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| Indo-Uralic | |
|---|---|
| (highly controversial) | |
| Geographic distribution | Eurasia |
| Linguistic classification | Proposed language family |
| Subdivisions |
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
 | |
| HypotheticalIndo-European phylogenetic clades |
|---|
| Balkan |
| Other |
Indo-Uralic is a highly controversial linguistichypothesis proposing a genealogical family consisting ofIndo-European andUralic.[2]
The suggestion of agenetic relationship between Indo-European and Uralic is often credited to the Danish linguistVilhelm Thomsen in 1869 (Pedersen 1931:336), though an even earlier version was proposed by Finnish linguistDaniel Europaeus in 1853 and 1863.[3] Both were received with little enthusiasm. Since then, the predominant opinion in the linguistic community has remained that the evidence for such a relationship is insufficient to confirm a genetic relationship versus similarity due tolanguage contact. However, quite a few prominent linguists have always taken the contrary view (e.g.Henry Sweet,Holger Pedersen,Björn Collinder,Warren Cowgill,Jochem Schindler,Eugene Helimski,Frederik Kortlandt andAlwin Kloekhorst).
The Indo-Uralic hypothesis has been questioned by recent linguistic data, contradicting previous arguedcognates, finding no support for a genealogical relationship between Uralic and Indo-European.[4]
The Dutch linguistFrederik Kortlandt supports a model of Indo-Uralic in which the original Indo-Uralic speakers lived north of theCaspian Sea, and theProto-Indo-European speakers began as a group that branched off westward from there to come into geographic proximity with theNorthwest Caucasian languages, absorbing a Northwest Caucasian lexical blending before moving farther westward to a region north of theBlack Sea where their language settled into canonical Proto-Indo-European (2002:1).Allan Bomhard suggests a similar schema inIndo-European and theNostratic Hypothesis (1996). Alternatively, the common protolanguage may have been located north of the Black Sea, withProto-Uralic moving northwards with the climatic improvement of post-glacial times.
Expanding upon his earlier hypothesis, Kortlandt (2021) proposes that Proto-Indo-European, rather than being a sister of Proto-Uralic, is a daughter of Proto-Uralic, and that Indo-European is a branch of the Uralic family. More specifically, he proposes that Proto-Indo-European andProto-Finno-Ugric share a more recent common ancestor with each other than either of them do withProto-Samoyedic. If valid, this would mean the traditional conception of the Uralic family (with Indo-European excluded) is aparaphyletic clade.
An authoritative if brief and sketchy history of early Indo-Uralic studies can be found inHolger Pedersen'sLinguistic Science in the Nineteenth Century (1931:336-338). Although Vilhelm Thomsen first raised the possibility of a connection between Indo-European and Finno-Ugric in 1869 (336), "he did not pursue the subject very far" (337). The next important statement in this area was that ofNikolai Anderson in 1879. However, Pedersen reports, the value of Anderson’s work was "impaired by its many errors" (337). The English phoneticianHenry Sweet argued for kinship between Indo-European and Finno-Ugric in his semi-popular bookThe History of Language in 1900 (see especially Sweet 1900:112-121). Sweet's treatment awakened "[g]reat interest" in the question, but "his space was too limited to permit of actual proof" (Pedersen 1931:337). A somewhat longer study byK. B. Wiklund appeared in 1906 and another byHeikki Paasonen in 1908 (i.e. 1907) (ib.). Pedersen considered that these two studies sufficed to settle the question and that, after them, "it seems unnecessary to doubt the relationship further" (ib.).
Sweet considered the relationship to be securely established, stating (1900:120; "Aryan" = Indo-European, "Ugrian" = Finno-Ugric):
If all these and many other resemblances that might be adduced do not prove the common origin of Aryan and Ugrian, and if we assume that the Ugrians borrowed not only a great part of their vocabulary, but also many of their derivative syllables, together with at least the personal endings of their verbs from Aryan, then the whole fabric of comparative philology falls to the ground, and we are no longer justified in inferring from the similarity of the inflections in Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit that these languages have a common origin.
The short name "Indo-Uralic" (GermanIndo-Uralisch) for the hypothesis was first introduced byHannes Sköld 1927.[3]
Björn Collinder, author of theComparative Grammar of the Uralic Languages (1960), a standard work in the field of Uralic studies, argued for the kinship of Uralic and Indo-European (1934, 1954, 1965).
Alwin Kloekhorst, author of theEtymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, endorses the Indo-Uralic grouping (2008b). He argues that, when features differ between theAnatolian languages (includingHittite) and the other Indo-European languages, comparisons with Uralic can help to establish which group has the more archaic forms (2008b: 88) and that, conversely, the success of such comparisons helps to establish the Indo-Uralic thesis (2008b: 94). For example, in Anatolian the nominative singular of the second person pronoun comes from *ti(H), whereas in the non-Anatolian languages it comes from *tu(H); in Proto-Uralic it was *ti, which agrees with evidence frominternal reconstruction that Anatolian has the more archaic form (2008b: 93).
The most extensive attempt to establish sound correspondences between Indo-European and Uralic to date is that of theSlovenian linguistBojan Čop. It was published as a series of articles in various academic journals from 1970 to 1989 under the collective titleIndouralica. The topics to be covered by each article were sketched out at the beginning of "Indouralica II". Of the projected 18 articles only 11 appeared. These articles have not been collected into a single volume and thereby remain difficult to access.
In the 1980s, Russian linguistN. D. Andreev [ru] (Nikolai Dmitrievich Andreev) proposed a "Borean languages" hypothesis linking theIndo-European,Uralic, andAltaic (including Korean in his later papers) language families. Andreev also proposed 203 lexical roots for his hypothesized Boreal macrofamily. After Andreev's death in 1997, the Boreal hypothesis was further expanded bySorin Paliga (2003, 2007).[5][6]
Among the sound correspondences which Čop did assert were (1972:162):
The history of early opposition to the Indo-Uralic hypothesis does not appear to have been written. It is clear from the statements of supporters such as Sweet that they were facing considerable opposition and that the general climate of opinion was against them, except perhaps in Scandinavia.
Károly Rédei, editor of the etymological dictionary of the Uralic languages (1986a), rejected the idea of a genetic relationship between Uralic and Indo-European, arguing that the lexical items shared by Uralic and Indo-European were due to borrowing from Indo-European intoProto-Uralic (1986b).
Perhaps the best-known critique of recent times is that ofJorma Koivulehto,[citation needed] issued in a series of carefully formulated articles. Koivulehto's central contention, agreeing with Rédei's views, is that all of the lexical items claimed to be Indo-Uralic can be explained as loans from Indo-European into Uralic (see below for examples).
The linguists Christian Carpelan, Asko Parpola and Petteri Koskikallio suggest that early Indo-European and Uralic stand in early contact and suggest that any similarities between them are explained through early language contact and borrowings.[7]
According to Angela Marcantonio (2014) and Johan Schalin a genetic relation between Uralic and Indo-European is very unlikely and most similarities are explained through borrowings and chance resemblances. Marcantonio argued that the fundamental typological differences between Uralic and Indo-European are so much, that a relationship is unlikely.[8]
In 2022, a group of scholars concluded that Proto-Uralic and Proto-Indo-European do not share a genealogical relationship with each other, as "whether based on cognacy or loans the argument from lexical resemblances is flawed". According to them, "Uralic is distinctive in western Eurasia. A number of typological properties are eastern-looking overall, fitting comfortably into northeast Asia, Siberia, or the North Pacific Rim". Previously proposed cognates can be largely explained via borrowings fromIndo-Iranian languages. They concluded in regards to the Indo-Uralic hypothesis that "of what we take to be the two statistically soundest recent quantitative tests, Kessler and Lehtonen (2006), using a 100-item Swadesh-like wordlist, found no evidence for Indo-Uralic".[9]
The most common arguments in favour of a relationship between Indo-European and Uralic are based on seemingly common elements ofmorphology, such as the pronominal roots (*m- for first person;*t- for second person;*i- for third person), case markings (accusative*-m; ablative/partitive*-ta), interrogative/relative pronouns (*kʷ- "who?, which?";*y- "who, which" to signal relative clauses) and a commonSOV word order. Other, less obvious correspondences are suggested, such as the Indo-European plural marker*-es (or*-s in the accusative plural*-m̥-s) and its Uralic counterpart*-t. This same word-finalassibilation of*-t to*-s may also be present in Indo-European second-person singular*-s in comparison with Uralic second-person singular*-t. Compare, within Indo-European itself,*-s second-person singular injunctive,*-si second-person singular present indicative,*-tHa second-person singular perfect,*-te second-person plural present indicative,*tu "you" (singular) nominative,*tei "to you" (singular) enclitic pronoun. These forms suggest that the underlying second-person marker in Indo-European may be*t and that the*u found in forms such as*tu was originally an affixal particle or merely analogical. An Indo-European marginal locative*-en compares in function the most closely with the Uralic locative*-na, in form with the Uralic genitive*-n, which has inspired suggestions of a single Indo-Uralic*n-case with later development into multiple case forms in both families (Pedersen 1933)
Similarities have long been noted between the verb conjugation systems of Uralic languages (e.g. that ofFinnish) and Indo-European languages (e.g. those ofLatin,Russian, andLithuanian). Although it would not be uncommon for a language to borrow heavily from thevocabulary of another language (as in the cases ofEnglish fromFrench,Persian fromArabic, andKorean fromChinese), it would be extremely unusual for a language to borrow its basic system of verb conjugation from another. Supporters of the existence of Indo-Uralic have thus used morphological arguments to support the Indo-Uralic thesis by, for example, arguing that Finnish verb conjugations and pronouns are much more closely related to Indo-European than they would be expected to be by chance; and since borrowing basic grammar is rare, that this would suggest a common origin with Indo-European. (Finnish is preferred for this argument over Saami or Hungarian because it seems to be more conservative, i.e. to have diverged less than the others have fromProto-Uralic. But even then, similar suspicious parallels have been noted betweenHungarian andArmenian verb conjugation.)However, the strongly divergent sound systems of Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic are an aggravating factor both in the morphological and the lexical realm, making it additionally difficult to judge resemblances and interpret them as either borrowings, possible cognates or chance resemblances.
A second type of evidence advanced in favor of an Indo-Uralic family islexical. Numerous words in Indo-European and Uralic resemble each other (see list below). The problem is to distinguish between cognates and borrowings. Uralic languages have been in contact with a succession of Indo-European languages for millennia. As a result, many words have been borrowed between them, most often from Indo-European languages into Uralic ones.
An example of a Uralic word that cannot be original isFinno-Ugric *śata "hundred". The Proto-Indo-European form of this word was*ḱm̥tóm (compare Latincentum), which became*ćatám in earlyIndo-Iranian (reanalyzed as the neuter nominative–accusative singular of ana stem > Sanskritśatá-, Avestansata-). This is evidence that the word was borrowed into Finno-Ugric from Indo-Iranian orIndo-Aryan. This borrowing may have occurred in the region north of thePontic–Caspian steppes around 2100–1800 BC, the approximatefloruit of Indo-Iranian (Anthony 2007:371–411). It provides linguistic evidence for the geographical location of these languages around that time, agreeing with archeological evidence that Indo-European speakers were present in the Pontic-Caspian steppes by around 4500 BCE (theKurgan hypothesis) and that Uralic speakers may have been established in thePit-Comb Ware culture to their north in the fifth millennium BCE (Carpelan & Parpola 2001:79).
Another ancient borrowing is Finno-Ugric*porćas "piglet". This word corresponds closely in form to the Proto-Indo-European word reconstructed as*porḱos, attested by such forms as Latinporcus "hog",Old Englishfearh (> Englishfarrow "young pig"),Lithuanianpar̃šas "piglet, castrated boar", andSakapāsa (<*pārsa) "pig". In the Indo-European word,*-os (> Finno-Ugric *-as) is a masculine nominative singular ending, but it is quite meaningless in Uralic languages. This shows that the whole word was borrowed as a unit and is not part of the original Uralic vocabulary.
One of the most famous borrowings is the Finnish wordkuningas "king" (<Proto-Finnic*kuningas), which was borrowed fromProto-Germanic*kuningaz. Finnish has been veryconservative in retaining the basic structure of the borrowed word, nearly preserving thenominative singularcase marker reconstructed for Proto-Germanic masculine 'a'-stems. Furthermore, the Proto-Germanic*-az ending corresponds exactly to the*-os ending reconstructable forProto-Indo-European masculineo-stems.
Thus, *śata cannot be Indo-Uralic on account of itsphonology, while *porćas and *kuningas cannot be Indo-Uralic on account of theirmorphology.
Such words as those for "hundred", "pig", and "king" have something in common: they represent "cultural vocabulary" as opposed to "basic vocabulary". They are likely to have been acquired along with a novel number system and the domestic pig from Indo-Europeans in the south. Similarly, the Indo-Europeans themselves had acquired such words and cultural items from peoples to their south or west, including possibly their words for "ox",*gʷou- (compare Englishcow) and "grain",*bʰars- (compare Englishbarley). In contrast, basic vocabulary – words such as "me", "hand", "water", and "be" – is much less readily borrowed between languages. If Indo-European and Uralic are genetically related, there should be agreements regarding basic vocabulary, with more agreements if they are closely related, fewer if they are less closely related.
Advocates of a genetic relation between Indo-European and Uralic maintain that the borrowings can be filtered out by application of phonological and morphological analysis and that a core of vocabulary common to Indo-European and Uralic remains. As examples they advance such comparisons as Proto-Uralic *weti- (or *wete-) : Proto-Indo-European *wodr̥, oblique stem *wedn-, both meaning 'water', and Proto-Uralic *nimi- (or *nime-) : Proto-Indo-European *h₁nōmn̥, both meaning 'name'. In contrast to *śata and *kuningas, the phonology of these words shows no sound changes from Indo-European daughter languages such as Indo-Iranian. In contrast to *kuningas and *porćas, they show no morphological affixes from Indo-European that are absent in Uralic. According to advocates of the Indo-Uralic hypothesis, the resulting core of common vocabulary can only be explained by the hypothesis of common origin.
It has been countered that nothing prevents this common vocabulary from having been borrowed from Proto-Indo-European into Proto-Uralic.
For the old loans, as well as uncontroversial ones fromProto-Baltic and Proto-Germanic, it is more the rule than the exception that only the stem is borrowed, without any case-endings.Proto-Uralic*nimi- has been explained according to sound laws governing substitutions in borrowings (Koivulehto 1999), on the assumption that the original was a zero-grade oblique stem PIE*(H)nmen- as attested in later Balto-Slavic*inmen- and Proto-Celtic*anmen-.Proto-Uralic*weti- could be a loan from the PIE obliquee-grade form for 'water' or from an indirectly attested cognate root noun*wed-. Proto-Uralic*toHį- 'give' and PFU*wetä- 'lead' also make perfect phonologic sense as borrowings.
The number systems of Indo-European and Uralic show no commonalities. Moreover, while the numbers in all Indo-European languages can be traced back to reconstructedProto-Indo-European numbers, this cannot be done for the Uralic numbers, where only "two" and "five" are common to all of the family (roots for 3-6 are common to all subgroups other than Samoyedic, and slightly less widespread roots are known for 1 and 10). This would appear to show that if Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic are to be related, the connection must lie so far back that the families developed their number systems independently and did not inherit them from their purported common ancestor. Although, the fact that Uralic languages themselves do not share the same numbers across all Uralic branches indicates that they would not with Indo-European languages in any case, even if they were in fact related.
It is also objected[by whom?] that some or all of the common vocabulary items claimed arefalse cognates – words whose resemblance is merely coincidental, like Englishbad and Persianبد (bad).
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| Meaning | Proto-Indo-European | Indo-European examples | Proto-Uralic | Uralic examples | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first person singular | *-m | Sanskrit-m, Old Persian-m, Latin-m, Oscan-m. | *-m | Finnish-n (-n <-m), Mordvin-m, Mari-m, Mansi-m, Udmurt-m; Nenets-m, Tavgi-m. | Kortlandt (2008b) |
| first person plural | *-me | Lithuanian-me, Sanskrit-ma, Greek-men. | *-me | Finnish-me, Saami-mek (preterite), Mordvin (Moksha)-ma,-mä; Tavgi-mu’, Kamassian-bɛ’. | Kortlandt (2008b) |
| second person singular | *-s (active) | Sanskrit -s, Greek -s, Latin -s, Gothic -s, Hittite -s. | *-t | Finnish-t, Mordvin-t, Mari-t. | Kortlandt (2008b) |
| *-tHa (perfect) | Greek -tʰa, Sanskrit -tʰa. | ||||
| second person plural | *-te | Greek-te, Old Church Slavic-te. | *-te | Finnish-te, Saami-dek (preterite), Mordvin (Moksha)-da;-ďä; Mari-dä; Hungarian-tek; Yenisei-δa’. | Kortlandt (2008b) |
| accusative | *-m | Sanskrit-m, Old Persian-m, Latin-m, Oscan-m. | *-m | Finnish-n (-n <-m), Mari-m, Mansi-m; Nenets-m, Kamassian-m | Paasonen (1907), Kortlandt (2008b) |
| ablative | *-od | Sanskrittasmād 'from this', Old Latinmeritōd 'deservedly'. | *-ta | Finnish-ta ~-tä, Veps-d, Mordvin (Moksha)-da ~-ta. | Paasonen (1907), Kortlandt (2008b) |
| nominative–accusative plural | *-es (nominative plural) | Greek -es, Sanskrit -as. | *-t | Finnish-t, Mordvin-t, Udmurt-t; Selkup-t. | Kortlandt (2008b) |
| *-n̥s (accusative plural) <*-m̥ (acc.sg.) +*-(e)s (pl.) | Greektrí-ns, Gothicsunu-ns. | ||||
| oblique plural | *-i (pronominal plural, as in*we-i- 'we'*to-i- 'those') | Gothicwei-s, Sanskritvay-ám; Greektoí, Avestantōi. | *-i | Saami-i, Finnish-i; Hungarian-i- (e.g.hajó 'ship',hajó-m 'my ship',hajó-i-m 'my ships'). | Kortlandt (2008b) |
| dual | *-H₁ | A lost consonant has lengthened the final vowel, as in Sanskrittā́ nominative–accusative dual versustá-m accusative singular. | *-k | Mansi-γ, Selkup-qy. | |
| 'and' (postposed conjunction) | *-kʷe | Latin-que, Greekte, Sanskrit-ca, etc. | *-ka ~*-kä | Finnish-kä inei ... eikä 'neither ... nor', Saami-ge, Mordvin (Moksha)-ka, Votyak-ke, Komi / Zyrian-kȯ, etc. | |
| negative particle 'not' | *ne | Latinne-, Greekne-, Sanskritná, Old High German and Old Englishne ~ni, etc. | *ne | Hungarianne/nem, Marinõ-,ni-, Votyak / Udmurtni-, etc. | Paasonen (1907), Kortlandt (2008b) |
| 'I, me' | *me 'me' (accusative) | Greekme (enclitic). | *mun, *mina 'I' | Finnishminä, Estonianmina, Mordvinmon; Nenets/mønʲə/.[1] Uralic reconstruction *mun. | Paasonen (1907) |
| *mene 'my' (genitive) | Old Persianmana, Old Church Slavicmene, Welshmen, etc. | ||||
| 'you' (singular) | *tu (nominative) | Latintū, Greeksú (Attic),tu (Dorian), Lithuaniantù, Old Englishþu > archaic Englishthou, etc. | *tun, *tina | Finnishsinä (<*tinä), Saamiton,tú-, Mordvinton, Votyakton, Zyriante, accusativetenõ, Hungariante 'you' (singular),ti 'you' (plural), etc. Samoyed: Tavgitannaŋ, Yeniseian Samoyedtod'i, Selkuptan,tat, Kamassiantan. | Paasonen (1907) |
| *twe (accusative) | Greeksé, Sanskrittvā (enclitic), Avestanθwā (enclitic), Old Church Slavictebe, etc. | ||||
| *tewe 'your' (genitive) | Sanskrittáva, Avestantava, Proto-Celtic*towe (< PIE*tewe, with complex developments in the individual languages, Lewis and Pedersen 1989:193-217). | ||||
| demonstrative pronoun | *so 'this, he/she' (animate nominative singular) | Gothicsa, Sanskritsá, etc. | *sä 'he/she, it' | Finnishhän (<*sä-n), Saamison, Mordvinson, Udmurtso. Samoyed: Nganasansyty. | Paasonen (1907) |
| demonstrative pronoun | *to- 'this, that' | Greektó, Sanskrittá-, Old Church Slavicto, etc. | *tä 'this',*to 'that' | Finnishtämä 'this' andtuo 'that (one)', Mariti 'this', Mordvin (Moksha)ťä 'this', etc.; Udmurttu 'that', Mordvinto-,tona 'that', etc. Cf. Hungariantétova 'hesitant' (i.e. reluctant to choose between this and that). | Paasonen (1907) |
| 'who?' (interrogative pronoun) | *kʷi- ~*kʷe- ~*kʷo- 'who?, what?' | *kʷi-: Hittitekuis (animate nominative singular),kuit (inanimate nominative–accusative singular), Latinquis,quid, Greektís,tí, etc. *kʷe-: Greektéo (Homeric), Avestančahmāi (dative singular;ča < PIE*kʷe), etc. *kʷo-: Latinquod, Old Latinquoius > Latincuius (genitive singular), Old Englishhwæt > Englishwhat, etc. | *ki ~*ke ~*ku ~*ko 'who?, what?' | Saamigi ~gä 'who?, which?, what sort of?' andgutti 'who?', Mordvinkoda 'how?', Marike,kö,kü 'who?', Hungarianki 'who?', Finnishkuka 'who?', Komi / Zyriankod 'which?', Ostyakkoji 'who?',kŏti 'what?', etc. | Paasonen (1907) |
| *kʷi/e/o- +-ne 'who?, what?' | Latinquidne. | *ken 'who?' | Finnishken ~kene 'who?', Mordvinki,kije 'who?', Votyakkin 'who?', Udmurtkin 'who?', Komi / Zyriankin 'who?'. Samoyed: Nenets Samoyedkin 'who?', Southern Nenetskin 'who?'. | ||
| 'to give' | *deH₃- | Hittitetā-, Latindō, Greekdídōmi, Sanskritdā-, etc. | *toHi- | Finnishtuo- 'bring', Estoniantoo- 'bring', Saamiduokə- 'sell', Mordvin (Erzya)tuje- 'bring'. Samoyed: Tundra Nenetstaš 'give, bring', Enetsta- 'bring', Tavgitətud'a 'give, bring', etc. | Kortlandt (1989, 2008b) |
| 'to moisten' | *wed- | Sanskritud-. | *weti 'water' | Finnishvesi /vete-, Estonianvesi, Mordvinveď, Udmurtvu, Komi / Zyrianva, Vogulwit, Hungarianvíz. Samoyed: Forest Nenetswit, Selkupüt, Kamassianbü, etc.1 | Kortlandt (1989) |
| 'water' | *woder- | Hittitewātar (instrumentalwēdanda), Umbrianutur (ablativeune < *udne), Greekhúdōr (genitivehúdatos < *hudn̥tos), Sanskritud-án- (oblique cases only, nominative–accusative defective), Old Church Slavicvoda, Gothicwatō (n-stem, dative pluralwatnam), Old Norsevatn, Old Englishwæter > Englishwater, etc.2 | |||
| 'name' | *nomen- | 'name' Latinnōmen, Greekónoma, Sanskritnā́man-, Old Englishnama > Englishname, etc.3 | *nimi 'name' | Finnishnimi, Saaminama ~namma, Mordvinľem, Marilüm, Votyak and Zyrianńim, Vogulnäm, Ostyaknem, Hungariannév. Among the Samoyed languages: Nenetsnim, Tavgińim, Yenisei Samoyedńii’, Selkupnim,nem. Compare, in Yukaghir, Kolymaniu and Chuvannyva. | Paasonen (1907), Kortlandt (1989) |
| 'fish' | *kʷalo- 'large fish' | Latinsqualus (withs-mobile) 'large sea fish', Old Prussiankalis 'sheatfish', Old Englishhwæl 'whale' > Englishwhale, etc. | *kala 'fish' | Finnishkala, Estoniankala, Saamikuollē, Mordvinkal, Marikol, Ostyakkul, Hungarianhal; Enetskare, Koibalkola, etc. | Paasonen (1907) |
| 'sister-in-law' | *galou- 'husband's sister' | Latinglōs (genitiveglōris), Greekgálōs, Old Church Slaviczŭlŭva, all meaning 'husband's sister'. | *kälɜ 'sister-in-law' | Finnishkäly 'sister-in-law', Estoniankäli 'husband's brother, wife of husband's brother', Saamikāloji 'sister-in-law', Mordvin (Erzya)kijalo 'sister-in-law', etc. | |
| 'much' | *pḷlu- 'much' | Greekpolú-, Sanskritpurú-, Avestanpouru-, Gothicfilu, Old High Germanfilu > Germanviel, all meaning 'much'.4 | *paljɜ 'thick, much' | Finnishpaljon 'much', Maripülä 'rather a lot', Vogulpāľ 'thick', NenetspalɁ 'thick'. Cp. Tundra Yukaghirpojuoŋ 'many'. | |
| 'to go' | *kʷelH- | *kulki- | Finnishkulke- 'go; lead', Mordvin (Erzya)koľge- 'leak'. | ||
| 'to wash' | *mesg- | *mośki- | Mordvin (Erzya)muśke- 'wash'. | Paasonen (1907), Kortlandt (2002) | |
| 'pot' | *pot- | *pata |
1Some researchers have interpreted Proto-Uralic*wete as a borrowing from Indo-European that may have replaced a native Proto-Uralic synonym*śäčä everywhere but in some of the northern fringes of the family (most prominently Proto-Samic*čācē).
2 This word belongs to ther andn stems, a small group of neuter nouns, from an archaic stratum of Indo-European, that alternate-er (or-or) in the nominative and accusative with-en in the other cases. Some languages have leveled the paradigm to one or the other, e.g. English to ther, Old Norse to then form.
3 Indo-Europeanists are divided on whether to reconstruct this word as*nom(e)n- or as*H₁nom(e)n-, with a preceding "laryngeal". See Delamarre 2003:50 for a summary of views, with references. Theo timbre of the root is assured by, among others, Greekónoma and Latinnōmen (with secondary vowel lengthening). As roots with inherento are uncommon in Indo-European, most roots havinge as their vowel, the underlying root is probably*nem-. The-(e)n is an affixal particle. Whether thee placed in parentheses is inherently part of the word is disputed but probable.
4 Theḷ in Indo-European*pḷlu- represents a vocalicl, a sound found in English in for instancelittle, where it corresponds to the-le, andmetal, where it corresponds to the-al. An earlier form of the Indo-European word was probably*pelu-.
The following resemblance sets are from Aikio (2019).[10]
| Proto-Uralic | Proto-Indo-European | Indo-European example |
|---|---|---|
| *aja- ‘drive; flee’ | *h2aǵ- ‘drives’ | Sanskritájati ‘drives’ |
| *kaja ‘dawn / sun’ | *h2ay-en/r- ‘day’ | Avestanaiiarǝ ‘day’ |
| *kulki- ‘go, run, flow’ | *kʷelh1-e- 'moves, walks’ | Sanskritcárati ‘moves, walks’ |
| *teki- ‘do; put’ | *dʰeh1- ‘puts’ | Sanskritdádhāti ‘puts’ |
| *toxi- ‘bring’ | *doh3- ‘give’ | Sanskritdádāti ‘gives’ |
| *weti ‘water’ | *wed-en/r- ‘water’ | Hittitewedār ‘water’ |
Of what we take to be the two statistically soundest recent quantitative tests, Kessler and Lehtonen (2006), using a 100-item Swadesh-like wordlist, found no evidence for Indo-Uralic
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)