Brodnikov Alexander A.,
Novosibirsk State University, Novisibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
On the Question of the Yenisei Ostyaks’ Origin
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-5-11
The article makes a short excursus to the history of one of the least numerous peoples of Siberia – Kets (Yenisei Ostyaks); traces the history of the first contacts of Russian service men with the Kets. At first, the Russian yasak collectors did not distinguish between the Ob Khanty, Narym Selkups and Yenisey Kets who belonged to a similar economic and cultural type. Russians identified them as the same ethnos although differences in their languages were revealed very early. G.-F.Mueller, the head of the Academic Detachment, was the first to undertake the scientific study of the Ket language. He managed to find out that the Yenisei Ostyaks are a separate people, different from the Khanty and Selkups; that Ket language had other kindred languages. Later linguists confirmed Mueller’s assumptions. Archaeological finds of the last decades reveal links between Kets and the most ancient population of Southern Siberia. Active use of other latest developments of interdisciplinary research allows making an even longer excursus to the history of ancestors of the Ket-language population in the Middle Yenisei area and receiving new data on the possible history and conditions of their language’s evolution.
Publishing: 31/10/2019
How to cite: Brodnikov A.A. On the Question of the Yenisei Ostyaks’ Origin // Historical Courier, 2019, No 5 (7), pp. 147–155. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-5-11.pdf
Links: Issue 5 2019
Keywords: Yenisei; South Siberia; Kets; Yenisey languages; origin of ethnos; kin relations; linguistic links