On Difficulties Encountered in Etymologizing the Turkish Lexicon (original) (raw)
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On the Heels of ägöčäk <ehau':cakä> in the Old Turkic-Khotanese Glossary
International Journal of Old Uyghur Studies, 2022
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The Turkic Word ‘bay’ in Onomastical Names:
Briefly, this word is present with some phonetic differences in many languages such as Turkic, Mongolian and Manchu-Tunguz. Its popular meaning in modern speechs and recorded sources is “rich”. But the meaning “rich” in some composite names, which likely completed its formation in olden times, is not sufficient to explain the words logically. Above mentioned compound names seem ordinary words at the first glance, but when they are analyzed, their original and mysterious meanings reveal. Thus, in many cases the element bay gives the meaning “holy, noble, tabooed”. This should also be related to the meaning “magic”, which is supposed to be present in the root of the word bayla- (“to tie”). In other words, the meanings “holy, noble, tabooed, great” should have been developed in relation to the meaning “magic”; the meaning “rich” should have followed the meanings “holy, noble, tabooed, great”. It is hard to claim that the latter meanings used today only in composite words is totally lost. In traditional antroponyms constructed with the word bay (Baygeldi “the holy has come”, Baytemir “holy, tabooed iron”, Baytöre “holy, tabooed customs” Baybörü “holy wolf”, Baycuma “holy Friday”, etc.) this meaning still continues to exist. Considering the meanings “holy, noble, tabooed, great” would be suitable, when we study on the word bay, which is present in many composite name formations in a wide geography.
The name 'Black Sea' is widely attributed to the Anatolian Turks, due to their habit of referring to the South as 'white' and North as 'black'. However, the appellation first appeared in a Hungarian document and later in sources originating further to the North, including Icelandic sagas and other Nordic narratives. The Turks themselves have a small and secondary role in using and spreading the name. Some scholars have suggested that the Cumans, a Turkic people once occupying regions to the North of the Black Sea, are the likely source. However, in medieval times Khazarian traditions seem to have used the term 'Black Sea' as well as 'Great Sea', though the relationships between the two terms require clarification. This essay seeks to reconcile these two traditions, and offers a conjectural Bulgar source for the Black Sea denomination.
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Iran. Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 2013
Spoken in the district of Kujūr in the Māzandarān province, Kujūri is the westernmost dialect of Māzandarāni, also known as Ṭabari, a language of some four million speakers. Kujūri exhibits transitional characteristics between Māzandarāni proper, spoken in the plains of eastern Māzandarān, and the Central Caspian language group, neither of which has received proper scholarly attention. This study offers a sketch grammar of Kujūri, with an emphasis on its typological traits, followed by a toponymic survey of the district, an account of the Dailami calendar and festivals as practiced in Kujūr, a depiction of Kujūri literature, and a short glossary.
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Altogether the series consists of roughly 4,000 pages, large quarto, each volume containing a complete enumeration of the component parts of each shahristdn (larger governorships administered from principal towns), bakhsh (smaller districts), and dihistdn (rural units of several villages).l The names in 1 These terms will be further referred to under abbreviations: sh., b., and d.
European Balkan(s), Turkic bal(yk) and the problem of their original meanings
Kim Juwon / Ko Dongho (ed.): Current trends in Altaic linguistics [Festschrift Seong Baeg-in], Seoul 2013: 613-618.
Since most European students of Turkic linguistics start their university training with a course of Turkish they first learn that the Turkish word balyk ‹balık› means 'fish.' It therefore stands to reason that they feel most surprised when they are told in an Old Turkic course that balyk means both 'wall' and 'town, city' in Old Turkic. One can hardly understand how three meanings as different as 'fish' and 'wall' or 'town' are expressed by one and the same word, and thus the idea immediately suggests itself that at least one of these words is probably (or certainly) borrowed into Old Turkic from a foreign language that is apparently unknown to the student. Besides, there is only one possible phonetic association, that with Turkish bal 'honey' but this does not seem to make much sense.