Lake Irentik, Irendyk ridge and substrate layers in the toponymy of the Southern Urals

Toponymic studies for historical science might be comparable to lexicography in terms of significance. The peculiarity is that the names of localities are most often passed down by word of mouth with a rather late written fixation. Therefore, a correct study of the toponymal etymology is vital in cases with no written record of the language and ethnogeny of the population that supposedly created these locality names. The aim of the research is to trace the etymology of several obscure toponyms of the Southern Urals. The methodological basis of the study is the comparative-historical method; also, the author resorts to the concept of linguistic substratum. The noteworthy point is that the two toponyms considered in the research sound almost similar - Irentik vs Irendyk. However, the study provides the rationale by which the etymology of these toponyms should be attributed to different languages. Both toponyms are assumed to belong to the Indo-European substratum, but the chronology of their emergence significantly differs. The evidence reveals that the hydronym Irentik is a substratum of the Indo-Aryan language, the speakers of which settled in the lakeshores in Trans-Urals during the Bronze Age. The oronym Irendyk refers to the East Iranian languages, the speakers of which were nomadic tribes (Saks or Sarmatians) of the Early Iron Age. The author substantiates the theory that the Irendyk and Malyi Irendyk ridges in ancient times were regarded as a whole with the Kurkak ridge. The further examination of the substratum layers shows that Irendyk ridge is an Iranian linguistic calque of the more ancient name Kurkak. The oronym Kurkak itself originated in early Indo-Aryan. One of the results of the study is the identification of different layers of the substratum, consistently associated with archaeological cultures that succeed one another.