K proischozhdeniju nazvanij soli v finno-permskich jazykach
On the Origin of the Word for ’Salt’ in Finnic-Permic Languages

Summary/Abstract: The Finnic-Permic word for ’salt’, traditionally reconstructed as *salɜ (*sala) and explained as an Aryan loanword (cf. Skr. salilá- ’salty water, sea’ < PIE *sal- ’salt’) is reconsidered. First, the Proto-Finnic-Mordvinian form, when based on real material, should be reconstructed as *sōla and its phonetic discrepancy with the Perm. *sol (< *sal-) does not allow asserting a solid Proto-Finnic-Permic etymology, rather suggesting a trans-Finnic-Permic borrowing after the desintegration of Proto-Finnic-Permic. Second, the form *sōla can hardly have an Aryan source, and taking into account the very poor preservation of the PIE *sal- in Aryan, the idea of an Aryan origin of this term becomes even more vague. It is suggested that the term for salt was first borrowed into the Proto-Finnic-Mordvinian approximately in the first half or middle of the 2nd mil. BC from the west, from a language of a Proto-Baltic type, where a derivative from the PIE *sal- — *sōla ’salted substance, something salty’ may have existed. This could be a language of the representatives of the Battle Axe cultures of Eastern Europe, whose influence spread down to the Middle Volga. As the borrowing of the word for ’salt’ might be connected with the spread of agriculture and cattle breeding in the forest zone of Eastern Europe, some other etymologies are also discussed to illustrate the suggested cultural context of this borrowing.

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