Arinic:
- Arin: éšuj (M., W., Kl., VW.), išuj (Str.)
- ⇒ Arin: išuj (H.), ešhuj (“month”) (M., W.)
- Arin: éšuj (M., W., Kl., VW.), išuj (Str.)
- Pumpokolic:
See also
- Proto-Yeniseian entry guidelines § Bibliography
References
- ^ https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=%2fDATA%2fYENISEY%2fYENET&text_number=765&root=config
- ^ Leer, Jeff (1996), Comparative Athabaskan Lexicon[1], volume sh/zha-sh/zhe, Alaska Native Language Archive, page 2
- ^ * Sharon Hargus; Keren Rice (2005), Athabaskan Prosody, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 82
- ^ Kotorova, Elizaveta; Nefedov, Andrey (2015), Большой словарь кетского языка, Münich: LINCOM, →ISBN, page 202
- ^ Recorded by Strahlenberg as kgɨ, most likely a typographic error.
Further reading
- Fortescue, Michael; Vajda, Edward (2022), “90.) ~*xʷaj”, in Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America (Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas; 17)[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 369-370
- Vajda, Edward; Werner, Heinrich (2022), “*Higʌ”, in Comparative-Historical Yeniseian Dictionary (Languages of the World/Dictionaries; 79, 80), volume 1, Muenchen: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 321
- Vajda, Edward (2024), “*xʷaj-ga”, in The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia: Language Families (The World of Linguistics [WOL]; 10.1)[3], volume 1, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, , →ISBN, page 420
- Werner, Heinrich (2002), “1iˑ (II)”, in Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Jenissej-Sprachen, volume 1, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 392
- Werner, Heinrich (2005), “sun”, in Die Jenissej-Sprachen des 18. Jahrhunderts, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 326