Вопросы ономастики (Dec 2011)
On the Hydronym Kenozero
Abstract
The article puts forward a new etymological interpretation of the Kenozero toponym, functioning as a unifying name for a number of lakes in the Russian North, Karelia and Leningrad Region. With reference to some typological and physicogeographic data, the author points to a flaw in the etymological reconstruction made by Khelimsky, who ascribes the etymon Ken(o)- to the substrate heritage of the Western Finno-Ugric languages (*kеnо ~ Finn. kеnо ‘arched, curved’). According to the author’s hypothesis, the hydronym’s stem is more likely related to Baltic-Finnish appellatives käännе, käännös, kеännös kään, käänе ‘turn, curve’, reflecting the curving shoreline of the Kenozero water bodies.
