Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/jäwrä

This Proto-Uralic entry contains reconstructed words and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Uralic

Etymology

A borrowing either from Proto-Balto-Slavic *jaurā (compare Lithuanian jáura (“marshland, bog”)), or from earlier Proto-Indo-European *yewHr-. Found only within the traditional Finno-Volgaic group. The word may have replaced *towe, reflected in the more eastern languages.

Reconstruction

Rahkonen (2011) suggests that several hydronyms in central Russia along the upper Volga and beginning with the formants Яхр-, Ягр- or ending with -хра, -хро (e.g. Яхрома, Ягренево; see Ahlqvist (2006) for a survey) point to a more original form *jäkrä or *jäxrä, loaned already before the loss of the laryngeal from the Indo-European original. No explicit evidence for such a form is found in the direct descendants, however.

Noun

*jäwrä

lake

Synonyms

*towe

Descendants

Mari:
- Eastern Mari: ер (jer)
- Western Mari: йӓр (jär)
Mordvinic:
- Erzya: эрьке (erʹke)
- Moksha: ерьхке (jerʹxke)
Samic: *jāvrē (see there for further descendants)
Finnic: *järvi, *jarvi (see there for further descendants)

References

Ahlqvist, Arja. 2006. "Ancient Lakes in the Former Finno-Ugrian Territories of Central Russia: An Experimental Onomastic-Palaeogeographical Study". In: Slavica Helsingiensia 27: The Slavicization of the Russian North: Mechanisms and Chronology, pp. 11–49.
Rahkonen, Pauli. 2011. "Finno-Ugrian hydronyms of the River Volkhov and Luga catchment areas". In Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja 93, pp. 205–266.
Rédei, Károly (1986–88) Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Uralic Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó

External links

Entry #1244 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.