Dendronymic Vocabulary in the Komi-Zyrian Language

A corpus of some 500 dendronyms designating about 300 wild & cultivated trees & shrubs collected from Komi-Zyrian lexicographic & belletristic sources is analyzed. Native & borrowed designations are distinguished, the former traced to Proto-Uralic, Proto-Finno-Ugric, Proto-Finno-Permian, Proto-Permian, & Proto-Komi strata, while the latter are traced to literary & dialectal Russian & Ob-Ugric sources. A typology of the dendronyms is proposed according to their semantic motivation, distinguishing five major categories designated by (1) the tree's color, (2) the shape & size of the trunk & leaves, (3) the form, size, structure, & color of the fruit, (4) place of growth, & (5) usefulness of the wood or fruit. 7 References. Z. Dubiel