Clan Names of the Nivkh

Abstract

This article is devoted to the ethnological, semantic and structural analysis of the names of the Nivkh clans, which were formed in different historical periods in the lower reaches of the Amur River and on the Island of Sakhalin. The clan formed a basic unit of the Nivkh community. It united blood relatives and women who entered the clan through marriage. In addition, the clan was an important territorial and economic unit. Many clan names are associated with totemistic ideas and beliefs. Each clan had its own name that distinguished it from other clans. The names of the clans were given mainly by the name of the area in which the clan lived, but a number of clan ethnonyms are also associated with the names of totem animals, rituals, months, as well as nicknames and borrowings from neighboring languages. Ethnonyms represent both one-root words, mostly ending with a derivational suffix, and two-root lexemes, including components with the meaning of “inhabitant”, “clan” and “month”.