Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/kurke

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

Likely onomatopoetic, though words of similar shape are found in numerous other languages of Eurasia: compare e.g. Akkadian 𒆳𒄄𒄷 (kurku), Sumerian 𒆳𒄄𒄷 (kurki), Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂-.

Reconstruction

The reflexes show irregular phonetic variation: Finnic and Samoyedic suggest *kurke, while Samic and Mordvinic suggest *karke or *kërke. Some reshaping due to onomatopoetic reasons is likely to have been involved.

Noun

*kurke

crane

Descendants

From *kurkə:

Samoyedic: *kərö, ? *kurə
- Enets:
  - Tundra Enets: [Term?] (kori)
- Nenets:
  - Forest Nenets: каӆӆю (kaŕŕʉ)
  - Tundra Nenets: харё (xăŕo) or харо (xāro)
- Selkup: [script needed] (qărá)
- Kamassian: [script needed] (kuro)
- Mator: [script needed] (koru), [script needed] (körüh)
Finnic: *kurki (see there for further descendants)

From *karke or *kërke:

Mordvinic:
- Erzya: карго (kargo)
- Moksha: карга (karga)
Samic: *kuorkë (see there for further descendants)

References

Rédei, Károly (1986–88) Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Uralic Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó

External links

Entry #245 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.