VOCABULARY OF THE SEAL HUNTING INDUSTRY IN THE WHITE SEA REGION

This paper analyzes the vocabulary of the seal hunting industry. Materials were collected in the field and also drawn from lexicographic sources, ethnographic literature, descriptions of travels in the North, etc. The paper examines significant terms for this group of vocabulary: names of the trade and the seal hunters, the objects of the hunt, means of transportation, etc. Primary emphasis is placed on the origin of the lexical units under consideration. Given the diversity of lexical and semantic variants, units of heterogeneous origin or those outside the scope of this study are not considered. It is noted that by the time of data collection, this type of activity was no longer practiced; informants most often recalled how the trade was carried out in the past. Stories also concerned various methods of seal and beluga whale hunting. Examples of such dialectal recordings are provided. Based on the etymological interpretation of the dialectal lexicon, certain aspects of the phonetic and semantic assimilation of such data are summarized. It is noted that in some cases, there is a departure from the original word form, with an attempt to find a motivational basis in the original language. The following conclusions are offered. The names in this thematic group are borrowed from related languages: Sami, Karelian, and Nenets. During the borrowing process, the word form is often reinterpreted, seekinga motivational basis in the original Russian language. In some cases, it is currently impossible to offer a verified etymological explanation.