The Khakas-Altaian Mythonym Ker and the Proto-Yenissean Word for ‘Mammoth’. 1

Abstract

The image of a mammoth is well known in folklore and mythological traditions of the peoples of Siberia, since people often found tusks and whole skeletons of this animal. The understanding of the mammoth as a giant fish with horns is specific for central-western Siberia. This image is most characteristic of the culture of the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians and Evenks. In the epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas, as well as in their shamanic tradition, there is a notable image of a giant fish, ker balyq, often represented as a giant pike living underwater and underground (similarly to the mammoth-fish known among the peoples of the taiga zone). The term ker is applied in the Altai and Khakas traditions to some other mythological creatures, including mammoth bones found in the ground. The word ker is not explained from the Turkic languages and has no etymology. The epic tales of the Altaians and the Khakas featuring ker balyq reveal very good parallels with the mythological texts of the Kets, Selkups, and Khanty in which the mammoth-fish (Ket tel) appears in the place of ker balyq. Based on the Ket tēľ ~ Yug čel ‘mammoth-fish,’ it is possible to reconstruct Proto-Yeniseian *čer — a form that in the Pumpokol language should have given a regular form *kher which is obviously the source for the Altai and Khakas ker. Thus, the Altaian-Khakas ker should be considered as a borrowing from the Pumpokol *kher, and the reconstruction of Proto-Yeniseian *čer (according to S.A. Starostin) / *ťèkər (according to H. Werner) ‘mammoth-fish’ can be considered quite reliable.

Keywords

• altaian language
• etymology
• ket language
• khakas language
• languages
• mammoth
• mythology and folklore of siberia
• pumpokol language
• yeniseian languages