On the origin of the river name Kaa-khem and the appellative form ‘khem’ (river)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2018.3.6Keywords:
Tuva; toponymy; language contacts; Tuvan language; Tofalar language; Khakass language; Yenisei languages; Ketic language; Kottic language; Nenets language; Samoyed languageAbstract
The article analyses the problems of the origin of the river name Kaa-khem, which is one of the headwaters of the river Yenisei, and an identification of a linguistic affiliation of the word ‘khem’, acting as a suffix with the meaning "river" in river names. Such type of toponyms with a root or affix ‘khem/hem’ are typical only for the territory of Tuva; appearing rarely in Turkic languages of Southern Siberia, outside of Siberia the word ‘khem’ (river) is completely unknown.
The river Yenisei which Tuvans called Ulug-Khem, ‘big river’, had had a number of different names in earlier sources, but all of them meant the same, ‘big river’. Such were its Ketic names of Hizes ~ Hezes and the hydronym Kaa-khem, which contained the Ketic root Kja – “big”.
According to linguists, the word ‘khem’ (river) appears in Tuvan, Khakass, and Tofalar languages (Turkic), as well as in Kottic language (an extinct language from the Yenisei group). The author of the article shows that the origins of the name in fact lie in Samoyed languages, where the Nenets word ‘хӑмдь’ (cliff, steep slope) precisely describes the relief of the banks of Tuvan rivers.
References
Burkova, S. I., Koshkareva, N. B., Laptander, R. I. and Iangasova, N. M. (2010) Dialektologicheskii slovar' nenetskogo iazyka [A Dialectological Dictionary of Nenets Language] / ed. by N. B. Koshkareva. Ekaterinburg, Basko Publ. 352 p. (In Russ.).
Burykin, A. A. (2013) Imena sobstvennye kak istoricheskii istochnik: Po materialam russkikh dokumentov ob otkrytii i osvoenii Sibiri i Dal'nego Vostoka Rossii XVII–XIX vekov [Proper names as a historical source: Russian documents on the discovery of Siberia and the Far East of Russia in XVII-XIX centuries]. St. Petersburg, Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie. 536 p. (In Russ.).
Butanaev, V. Ia. (1995) Toponimicheskii slovar' Khakassko-Minusinskogo kraia [A Toponymical Dictionary of Khakass-Minusinsk Area]. Abakan, s. n. 268 p. (In Russ.).
Verner, G. K. (1990) Kottskii iazyk [The Kottic language]. Rostov-na-Donu, RGU Publ. 409 p. (In Russ.).
Verner, G. K. (2002) Slovar' ketsko-russkii i russko-ketskii [A Retic-Russian and Russian-Ketic Dictionary]. 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, Drofa Sankt-Peterburg Publ. 240 p. (In Russ.).
Gagarin, S. P. (1843) Vseobshchii geograficheskii i statisticheskii slovar' [A Universal Geographic and Statistical Dictionary]: in 3 vols. Moscow, Tip. A. Semena. Vol. 2. 596 p. (In Russ.).
Drevnetiurkskii slovar' [The Old Turkic Dictionary] (2016) / ed. by D. M. Nasilov, I. V. Kormushin et al. 2nd ed. Astana, «Ғylym» baspasy. 760 p. (In Russ.).
Maksimovich, L. M. (1788) Novyi i polnyi geograficheskii slovar' Rossiiskogo gosudarstva, ili leksikon [A New and Full Geographic Dictionary of Russian State, or Lexicon]: in 6 vols. Moscow, V universitetskoi tipografii u N. Novikova. Vol. 1. A-Zh. 292 p. (In Russ.).
Molchanova, O. T. (1979) Toponimicheskii slovar' Gornogo Altaia [A Toponymical Dictionary of Mountain Altai]. Gorno-Altaisk, Gorno-altaiskoe otdelenie Altaiskogo knizhnogo izdatel'stva. 399 p. (In Russ.).
Murzaev, V. and Murzaev, E. (1959) Slovar' mestnykh geograficheskikh terminov [A Dictionary of local geographical terms]. Moscow, Geografgiz. 303 p. (In Russ.).
Murzaev, E. M. (1984) Slovar' narodnykh geograficheskikh terminov [A Dictionary of Folk Terms in Geography]. Moscow, Mysl'. 653 p. (In Russ.).
Ondar, B. K. (2007). Toponimicheskii slovar' Tuvy [A Toponimical Dictionary of Tuva]. 2nd ed. Kyzyl, Tuvinskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo. 551 p. (In Russ.).
Pallas, P. S. (1787) Sravnitel'nye slovari vsekh iazykov i narechii, sobrannye desnitseiu vysochaishei osoby [Comparative Dictionaries of all languages and Dialects, collected by the order of Catherine II]: in 2 vols. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia Shnora. Vol. I. 240 p. (In Russ.).
Polunin, F. (1773) Geograficheskii leksikon Rossiiskogo gosudarstva ili Slovar' [A Geographic Lexicon, or Dictionary of Russian State]. Moscow, Pri imperatorskom Moskovskom universitete. 475 p. (In Russ.).
Radlov, V. V. (1899) Opyt slovaria tiurkskikh narechii [An Attempt at Dictionary of Turkic Dialects]: in 4 vols. St. Petersburg, Tipogr. Imperatorskoi AN. Vol. 2. 976 p. (In Russ.).
Rassadin, V. I. (1971) Fonetika i leksika tofalarskogo iazyka [Phonetics and lexics of Tofalar language]. Ulan-Ude, Buriatskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo. 252 p. (In Russ.).
Tereshchenko, N. M. (1965) Nenetsko-russkii slovar' [A Nenets-Russian Dictionary]. Moscow, Sovetskaia entsiklopediia. 942 p. (In Russ.).
Frolov, N. K. (1994) Enisei [Yenisei]. In: Russkaia onomastika i onomastika Rossii [Russian Onomastics and Onomastics of Russia] / ed. by O. N. Trubachev. Moscow, Shkola-press. 291 p. Pp. 65–66. (In Russ.).
Khabichev, M. A. (1982) K toponimike Karachaia i Balkarii [On the toponymy of Karachai and Balkaria]. Nal'chik, El'brus. 136 p. (In Russ.).
Khanmagomedov, Kh. L., Abdulvagabova S. A. and Gebekova, A. N. (2017) Gidrograficheskii termin khem v gidronimicheskom landshafte Tyvy [The hydrographic term ‘Khem’ in the hydronymical landscape of Tuva]. Izvestiia Dagestanskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. Estestvennye i tochnye nauki, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 112–115. (In Russ.).
Khertek, L. K. (2002) Gidrograficheskie apelliativy khem/kem, kan i antropomorfnaia model' mira [Hydrographic appellatives ‘kem’/’khem’, ‘kan’ and the anthropomorphic world model]. In: Mir Tsentral'noi Azii [The World of Central Asia]. Vol. IV, part I. Iazyki. Fol'klor. Literatura: Materialy Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. / ed. bu B. V. Bazarov. Ulan-Ude, BNTs SO RAN Publ. 145 p. Pp. 135–141. (In Russ.).
Räsänen, M. (1969) Versuch eines etymologischen Wörterbuchs der Türksprachen [Attempt at an etymological dictionary of Turkish Languages]. Helsinki, Suomalais-ugrilainen seura. Vol. I—II. XVI, 533, (1) + 136 p.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Author Biography
Aleksey A. Burykin, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences
Doctor of Philology, Doctor of History, Leading Researcher, Vocabulary Department, Institute of Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Postal address: 9, Tuchkov Side street, 199053, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Tel.: +7 (812) 328-16-12.
E-mail: albury@mail.ru
Author(s) license holder(s) grant rights for their work to the journal (grantee of a license) under the simple non-exclusive open license in accordance with Art. 1286.1 «Open license for a research work, work of literature or fine arts», Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
New Research of Tuva publishes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC).
Since it is an open license, author(s) reserve the right to upload the article to their institutional repository, submit it to another journal (if it allows republications), or republish it on their own website (in full, or in part).
However, several conditions apply here:
a) The republished version must always contain the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), the original title and the hyperlink to the original version on the New Research of Tuva website;
b) It must be in open access, free of charge, and no category of readers must be in any way whatsoever advantaged over general readership.
c) should the contribution be submitted elsewhere by its author(s) without substantial modification (30% or more of original text unchanged), the body of the article should contain a disclaimer that the original version was published in New Research of Tuva (with a link to the respective page)
The CC-BY-NC is a non-revocable license which applies worldwide and lasts for the duration of the work’s copyright.
