Раритетная дисемия и языковые контакты

Abstract

Rare disemy (and polysemy in general) like in Oroch sāgdi ‛1) old (aged); 2) big’ may be the evidence of erstwhile language contacts. In Uilta (Orok) sagǰi means ‛old (aged)’, but in Uilta compound hydronym sagǰi sū uni-ni (sagǰi sū dāji sagǰi sū) ‛Poronay river’ the meaning ‛old (aged)’ is unthinkable and the only acceptable meaning is ‛big’ (Ainu verb poro in the hydronym Poronay means ‛to be, become big, large’). Poronay is really the biggest river on Sakhalin. Thus the influence of Oroch on Uilta is in this case (and in some other ones) indubitable. The Oroch disemy (sāgdi ‛1) old (aged); 2) big’) is also the evidence of historical contacts in another area: in Negidal sagdi əni-nin does not mean ‛his or her old mother’ (Neg. sagdi ‛old (aged)’), it means ‛his or her grandmother’. In Negidal compound kinship terms the word sagdi could be used only in the sense ‛big’ (cf. grandmother, grandfather; Groβmutter, Groβvater etc.). Historical contacts of Negidal with Oroch may be illustrated by many other facts.