Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/jäwrä

Probably a borrowing either from Proto-Balto-Slavic *jáuˀrāˀ (compare Lithuanian jáura (“marshland, bog”)), or from earlier Proto-Indo-European *yewHr-. Found only within the traditional Finno-Volgaic group. The word may have replaced *towe, reflected in the more Eastern languages.

Rahkonen (2011) suggests that several hydronyms in central Russia along the upper Volga and beginning with the formants Яхр-, Ягр- or ending with -хра, -хро (e.g. Яхрома, Ягренево; see Ahlqvist (2006) for a survey) point to a more original form *jäkrä or *jäxrä, loaned already before the loss of the laryngeal from the Indo-European original. No explicit evidence for such a form is found in the direct descendants, however.

*jäwrä

1. (Finno-Volgaic) lake

• *towe

• Mari:
  • Eastern Mari: ер (jer)
  • Western Mari: йӓр (jär)
• Proto-Mordvinic: *jäŕ-kə
  • Erzya: эрьке (eŕke)
  • Moksha: эрьхке (eŕhke)
• Proto-Samic: *jāvrē (see there for further descendants)
• Proto-Finnic: *järvi, *jarvi (see there for further descendants)

• Ahlqvist, Arja. 2006. "Ancient Lakes in the Former Finno-Ugrian Territories of Central Russia: An Experimental Onomastic-Palaeogeographical Study". In: Slavica Helsingiensia 27: The Slavicization of the Russian North: Mechanisms and Chronology, pp. 11–49.
• Rahkonen, Pauli. 2011. "Finno-Ugrian hydronyms of the River Volkhov and Luga catchment areas". In Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja 93, pp. 205–266.
• Rédei, Károly (1986–88) Uralisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Uralic Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó

• Entry #1244 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics.