ABOUT THE “BALTISMS”-POTAMONYMS OF THE VOLGA-KAMA REGION (the beginning of an absentee dialogue with the author of the article “Baltic hydronymy of the Volga-Kama region” O.D. Fedchenko)

The relevance of the study is caused by a continuing interest of Russian and foreign authors in the problems of glottogenesis, ethno- and topogenesis in general and in the Volga-Kama region in particular. The purpose of the study is a comparison and collation analysis and historical-genetic analysis of O.D. Fedchenko’s assumptions about the presence of “Baltic hydronymy” in the Volga-Kama region. Materials and methods. The source base was made by the publications of the predecessors, bilingual dictionaries, historical and etymological, onomatological studies and reference books, geographical atlases. The work was carried out in the tradition of comparative-contrastive research methods. Research results. Doubts on the issue of the “Baltic origin” of the potamonyms Ai, Bir in the territory of Bashkortostan are substantiated, and considerations on their ascent to the proper Turkic primary sources, namely: Ai/Əi to Turk, *ai/ӓi “tributary”, Bir/Бѳрe Bүre su/Bѳрѳ hыu “The Wolf River” are presented. Conclusions. The potamonyms of the Volga-Kama region considered by O.D. Fedchenko in general and the potamonyms Ai/Əi, Bir/, Bir/Bѳrѳ in particular need additional comparative historical, comparative and typological analysis in a broader historical, ethnological and historical-linguistic context.