Proto-Yenisseian: *p[u]χV ( < *m[u]χV)
Meaning: nephew
Ket: hɨ́-tet 'nephew', hɨ́-tam 'niece' (Werner 1, 347), hɨ́am 'younger sister of wife' (Werner 1, 342)
Kottish: fu, phu, pl. fuan "nephew", alīt fua (phua) "niece"; Ass. (Бол.) puga "nephew, grandson", alippugi "niece", alitpuga "grand-daughter"
Arin: amagel (Стр.) "brother", bamagál (М., Сл., Срсл., Кл.) id.; (Стр.) bamagel "sister", bamagaĺā (М., Сл., Срсл., Кл.) id.; (Лоск.) amagildu "nephew"; mamagili "сестренич"; mamagil "братенич"
Comments: ССЕ 253-254. The Ket and Kott. languages point to PY *puχV (Werner 1, 347 <*phɨ>, not taking into account the Kott. -g-). The Arin matches are difficult in two respects: a) the word means both "nephew" and "brother/sister" - the latter must be a secondary semantic expansion of "brother's son" to "brother" in general, having replaced the original PY *b[i]s "brother / sister"; b) the -m- in Arin must reflect an original nasal, preserved after the prefixes a-, ba- and replaced by *p- elsewhere in Yenisseian. Phonetically the case is similar to the root for 'brain' *nɔʔŋ > *dɔʔŋ, which is preserved as *nɔʔŋ in the compound *goʔ-nɔʔŋ, but has regularly changed to *d- in independent position (Ket, Yug dɔʔŋ). Werner's objection: "die letztere Rekonstruktion [*m[u]χV] bleibt fraglich, weil sie sich auf ar. bamagal 'Bruder' stürzt, wo das anlautende b- eigentlich das Possessivpräfix der 1 P.Sg. ('mein') darstellt" - is rather strange: of course b- is a 1 p. prefix (as in numerous other cases), but the reconstruction is based not on it, but on the following -m- - which cannot be a prefix of any kind. Elsewhere (1, 32) Werner attempts a different approach to the Arin form, analyzing it as am "mother" + agel (?), cf. Pump. akil "older brother, sister". Pumpokol indeed has such a word (see under *ʒVl 'child'), but Arin has it too, namely Arin akel 'son', akelä 'daughter' (see ibid.). Whereas "brother" is of course "mother's son", "nephew" definitely is not: the compound am + akel 'mother's son' could have helped Arin amagel (amakel) to shift its meaning to include both "nephew" and "brother", but it cannot explain the meaning "nephew" in any reasonable way.
