Proto-Yenisseian: *χVʔ-gVĺ (~ -χ-)
Meaning: thumb
Ket: qʌ:ĺ, pl. qʌŋgǝl6
Yug: xɔʔl, pl. xo:ĺ
Arin: qólpas (М., Сл., Срсл., Кл.) "fingers"
Comments: ССЕ 307. The Ket plural form qʌŋgǝl is interesting: it shows that we are most probably dealing with a compound, where the first component is *χ[e]ʔ 'big' (which has a plural Ket qēŋ), while the second component is *gVĺ '*finger'. The same form allows to reconstruct a velar *g- in the beginning of the root: in the compound *χ[e]ʔ-gVĺ it was assimilated (*χ[e]ʔ-gVĺ > *χ[e]ʔ-GVĺ), which explains its Inlaut disappearance in Ket-Yug and Arin. Werner's (2, 148) reconstruction of <*qoʔl> 'thumb' (presuming that the Yug form does not reflect a compound) fails to explain the form qʌŋgǝĺ; besides, if the root originally meant "thumb", there would hardly exist a necessity of adding *χ[e]ʔ 'big'.
