Sunday, September 28, 2014

My New Roommate: also, Animals in Evenki






In honor of my new roommate, who is herself an animal, here's a list of animals in Hulunbuir Evenki.  Loans noted:

Important livestock (all borrowed from Classical Mongolian):
qɔnin: sheep
ukər: cattle
mɔrin: horse
jamaɣan: goat

If you're familiar with the Mongolian concept of tav maɬ "five herds", perhaps you've noticed that these are four of the five important animals kept by the Mongols, so it makes perfect sense that Mongolized Evenki would borrow these words.  However, there are only four here!  What about the other one?  The other animal, the camel, is not in Evenki because they live too far north.  However, if there was a word it would be something like təməɣʌn, which is the modern Chahar pronunciation of Classical Mongolian temeyen.

Other Mammals:
inakin: dog (compare Mong. nɔxɔɪ)
bɔqa: deer (compare Mong. bʊqa)
kɔskə: cat (from Russian koʃka)
guskɔ: wolf

Other Vertebrates:
dʊ'gi: bird
tamədʊ'gi: eagle (it would be interesting to see the meaning of "tamə")
kɔɮin: snake
ɔɮdɔ: fish

Bugs:
iɮasən: fly
bɔqɔsən: mosquito
umuɬ: worm