The hydronyms of the Labau, Lämäδ and similar isoglosses in the Ural-Altaic and other languages

Abstract

The article is a study of the origin of Bashkir hydronyms with anlaut L-, (Labau,
Lämäz, and a number of others). Against the background of extensive comparisons of similar hydronyms and appellatives from the Turkic, Altaic, and other Eurasian languages. The author
considers several versions of the said hydronyms viz possible origin from the Turkic, Altaic, Uralic
or Euroasiatic languages at large. The stem and/or root of Bashkir hydronyms of the Lämäz type
may be cognate with such hydronims as Laba in Poland > the Elbe in East Germany, -lej ‘a small
river’ in the Volga Finnie languages and with a fair number of similar names of water objects in
Europe, Asia and beyond. So, convergence with many of the same-root names of water bodies from
several dozen languages and/or dialects is proposed. A large amount of material from the dialects
and subdialects of the Bashkir language is involved. A conclusion is proposed about the very great
antiquity of the hydronymy containing the anlaut L- in the bases of the LVC phonomorphological type.
The answer to the question posed in the article’s title can hardly be definitive, as much further
research is needed to clarify many points.