Ethnolinguistic description of some dialect names of bear in the Yakut language

The article studies dialect names of the bear in the Sakha language in terms of word-formation. We analyze more than 140 different Sakha names of the bear collected from various lexicographic sources and from more than 100 native speakers, experts and keepers of the traditional culture of the indigenous and small peoples of Yakutia which were recorded during scientific expeditions since 2017. A significant amount of valuable linguistic material is introduced and analyzed for the first time. The study shows that many dialect names of the bear are based on several groups of motivational features: external – color, shape, other characteristics of the body; behavioral – manner of movement, habits, habitat; anthropomorphism – kinship terms, title lexemes and humanization. A brief etymological analysis shows that in the bear names and the traditional culture of the peoples of Siberia, the North and the Far East, the cult of the bear has a totemic and commercial basis and is traditionally associated with the idea of him as a deity, an ancestor, and a person. The general idea of the bear as a venerable elder is universal for many peoples of Russia.