Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/neljä

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

Reconstruction

Reconstructed in several sources as *ńeljä, but according to Honti (1993) and Aikio (2014), the initial palatal nasal is apparently a widespread secondary development, presumably due to the influence of the word-medial palatal glide *-j-. An original unpalatalized nasal is supported by Hungarian, Mari, and most Samic languages.

Numeral

**Proto-Uralic cardinal numbers**
< 3	4	5 >
Cardinal : *neljä

*neljä

four

Descendants

Ugric:
- Hungarian: négy
- Mansi:
  - Northern: нила (nila)
- Khanty:
  - Northern: нил (nil)
Permic:
- Komi: нёль (njolʹ)
- Udmurt: ньыль (nʹylʹ)
Mari:
- Hill Mari: нӹл
- Meadow Mari: ныл (nyl)
Mordvinic:
- Erzya: ниле (nile)
- Moksha: ниле (nile)
Samic: *nealjē (see there for further descendants)
Finnic: *neljä (see there for further descendants)

References

Aikio, Ante. 2014. "On the reconstruction of Proto-Mari vocalism". In Journal of Language Relationship 11, pp. 125–157. Honti, László. 1993. Die Grundzahlwörter der uralischen Sprachen ('The Basic Numerals of the Uralic Languages'). Bibliotheca Uralica 11. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. →ISBN

External links

Entry #620 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.