Some etymological remarks on words squirrel and sable in Khakas

The paper presents some new etymological notes on the Khakas names of the squirrel and the sable. Because of a taboo character, Khakas has four different des- ignations for ‘squirrel’. One of them tīn has a stable Turkic etymology, while the other three forms are of unknown origin. The second Khakas word, saxïl ‘squirrel’ is probably a metathetical form of Turkic salïq ‘tax’. The third form tabïrġan ‘fly- ing squirrel’ was possibly borrowed from Mongolic tarbaγan ‘marmot’. The last word sarbax may be connected with the Mongolic verb sirba- ‘to wag the tail’. There is only one form, albïġa, with the meaning ‘sable’ in Khakas, which is also possibly borrowed from the Mongolic alban ‘tax, impost, tribute’. The etymo- logical analysis confirms the peculiarity and diversity of the Khakas language.