Cher Guillaume,
 
I have no copy of Koivulehto's _Uralische Evidenz ..._ (1991) within easy reach, but I once read it making notes. Here are some examples.
 
Abbreviations:
 
U  = (Proto-)Uralic
FU = (Proto-)Finno-Ugric
FP = (Proto-)Finno-Permic
FM = (Proto-)Finno-Mordvinic
FS = (Proto-)Finno-Saamic
 
Examples of IE root-initial *H- corresponding to Uralic *k-
 
FS (FU?) *kac'a 'sharp end, edge'             PIE *h2ag^-j-ah2-
FM *kaswa (< *kawsa) 'grow, increase'         PIE *h2aug^-s-
FM *kesä 'summer'                             PIE *h1e/os(-en)- 'harvest-time'
FP *kesi 'worthy, nice, friendly'             PIE *h1esu- 'good'
FS (U??) *koke (*kokI) 'check; experience'    PIE *h3okW-je-
 
Examples of IE stem-final or medial *-H(-) corresponding to Uralic *-k-
 
FU *kulki 'go, wander, run'                   PIE *kWel-h1-e-
FS (FU?) *suki 'become, arise'                PIE *suh1-
FU *teki 'do, make, place'                    PIE *dHeh1-
 
Examples of IE stem-final *-H(-) corresponding to Uralic *-x-
 
U *näxi 'woman, wife'                         PIE *gWnah2-
U *puxI 'tree, wood'                          PIE *bHuh2-
FU (U?) *toxI 'give, bring'                   PIE *doh3-
 
Examples of IE medial *-H- corresponding to Uralic *-s^-
 
FS *(j)es^kä 'maybe'                          PIE *(H)jeh1-g-ah2- 'power, ability'
FS (FP?) *(j)es^(k)-tä 'be able'              PIE *(H)jeh1-g-je-
Permic (FP?) *pe(w)s^e(n) 'sieve; sift'       PIE *peuh2-e-no-m < *peuh2- 'purify'
FS *po(w)s^-ta 'sift out'                     PIE *pouh2-eje-
FS *pus^tas 'pure'                            PIE *puh2-to-s
 
Koivulehto's etymologies are very ingenious. Whatever you think of them, you can't say they are based on superficial similarities. Some look rather far-fetched or so contrived that one's tempted to classify them as too clever by half (Koivulehto is too careful to offer patently false equations but is not averse to speculative ones). Others, including most of the above-quoted examples, look pretty convincing. There seems to be a falling gradient of attestation from west to east, with a particularly high number of FS reflexes and a low number of Samoyedic ones (hence so few U forms). The last group of examples shows how whole word-families were absorbed, with traces of IE derivational morphology preserved in Uralic.
 
If there are genuine U/IE cognates, one should look for them outside this set. There are such well-known candidates as U *weti 'water' and U *nimi 'name', where the apparent _absence_ of characteristically IE morphological extensions might be taken to favour inheritance over borrowing (no Proto-Indo-Uralic derivational morphology has been reconstructed yet). Others, like FP (U?) *kälV(-wV) 'sister-in-law', FU *meti 'honey', or FU *pata 'cauldron, pot', look attractive but may easily represent ancient loans, especially in view of the fact that such items are found mainly in the western part of Uralic (FU or its subbranches). The "mead" and "pot" words, especially, are notorious wanderers.
 
Much is being done in this area, especially by Finnish scholars, but unfortunately much of the relevant literature is in Finnish (and therefore inaccessible to most IEists), and many exciting new findings take a long time from being mentioned in personal communication (seminars, coffee-time conversation at linguistic conferences) to getting published.
 
Piotr
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Guillaume JACQUES
To: nostratic@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2001 11:48 AM
Subject: [nostratic] ouralique et IE

Drogi Piotr,

Tu sembles sous-entendre que les etymologies de Koivulehto sont dans l'ensemble peu concluantes. Pourrais tu en donner des exemples ? Comme je ne connais presque rien sur l'ouralique et que meme mon IE n'est pas tres terrible, j'ai beaucoup de mal a lire de maniere critique des livres aussi specialises. Si tu as le temps, une bonne chose serait :
1/ donner des exemples d'etymologies fausses
2/ donner des exemples d'etymologies susceptibles d'etre des vrai cognats (pas des emprunts).