Comments:KW 14, 15, MGCD 116, TMN 1, 119-120. The original meaning of the root *ar- must have been 'space between banks (or river branches)', whence *ara-ɣu, *ara-ma(g) 'spaced, thin' and *ara-l 'island'. Mong. aral > Chag., Kirgh. etc. aral 'island; thicket, island covered with thick bushes'; Evk. aral 'wood island in a steppe'. Despite TMN ibid., "thicket" is obviously a secondary semantic development in Turkic, because only the meaning "island" is attested in Mong. Bur. alar > Yak. alar, Russ. Siber. alár (Аникин 80).