Samoyedic languages
Encyclopedia
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
, in northernmost Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
, by approximately 30,000 speakers altogether.
The Samoyedic languages derive from a common ancestral language called Proto-Samoyedic, and they form a branch of the Uralic languages
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
. They are not a diverse group of languages, having separated perhaps in the last centuries BCE (Janhunen 1998).
Etymology
The term Samoyedic is derived from the Russian term samoyed for some indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
of Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. It is sometimes considered derogatory because its etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
has been interpreted as originating from : "self-eater." Therefore sometimes the word Samodeic is suggested by some ethnologists. Other interpretations of Samoyedic etymology suggest that the term originates from an expression same-edne, meaning the Land of the Sami people
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
s.
Classification
The language and respective ethnic groups are traditionally divided into Taiga, Tundra, and Mountain groups, and further into Northern and Southern groups; these are areal rather than genealogical groupings.Northern / Tundra Samoyed (areal)
- NganasanNganasan languageNganasan language is a language of the Nganasan people...
(Tavgy, Tavgi, Tawgi, Tawgi-Samoyed) - Enets–Nenets
- EnetsEnets languageEnets is a Samoyedic language spoken by the Enets people along the lower Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. There are two distinct dialects - Forest Enets and Tundra Enets - which may be considered separate languages. There are only about seventy speakers in total, with slightly more...
(Yenets, Yenisei-Samoyed) - †YuratsYurats languageYurats is a Samoyedic language formerly spoken in the Siberian tundra west of the Yenisei River. It became extinct in the early 19th century. Yurats was a transitional variety connecting the Nenets and Enets languages of the Samoyedic family.-External links:...
, transitional between Enets and Nenets - Nenets (Yurak), divided in in two closely related languages or dialects:
- Forest NenetsForest Nenets languageForest Nenets is a Samoyedic language spoken in northern Russia, around the Agan, Pur, Lyamin and Nadym rivers, by the Nenets people. It is closely related to the Tundra Nenets language, and the two are still sometimes seen as simply being dialects of a single Nenets language, despite there being...
- Tundra NenetsTundra Nenets languageTundra Nenets is a Samoyedic language spoken in northern Russia, from the Kanin Peninsula to the Yenisei River, by the Nenets people. It is closely related to Nganasan and Enets, more distantly related to Selkup and even more distantly to the other Uralic languages...
- Forest Nenets
- Enets
Southern Samoyed (areal)
- SelkupSelkup languageSelkup language is a language of the Selkups, belonging to the Samoyedic group of the Uralic language family. It is spoken by some 1,570 people in the region between the Ob and Yenisei Rivers . The language name Selkup comes from the Russian "" , based on the native name used in the Taz dialect, ...
/ Taiga (Ostyak-Samoyed), divided in divergent dialects:- Taz Selkup
- Tym Selkup
- Ket Selkup
- Sayan / Mountain Samoyed
- †KamassianKamassian languageKamassian or Kamas is an extinct Samoyedic language, included by convention in the Southern group together with Mator, Koibal, and Selkup . The last native speaker, Klavdiya Plotnikova, died in 1989. Kamassian was spoken in Russia, east of the Ural mountains, by Kamasins.A historical name for Kamas...
(Kamas) - †MatorMator languageMator or Motor was a Uralic language belonging to the group of Samoyedic languages, extinct since the 1840s. It was spoken in the northern region of the Sayan Mountains in Siberia, close to the Mongolian north border. The speakers of Mator lived in a wide area from the eastern parts of the...
(Motor, Taigi, Karagas)
- †Kamassian
Genealogical classifications point to an early divergence of Nganasan and (perhaps to a lesser degree) Mator, with Enets–Nenets–Yurats and Kamas–Selkup forming internal branches. (Janhunen 1998)
Nganasan
Nganasan language
Nganasan language is a language of the Nganasan people...
†Mator
Mator language
Mator or Motor was a Uralic language belonging to the group of Samoyedic languages, extinct since the 1840s. It was spoken in the northern region of the Sayan Mountains in Siberia, close to the Mongolian north border. The speakers of Mator lived in a wide area from the eastern parts of the...
Core Samoyedic
- Enets–Nenets
- EnetsEnets languageEnets is a Samoyedic language spoken by the Enets people along the lower Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. There are two distinct dialects - Forest Enets and Tundra Enets - which may be considered separate languages. There are only about seventy speakers in total, with slightly more...
(Yenets, Yenisei-Samoyed) - †YuratsYurats languageYurats is a Samoyedic language formerly spoken in the Siberian tundra west of the Yenisei River. It became extinct in the early 19th century. Yurats was a transitional variety connecting the Nenets and Enets languages of the Samoyedic family.-External links:...
- Nenets (Yurak)
- Forest NenetsForest Nenets languageForest Nenets is a Samoyedic language spoken in northern Russia, around the Agan, Pur, Lyamin and Nadym rivers, by the Nenets people. It is closely related to the Tundra Nenets language, and the two are still sometimes seen as simply being dialects of a single Nenets language, despite there being...
- Tundra NenetsTundra Nenets languageTundra Nenets is a Samoyedic language spoken in northern Russia, from the Kanin Peninsula to the Yenisei River, by the Nenets people. It is closely related to Nganasan and Enets, more distantly related to Selkup and even more distantly to the other Uralic languages...
- Forest Nenets
- Enets
- Kamas–Selkup
- †KamassianKamassian languageKamassian or Kamas is an extinct Samoyedic language, included by convention in the Southern group together with Mator, Koibal, and Selkup . The last native speaker, Klavdiya Plotnikova, died in 1989. Kamassian was spoken in Russia, east of the Ural mountains, by Kamasins.A historical name for Kamas...
(Kamas) - SelkupSelkup languageSelkup language is a language of the Selkups, belonging to the Samoyedic group of the Uralic language family. It is spoken by some 1,570 people in the region between the Ob and Yenisei Rivers . The language name Selkup comes from the Russian "" , based on the native name used in the Taz dialect, ...
(Ostyak-Samoyed)- Taz Selkup
- Tym Selkup
- Ket Selkup
- †Kamassian
Geographical distribution
At present, Samoyed territory extends from the White SeaWhite Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
to the Laptev Sea
Laptev Sea
The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy...
, along the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
shores of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, including southern Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya , also known in Dutch as Nova Zembla and in Norwegian as , is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the northern island...
, the Yamal Peninsula
Yamal Peninsula
The Yamal Peninsula , located in Yamal-Nenets autonomous district of northwest Siberia, Russia, extends roughly 700 km and is bordered principally by the Kara Sea, Baydaratskaya Bay on the west, and by the Gulf of Ob on the east...
, the mouths of the Ob
Ob River
The Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world's seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean .The Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary.-Names:The Ob is known to the Khanty people as the...
and the Yenisei and into the Taimyr
Taymyr Peninsula
The Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of mainland Eurasia and Asia...
peninsula in northernmost Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Their economy is based on reindeer herding. They are contiguous with the trans-Ural Ugric
Ugric languages
Ugric or Ugrian languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. The term derives from Yugra, a region in north-central Asia.They include three languages: Hungarian , Khanty , and Mansi language...
speakers and the cis-Ural Komi to the south, but they are cut off from the Baltic
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
Finns by the Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
in the west. In the east traditionally dwell the northern Turkic Yakut
Yakuts
Yakuts , are a Turkic people associated with the Sakha Republic.The Yakut or Sakha language belongs to the Northern branch of the Turkic family of languages....
. A substantial Samoyed city grew up at Mangazeya
Mangazeya
Mangazeya was a Northwest Siberian trans-Ural trade colony and later city in the 16-17th centuries. Founded in 1600, it was situated on the Taz River, between the lower courses of the Ob and Yenisei Rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean....
in 16th century as a trade city, but was destroyed at the beginning of the 17th century.
The Southern Samoyedic languages historically ranged across a wide territory in central Siberia, extending from the basin of the Ob River
Ob River
The Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world's seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean .The Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary.-Names:The Ob is known to the Khanty people as the...
in the west to the Sayan
Sayan Mountains
The Sayan Mountains are a mountain range between northwestern Mongolia and southern Siberia, Russia.The Eastern Sayan extends from the Yenisei River at 92° E to the southwest end of Lake Baikal at 106° E...
-Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
uplands in the east. Of these languages, only the Selkup language
Selkup language
Selkup language is a language of the Selkups, belonging to the Samoyedic group of the Uralic language family. It is spoken by some 1,570 people in the region between the Ob and Yenisei Rivers . The language name Selkup comes from the Russian "" , based on the native name used in the Taz dialect, ...
has survived to the present day.