Yeniseian as One of the Earliest Languages in Contact with Turkic: Newly Proposed Loanwords in Both Directions ¹

Abstract

The present study investigates the earliest recoverable layer of lexical exchange between the Turkic and Yeniseian language families. A critical reassessment of 26 previously proposed lexical comparisons shows that most are untenable at the proto‐language level. In their place, the paper presents eight new or revised proposals for contact‐induced lexical parallels, identifying one early Turkic loanword in Proto‐Yeniseian and seven Yeniseian loanwords in Turkic, five of them at the Proto‐Yeniseian/Early Proto‐Turkic level and two from Old Arin into Proto‐Common Turkic. The direction of borrowing is determined on the basis of both internal and external evidence, including morphological criteria such as native plural formations in Yeniseian and external attestations such as a Dingling gloss in Chinese historical sources. These lexical exchanges also establish several regular sound correspondences between Early Proto‐Turkic and Proto‐Yeniseian. The analysis suggests that the main period of contact falls in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, implying that varieties of Early Proto‐Turkic and Proto‐Yeniseian were spoken in direct geographical proximity before the formation of the Xiongnu Empire. The speakers involved can most plausibly be identified as the Dingling and the future Xiongnu ruling stratum. The findings further contribute to the refinement of Proto‐Turkic and Proto‐Yeniseian historical phonology.