Proto-Afrasian names of ungulates in light of the Proto-Afrasian homeland issue / Праафразийские названия копытных в свете проблемы афразийской прародины

Abstract

In this paper, we present the first section of a comprehensive thesaurus of Proto-Afrasian zoonyms, compiled and reconstructed by the authors. The list contains more than a hundred names of ungulates, including bovids, pigs, equids and camels, as well as large herbivores (elephants, hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses), allowing for a wholesome (at the current level of our knowledge) picture of these species of fauna in the period preceding the split of Proto-Afrasian (ca. 11th millennium BCE, according to glottochronology) within the area presumably inhabited by speakers of Proto-Afrasian. The results of the reconstruction may be interpreted in favor of two different points of view on the localization of the ProtoAfrasian homeland, namely, the Levant vs. East Africa; the paper presents arguments both in favor of and against each of these hypotheses.