On the Possible Links of the Mansi and Selkup Languages (Based on Ethnonymic Data)

The article proposes a new (Mansi) etymology of the Selkup ethnonym sdss kum. Different Selkup groups use different self-names: sdl' kum, cummsl' kum, cuwgj (cujgjl) kum, and sds9 kum. The interpretations of the ethnonym cummsl' kum as 'soil man' and sdl' kum as 'taiga man' are the most stable. E.A. Helimsky showed the failure of the second etymology (from a formal point of view, this interpretation is impossible: in this case, the ethnonym would look like *s6tsl' kum). The interpretation of the ethnonym cummsl' kum as 'soil man' is also erroneous: it can be connected neither with the Selkup cu 'earth, soil' (there is no derivational model to form cummsl' from cu), nor with the Selkup стэ 'clay' (due to the difference in vocalism). The author supposes that the ethnonym Cuwэj (cuj9j?) kum can be associated with the Yeniseic name of the river Ket. Thus, Georg F. Miller recorded the Yugh name for the Pumpokol people (who inhabited the upper Ket). It seems possible to assume that the Selkup could initially borrow this hydronym from the speakers of the Yeniseic languages (*en Tum> sk. ram), and it became part of the ethnonym *Cumэl' kum > cuw9j kum * 'people of the river Ket'. The distribution of the ethnonym (Upper Ob and Ket dialects) coincides with the migration route of one of the Selkup groups from the upper Ket to the Ob and along the Ob up to the mouth of the Chulym. E.A. №limsky traces back sdl' kum and £д£э kum to a single protoform recorded by G.F. Miller as Schoselgub. He proposes two alternative etymologies for this ethnonym. If the underlying form was sдsэ kum he considers it to be a derivative meaning 'one of the subordinates/relatives of the host/master/leader'. If the underlying form was &д£э kum, he compares it with the Nganasan kinsi- 'down the river'. The first option is unreliable from the semantic point of view and from the point of view of morphological structure (the suffix -se presumed in in s6-sa requires plural marking). The second option is more acceptable from the point of view of ethnonymic semantics. However, the stem £д£э is not represented in Selkup proper in the meaning of the "lower reaches of the river". This interpretation is offered only on the basis of possible Nganasan correspondences, but the Selkup stems used for orientation according to the flow of the river have reliable Samoyed parallels, whereas the Nganasan stem is an isolate. The author supposes the Selkup ethnonym s6ss kum has a Mansi origin. She also lists a number of lexical isogloss, linking only Selkup and Mansi, which substantiates the validity of comparing the material of these two languages. The Selkup &д£э kum can be compared with the Mansi N sossa xum, P sasi khum, K seise khom 'native inhabitant'. The word corresponding to the Mansi sossa / sasi / seise also exists in Khanty, but if the word had been borrowed from Khanty, the Selkup word would have had c, not s.

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