Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate

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Languages of Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate
RegionNorthern Europe
Extinct1st millennium AD
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone
Pre-Finno-Ugric.png
Languages in the early iron age

Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate refers to substratum loanwords from unidentified non-Indo-European and non-Uralic languages that are found in various Finno-Ugric languages, most notably Sami. The presence of Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate in Sami languages was demonstrated by Ante Aikio.[1] Janne Saarikivi points out that similar substrate words are present in Finnic languages as well, but in much smaller numbers.[2]

The number of substrate words in Sámi likely exceeds one thousand words.[3]

Borrowing to Saami from Paleo-Laplandic probably still took place after the completion of the Great Saami Vowel Shift. Paleo-Laplandic likely became extinct about 1500 years ago.[4]

The Nganasan language also has many substrate words from unknown extinct languages in the Taimyr peninsula.[5]

Theories[]

See also: Paleo-Laplandic languages

Some theories about the origin of the substrate in Sami languages link it to the unattested languages of post-Ahrensburgian cultures (Komsa & Fosna-Hensbacka cultures).[6] According to Aikio, the speakers of the Proto-Samic language arrived in Lapland around 650 BC and fully assimilated the local Paleo-European populations by the middle of 1st millennium AD. In his opinion, the detailed reconstruction of these languages is impossible.[1]

The languages of more eastern post-Swiderian cultures might have influenced Finno-Ugric languages as well. According to Peter Schrijver, some of these substrate languages probably had many geminated consonants.[7][8] Vladimir Napolskikh has attempted to link them to the hypothetical Dené–Caucasian language family, but later had to admit that these substrate words have no apparent parallels in any known language on Earth.[9]

Yuri Kuzmenko tried to compare them to the hypothetical Pre-Germanic substrate words, but found no similarities apart from the distinction between central and peripheral accentuation.[10]

Some examples of Kildin Sami words and corresponding Northern Sami cognates without convincing Uralic/Finno-Ugric (or any other) etymologies:[11]

Kildin Sami Northern Sami English
kut’t’k heart
vuntas sand
poav’n hummock
k’ed’d’k geađgi stone
piŋŋk biegga wind
ket’t’k’ geatki wolverine
nigkeš pike (fish)
murr muorra tree
cigk mist
mun frost
pin’ne to herd, to look after
čujke čuoigat to ski
luhpel’ 1 y.o. reindeer
kipp’tε to cook
kuras guoros empty
modžes beautiful
n’učke njuiket to jump
čacke čiekčat to throw
tuллtε duoldit to boil
kuarktε to boast
лujx’ke to cry
nissε to kiss
madt trouble
Substrate words from Ante Aikio[1]
North Saami English
beahcet fish tail
cuohppa fish meat
šákša capelin
ája spring
skuoggir ethmoid bone
šuorja giant shark
buovjag beluga
ruomas wolf
bákti cliff, rock
gieva boghole
váiši wild animal
itku shady place
roggi hole
sátku landing place
skuolfi owl
čuovga light
soavli slush
gákšu she wolf

Most of these words have cognates in all Sami languages. A more extensive list of such words can be found in G.M. Kert's 2009 work on Sami toponymics.[12] Semantically, pre-Sami substrate consists mostly of basic vocabulary terms (i.e. human body parts) and nature/animal names, and lacks terms of kinship and societal organization, which suggests a rather low level of socioeconomic development in pre-Sami cultures.[13]

Some possible substrate words can also be found in Finnish.[14]

Finnish English
saari island
niemi cape
oja ditch
nummi moor
ilves lynx
koipi leg
nenä nose
jänis hare
salakka bleak
liha meat

Finno-Volgaic substrate[]

There are also some examples of possible substrate words in Finno-Volgaic languages that differ from the Pre-Sami substrate, i.e. Proto-Finno-Volgaic *täštä "star", or *kümmin "ten".[15][16]

Some words in Finno-Volgaic languages contain rare consonant clusters, which suggests loanwords from unknown languages.

Finnish words such as jauho (eng. flour), lehmä (cow), tähti (star), tammi (oak) and ihminen (human) could be substrate words.[15]

Toponyms[]

Some toponyms in Finland appear to be of non Uralic origin, for example a word "koita" regularly appears on narrow and long hydronyms, thus it is probably the continuation of the native word for "long, narrow".[17]

Many other toponyms in Finland seem to come from a substrate language or from many substrate languages, these are Saimaa, Imatra, Päijänne and Inari.[18]

There are also toponyms from a substrate language in Sápmi, for example an ending ir (< *-ērē), is commonly found in mountains, which is probably the continuation of the substrate word for mountain.

Other such toponymic words are *skiečč 'watershed', *čār- ‘uppermost (lake)’, *jeak(k)- ‘isolated mountain’, *nus- ‘mountain top on the edge of a mountain area’, *sāl- ‘large island in the sea’, *čiest- ‘seashore cliff’, and *inč- ‘outermost island’.[4][1]

Languages[]

Because there are irregularities in Saami substrate words, they might have been borrowed from distinct, but related languages. In the west, the substrate languages probably had an s-type sibilant which corresponds to an š-type sibilant in the East.[4]

Because we only have fragments of Lakelandic Saami which were preserved in Finnish place-names and dialectal vocabulary, the features of Paleo-Lakelandic substrate in Lakeland Saami cannot be studied. Many place-names in Finland come from Saami words of unknown origin which are likely substrate words, such as jokuu- from Proto Saami *čuokōs ‘track, way’.

The Saami substrate in Finnish dialects also reveals that Lakeland Saamic languages had a high number of words that have an obscure origin, which come from old languages of the region.[4]

In terms of ancient population genetics, people preceding the speakers of Sami languages correlate with the spread of Y-DNA haplogroup I1 and mtDNA haplogroups H1 and U5b1b.[6] However, it is possible that the presence of Y-DNA haplogroup I1a* (a subclade of I1), among the Sami, can be explained by migration during the last seven centuries.[19]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Ante Aikio (2004). "An Essay on Substrate Studies and the Origin of Saami". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Janne Saarikivi «Studies on Finno-Ugrian substrate in Northern Russian dialects Archived 2017-08-30 at the Wayback Machine». Tartu University Press, 2006; pp. 257—279.
  3. ^ Aikio, Ante. 2012. An essay on Saami ethnolinguistic prehistory. In: A Linguistic Map of Prehistoric Northern Europe, 63–11. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia = Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 266. Helsinki.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d https://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust266/sust266_aikio.pdf
  5. ^ Juha, Janhunen. "Nganasan —a fresh focus on a little known Arctic language" (PDF). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b K. Tambets et al. «The Western and Eastern Roots of the Saami—the Story of Genetic „Outliers“ Told by Mitochondrial DNA and Y Chromosomes». American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 74, Issue 4, April 2004, cnh/ 661—682.
  7. ^ Напольских В. В. К реконструкции лингвистической карты Центра Европейской России в раннем железном веке Archived 2017-09-27 at the Wayback Machine // Журнал «Арт» № 4, 2007 (in Russian)
  8. ^ «Palaeo-European substratum in Lappish: looking for links to Celtic?» // Celto-Slavica-2. Second international colloquium of Societas Celto-Slavica. Moscow, 2006; pp. 66-67
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ Кузьменко Ю. К. «Ранние германцы и их соседи: Лингвистика, археология, генетика.» СПб.: Нестор-История, 2011., стр. 181 (in Russian)
  11. ^ Керт Г. М. (G. M. Kert), 2003. Этногенез саамов // Прибалтийско-финские народы России. Москва. С. 43-48. (in Russian)
  12. ^ Г. М. Керт «Саамская топонимная лексика» (in Russian; see pp. 140-154)
  13. ^ Г. М. Керт «Саамский язык (кильдинский диалект): фонетика, морфология, синтаксис». «Наука», Л., 1971 (in Russian; see p. 9)
  14. ^ https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19635
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Неиндоевропейский субстрат в финно-волжских языках | Mikhail Zhivlov (in Russian)
  16. ^ Kantauralin ajoitus ja paikannus: perustelut puntarissa | Jaakko Häkkinen (in Finnish)
  17. ^ https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/38908/southeas.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  18. ^ https://www.kotus.fi/nyt/kysymyksia_ja_vastauksia/nimien_alkuperasta/saimaa
  19. ^ Andreas O Karlsson, Thomas Wallerström, Anders Götherström and Gunilla Holmlund (2006). "Y-chromosome diversity in Sweden – A long-time perspective". European Journal of Human Genetics. 14 (8): 963–970. doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201651. PMID 16724001.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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