Arin is an extinct Yeniseian language formerly spoken in Russia by the Arin people along the Yenisei River, predominantly on its left shore, between Yeniseysk and Krasnoyarsk,[3] north of the Minusinsk region. However, it has been suggested that the Arin people had historically occupied a larger geographical range. It became extinct in the 18th century,[3][4] with the death of Arzamas Loskutov,[1] who was an informant for Gerhard Friedrich Müller in 1731,[5] and for a Cossack adventurer named Ivan Kovrigin in 1735.[6][1]
| Arin | |
|---|---|
| Ar, Ara | |
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | Yenisei River |
| Ethnicity | Arin people |
| Extinct | late 1730s, with the death of Arzamas Loskutov[1] |
Dené–Yeniseian?
| |
Early form | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xrn |
xrn | |
| Glottolog | arin1243 |
 Map of pre-contact Yeniseian languages. Arin is in blue. | |
It is believed that the term Ar or Ara was used by speakers of Arin to refer to themselves.[3]
Classification
editIt is classified as belonging to the Arinic branch, being its only attested language.[7] The closest known relative of Arin, Pumpokol, has been suggested to be similar to the language of the ruling elite of the Xiongnu,[8][9] as well as that of the Jie ruling class of the Later Zhao dynasty.[10]
Geographical distribution
editHydronyms associated with Arin have the suffixes -set, -igai, -lat, -zat, -zet and -sat (meaning "river") and -kul'/-kul (meaning "water").[11] These hydronyms, along with Khanty folklore telling of an eastern people known as the ar-j?x "Ar people", indicate that Arin may have once been spread out as far west as the Ob.[3][7]
Phonology
editOne notable aspect of the Arin phonology is the correspondence of words starting with the word-initial k- and words in other Yeniseian languages that start with a bare vowel. For example, the Arin word kul (meaning 'water') corresponds to the Ket word u?l’ and the Kott word ?l.[12] This feature of Arin allows for far more accurate reconstructing of the Proto-Yeniseian language by historical linguistics, for instance, the Proto-Yeniseian term for "water" is reconstructed as *xu?, where the initial *x- could not be inferred if not for Arin attestation.
Vowels
editThe vowel system in Arin is as follows:[11]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ? | u |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ? | (?)1 | ? |
| Open | ? | a |
- The sound [?], transcribed as ?, is only attested in the words ?gga 'six', qoa-?gga 'sixteen', ?g?u?? 'sixty', and utq???no? 'ear', and potentially also in pon’a (also recorded as pun) 'duck'.
Consonants
edit| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Laryngeal/ Pharyngeal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pal. | plain | pal. | plain | pal. | |||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p [p] | p?h [p?] | t [t] | t? [t?] | k [k] | k? [k?] | q [q] | q? [q?] | (? [?])1 |
| voiced | b [b] | d [d] | d? [d?] | g [g] | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | (f [f]) | s [s] ? [?] | s? [s?] | x [χ] | (h [h]) | ||||
| voiced | (v [v]) | z [z] ? [?] | ||||||||
| Affricate | c [t?s] | ? [t??] (d? [d??]) | ||||||||
| Nasal | m [m] | m? [m?] | n [n] | n? [n?] | ? [?] | |||||
| Lateral | l [l] | l? [l?] | ||||||||
| Approximant | j [j] | |||||||||
| Trill | r [r] | (r? [r?]) | ||||||||
Consonants in parentheses are sparsely attested or unattested.
- [?] is only assumed from other Yeniseian languages and is only a prosodic device of tone.
There are 11 palatal-nonpalatal consonant oppositions.[11]
Lexicon
editEtymological analysis suggests that speakers of the Arin language, as with other members of the Yeniseian people, were bilingual in Siberian Turkic languages; for example, the Arin word teminkur (meaning "ore") has been suggested to stem from the Old Turkic compound word *t?mir qān (meaning "iron blood").[13] There are over 400 lexica for the Arin language, recorded in the 18th century.[5]
General
edit| Arin words in Pallas 1789[14] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian gloss | бог | небо | вечер | лес | глина | поле | снег | ветер | вино |
| English translation | God | sky, heaven | evening | forest | clay | field | snow | spirit | wine |
| Arin translation | еc | эc | пись | още | тьюбурунг | кья?ба | тье | паи | арага? |
Body parts
edit| Arin body parts in Pallas 1789[14] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian gloss | волос | голова | ухо | глаз | нос | рот | язык | щёки | борода | плечо | рука | пальцы | нога | живот | спина | плоть | сердце |
| English translation | hair | head | ear | eye | nose | mouth | tongue | cheek | beard | shoulder | hand | fingers | leg | stomach | back | flesh | heart |
| Arin translation | кья?ганг | колкья | уткьэно?нг | тенг | арк?уй | бюкьо?н | алъяп | бык?олю?нг | королеп | хинанг | пъ?яга | к?о?лпас | пил | пъ?орга | к?оп | ис | шеноугбу |
Family members
edit| Arin family member words in Pallas 1789[14] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian gloss | отец | мать | сын | дочь | брат | сестра | муж | жена | девочка | мальчик | дитя | человек |
| English translation | father | mother | son | daughter | brother | sister | husband | wife | girl | boy | child | human, person |
| Arin translation | ипя, бъяп | бя?мя | бикял | бик-ялья | бамага?л | бамагалья | бикъярьят | бик?ама?л | бикъялья | бикъял | алполат | кьит |
Numerals
edit| No. | Numerals (Werner 2005) | Numerals (Pallas 1789) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | qusej | Кг?узей |
| 2 | kina | Ки?на |
| 3 | t?o?a | Тьюнга |
| 4 | ?ája ~ ?aga ~ ?eja | Ша?га |
| 5 | qala ~ qaga ~ kala | Ка?ла |
| 6 | ?gga ~ ?ga ~ ?ge | Эгга |
| 7 | ?n?a ~ ona ~ una | Ыньа |
| 8 | kinaman?au | Кинаманчау? |
| 9 | qusaman?au | Кг?усаманчау |
| 10 | qoa | Кг?оа |
| 11 | qóa-qúsa | |
| 12 | qóa-kina | |
| 13 | qóa-t?o?a | |
| 14 | qoa-?aja | |
| 15 | qoa-qala | |
| 16 | qoa-?gga | |
| 17 | qoa-?n?a | |
| 18 | qoa-kinaman?aú | |
| 19 | qoa-qusaman?au | |
| 20 | kint?u? | |
| 30 | t?o?t?u?? | |
| 40 | ?ájt?u?? | |
| 50 | qalt?u?? | |
| 60 | ?gt?u?? ~ uj-tu? | |
| 70 | ??nt?u? | |
| 80 | kina-man?aú t?u?? | |
| 90 | qusaman?aut?u?? | |
| 100 | jus | ?усь |
| 200 | kin-jus | |
| 300 | t?o?-jus | |
| 1000 | qo-jus |
References
edit- ^ a b c "Исчезающие народы/языки: Аринцы, Аринский (Arin) | СМДО КубГУ". moodle.kubsu.ru. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
- ^ Bonmann, Svenja; Fries, Simon (16 June 2025). "Linguistic Evidence Suggests that Xiōng‐nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo‐Siberian Language". Transactions of the Philological Society. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12321. ISSN 0079-1636.
- ^ a b c d Georg, Stefan (2007). A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak). Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental. ISBN 978-1-901903-58-4.
- ^ "The ASJP Database - Wordlist Arin". asjp.clld.org. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
- ^ a b "Аринский язык // ?Историческая энциклопедия Сибири? (2009)". ИРКИПЕДИЯ - портал Иркутской области: знания и новости (in Russian). Retrieved 1 January 2025.
- ^ "A 10,000-year-old word puzzle". The Globe and Mail. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ a b Vajda, Edward (19 February 2024), Vajda, Edward (ed.), "8 The Yeniseian language family", The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia, De Gruyter, pp. 365–480, doi:10.1515/9783110556216-008, ISBN 978-3-11-055621-6, retrieved 26 June 2024
- ^ Vovin, Alexander (2000). "Did the Xiong-nu Speak a Yeniseian Language?". Central Asiatic Journal. 44 (1): 87–104. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41928223.
- ^ Bonmann, Svenja; Fries, Simon (16 June 2025). "Linguistic Evidence Suggests that Xiōng‐nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo‐Siberian Language". Transactions of the Philological Society. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12321. ISSN 0079-1636.
- ^ VOVIN, Alexander; VAJDA, Edward; DE LA VAISSIèRE, étienne (2016). "Who were the *Kjet and What Language did they Speak?". Journal Asiatique (1): 125–144. doi:10.2143/JA.304.1.3146838. ISSN 1783-1504.
- ^ a b c d Werner, Heinrich (2005). Die Jenissej-Sprachen des 18. Jahrhunderts. Ver?ffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-05239-9.
- ^ Fries, Simon; Bonmann, Svenja (22 December 2023). "The Development of Arin kul 'water' ~ Kott ?l, Ket 1u·l', Yugh 1ur and Its Typological Background". International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics. 5 (2): 183–198. doi:10.1163/25898833-20230044. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
- ^ Khabtagaeva, Bayarma (2015). "On the Yeniseian Arin word teminkur 'ore'". Words and Dictionaries: A Festschrift for Professor Stanis?aw Stachowski on the Occasion of His 85th Birthday: 149–154. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Pallas, Peter Simon (1786). Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa (in Russian). Schnoor.
- ^ Pallas, Peter Simon (1789). Linguarum Totius Orbis Vocabularia Comparativa, Pars 2.