The paper discusses the background of the different terms used for the river Yenisei in the aboriginal language families of the region: Mongolic, Turkic, Yeniseic, Uralic, and Tungusic. The etymological material allows, in particular, important conclusions to be drawn of the areal interrelationships and chronologies of expansion of the Samoyedic branch of Uralic and the Ewenic branch of Tungusic. The presence of Uralic speakers on the Yenisei predates that of
Tungusic speakers by a minimum of two millennia. Both Yeniseic and Turkic also reached the Yenisei earlier than Tungusic.

The paper discusses the background of the different terms used for the river Yenisei in the aboriginal language families of the region: Mongolic, Turkic, Yeniseic, Uralic, and Tungusic. The etymological material allows, in particular, important conclusions to be drawn of the areal interrelationships and chronologies of expansion of the Samoyedic branch of Uralic and the Ewenic branch of Tungusic. The presence of Uralic speakers on the Yenisei predates that of
Tungusic speakers by a minimum of two millennia. Both Yeniseic and Turkic also reached the Yenisei earlier than Tungusic.