Proto-Yenisseian: *ʔuĺaʒ
Meaning: rib
Ket: uĺet6, pl. uĺerǝŋ5 (Bak., Sur. uĺedǝŋ5)
Yug: uĺat5,6, pl. uĺadiŋ5
Kottish: ulái, pl. ulajaŋ (cf. also ulai "by the side of", ulār 'side')
Comments: ССЕ 200-201. As in several other cases, the stem contains a body part suffix -Vʒ. The original meaning is definitely "bone of the side" ( = "rib"), cf. the semantics in Kottish. Werner's (2, 338) analysis of the word as *ugǝl-aʔt (in our reconstruction would be *ʔuʔul-aʔd) "smooth bone" is quite unlikely - both for semantic (a highly improbable development "smooth bone" > "rib") and phonetic reasons: Kott. ulai can only go back to *ʔuĺaʒ, and never - to *ʔuĺad. Non-initial *-d- yields Kott. -r-, as shown (definitively) in КС 148 - including the very root for "bone" PY *ʔaʔd (q.v.), reflected in Kottish as araŋ 'limb'. We do in fact have a Kottish formation ulār - but it means only "side" and thus can in no way be derived from "smooth bone", being rather another old derivative from the primary root *ʔuĺ- "bone (of the side)".
