List of publications by Orçun Ünal
Books by Orçun Ünal
![Research paper thumbnail of Kayıp Bir Dilin İzinde: Tarihî Bir Türk Lehçesinin Avrasya Dillerindeki Örtük İzleri (Çanakkale: Paradigma Akademi Yayınları) [Tam Metin]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/103441970/thumbnails/1.jpg)
It has long been assumed that the donor language of the Turkic loanwords in Hungarian which exhib... more It has long been assumed that the donor language of the Turkic loanwords in Hungarian which exhibit sz- in place of the Common Turkic y- was a Middle Bulgar dialect. Most researchers have maintained that there were at least two dialects in the Middle Bulgar period. One of these dialects had *ǰ- in correspondence to the Common Turkic y-, while the other had *ś-. Some scholars, however, have rejected the existence of the latter and tried to explain the double representation of the Common Turkic y- in Hungarian through a sound change in Bulgar Turkic and a phoneme substitution that took place in the borrowing process. According to these scholars, the two-way Hungarian representation of a single Turkic phoneme was the result of two chronologically distinct loanword layers.
The main purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that the donor language of the Turkic loanwords in Hungarian which exhibit sz- in place of the Common Turkic y- was not a Middle Bulgar dialect but an ancient Oguric branch of Turkic whose history goes much deeper than has hitherto been assumed. The demonstration of the existence of this ancient Turkic language, which is named ‘S-Turkic’ by the author, is mainly achieved through numerous Turkic loanwords in languages such as Mongolic, Kitan, Xiongnu, Tabgač, Manchu-Tungusic, Finno-Ugric, Proto-Samoyedic, Tocharian and Armenian. The first two parts of the study are dedicated to the investigation of the S-Turkic loanwords in various languages including Turkic itself. Every possible S-Turkic loanword in these languages is analysed with accompanying detailed etymological notes.
The question arises of how such an influential language never came to be written down. The answer is that the runiform note at the end of the so-called Kievan Letter may well be one of the rare written attestations of this language. The runiform expression is interpreted as ‹š1wk1wr1ẅk2› *śokur ök ‘[this document] is eligible’, which can be taken to be a stamp of approval by an appropriate authority. The verbal form attested here, namely *śoku-, is related to the Common Turkic yok ‘benefit, advantage’, Mongolic *ǰokï- ‘to fit, to suit’ and Hungarian szokik ‘to get used to sth, to become accustomed to sth’. This runiform note is discussed in the third part.
In the fourth part, the phonetic and morphological features of S-Turkic are summarized based on loanwords found in several languages.
Having thoroughly discussed seven personal names, a tribal name and a theonym recorded in various Greek, Armenian, Arabic, Georgian and Russian sources in the fifth part, it is concluded that the so-called ‘Hunnic’ peoples in North Caucasia and the North Pontic steppes, such as Kutrigurs, Utigurs, and Sabirs, are the most probable candidates for the speakers of S-Turkic. Sabirs (also called Suvars) who migrated from West Siberia to North Caucasia and settled there stand out among this group as they also established ties with Khazars, Bulgars and Alans, and are mentioned by Ibn Fadlān and Kāšγarī in connection with the Volga Bulgars. These three peoples seem to have spoken S-Turkic with minor dialectal differences.
In the fifteen tables given below, the S-Turkic loanwords in various languages (with the exclusion of Turkic) are brought together. The fifteenth table presents the reoccurring loanwords and aims to demonstrate the existence of similar words in languages that have had no direct contact.
Papers by Orçun Ünal
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2025
The present study questions whether the Old Turkic verb us- 'to be thirsty' is derived from the n... more The present study questions whether the Old Turkic verb us- 'to be thirsty' is derived from the nominal base *u 'water', which is attested as such in Kitan and as *usun in Common Mongolic. Since there is no denominal verbal formative +s- in Turkic, us- must be regarded as a simplex. Since both *u 'water' and +(A)s- are present in Mongolic, the Turkic verb is considered to be a loanword from Pre-Proto-Mongolic *us-, which was replaced in Proto-Mongolic by *umdaas- 'to be thirsty'.
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 2024
zuzüglich Versandkosten. Ein Abonnement gilt, falls nicht befristet bestellt, zur Fortsetzung bis... more zuzüglich Versandkosten. Ein Abonnement gilt, falls nicht befristet bestellt, zur Fortsetzung bis auf Widerruf. Kündigungen müssen bis zum Ablauf eines Jahres erfolgen. Mitglieder der DMG erhalten die Zeitschrift für den Mitglieds beitrag (€ 70,-p. a.). Bestellungen an den Harrassowitz Verlag (s. u.) oder über jede Buchhandlung. Die ZDMG kann auch in elektronischer Form als E-Journal kostenpflichtig über Harrassowitz (https://www.harrassowitz-library.com/) bezogen werden. Anträge auf Eintritt in die DMG (Formular auf der Homepage der DMG unter "Die DMG/Mitgliedschaft") und Anschriften änderungen an die Geschäftsführung (s. o.). Fachartikel und Rezensionen: Autorenrichtlinien (style sheet) liegen dem Jahresinhaltsverzeichnis in Heft 2 bei und können von der Homepage der DMG (s. o.) unter "Publikationen/ZDMG" heruntergeladen werden. Beiträge sind in elektronischer Form (möglichst per E-Mail) beim Schriftleiter einzureichen. Rezensionsangebote sind an die Fachherausgeber zu richten (s. o.), von denen auch die Rezensionsexemplare angefordert werden. Für unaufgefordert eingesandte Rezensionsexemplare besteht weder ein Recht auf Besprechung noch auf Rücksendung. Wenn erwünscht, wird eine Replik veröffentlicht, jedoch keine Gegenreplik. Der Redaktion angebotene Beiträge dürfen nicht bereits veröffentlicht sein oder gleichzeitig veröffentlicht werden. Das gilt auch für Online-Veröffentlichungen. Wieder abdrucke erfordern die Zustimmung der Herausgeber. Die ZDMG ist ein refereed journal. Die Autoren sind für die wissenschaftlichen Aussagen und Meinungen in ihren Beiträgen ausschließlich selbst verantwortlich.
Modern Türklük Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2023
Bu çalışma, Volga Bulgar Türkçesiyle yazılmış mezar taşlarında tanıklanan /öe/ ve /üe/ diftonglar... more Bu çalışma, Volga Bulgar Türkçesiyle yazılmış mezar taşlarında tanıklanan /öe/ ve /üe/ diftonglarının kökenini ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırmacılar, bu diftongları şimdiye kadar İlk Türkçedeki uzun ünlülere bağlamıştır. Ancak veriler bir arada incelendiğinde, bu varsayımın doğru olmadığı görülmektedir. Aksine, /öe/ ve /üe/ diftongları birincil olup İlk Türkçe */öä/ ve */üä/ diftonglarının devamıdır.
Central Asiatic Journal, 2023
The present paper discusses the etymology of Common Turkic elt- ~ elit- ~ elät- ~ älit- ~ älät- ‘... more The present paper discusses the etymology of Common Turkic elt- ~ elit- ~ elät- ~ älit- ~ älät- ‘to carry, to bring’ and argues that it goes back to Proto-Turkic *päli- ‘to go (away)’, which was borrowed into Tungusic as *päli- ‘to go’. Common Turkic älkin ~ yälkin ‘traveller’ and Khalaj hⁱē ̣linti ‘prostitute’ are considered derivations of *häli- (< *päli-).
International Journal of Old Uyghur Studies, 2023
This study shows that the Old Uyghur word, which has been read kat to date, should be read katıt ... more This study shows that the Old Uyghur word, which has been read kat to date, should be read katıt in the light of data from modern Turkish languages. The most probable etymology of the word is that it is derived from the verb kat-'to mix, to mingle, to join' with the formative-(U)t, which means that katıt originally denoted 'someone who is joined'.
International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 2023
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2023
Carian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family, which... more Carian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family, which is attested in numerous inscriptions, graffiti, and coins written in the so-called Carian script. The Carian glosses cited by Byzantine writers, mainly by Stephan of Byzantium, are the main secondary source for the Carian language. Despite the hundred-year-long search for etymologies and the almost completed decipherment of the Carian inscriptions, these pseudo-glosses have not been fully explained. The present study links three of the seven most certain of these glosses, namely κόον/κῶν/κοῖον 'sheep', γίσσα 'stone', and ἄλα 'horse', to some Altaic and Xiongnu words and traces their origin back to a non-Indo-European language spoken among the Scythians. The language in question is assumed to be the donor of Proto-Turkic *kōńï̆ 'sheep', Proto-Bulgar Turkic *kïsa 'rock, cliff', and Early Common Turkic *halan 'horse'. These forms also entered the Mongolic, Tungusic, and other neighbouring languages. The parallelism between the Carian pseudo-glosses and these word forms is the result of the linguistic contact at the two opposite ends of the Scythic culture.
Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen, 2023
The present paper focuses on the lexical contact between Turkic and Samoyedic and discusses nine ... more The present paper focuses on the lexical contact between Turkic and Samoyedic and discusses nine new possible Turkic loanwords in Proto-Samoyedic and eight new possible Samoyedic loanwords in Turkic. The introduction offers a modest bibliography of the scattered studies on the subject. Two of the new Turkic loanwords in Proto-Samoyedic suggest that they reached the recipient language through the mediation of Yeniseian languages.
Orientalia Suecana, 2023
The present study focuses on the Proto-Turkic phoneme */d₂/ in intervocalic position, which can b... more The present study focuses on the Proto-Turkic phoneme */d₂/ in intervocalic position, which can be reconstructed only through external data from Mongolic and other Altaic languages. For this phoneme, four examples are presented. These are *kad₂a 'rock', *äd₂iä 'master, lord', and *k₂ad₂a-'to save, keep safe, take care of something'. The fourth example is Proto-Turkic *ud₂a-'to be late'. It yielded the Common Turkic noun *uyag 'late' but survived in Mongolic as *uda- .
Turkic Languages, 2023
In Turkic, there are four nouns, (h)ïrō, hïrk, (h)ïrïm, and (h)ïrïz, all of which roughly denote
... more In Turkic, there are four nouns, (h)ïrō, hïrk, (h)ïrïm, and (h)ïrïz, all of which roughly denote
‘omen’ and ‘divination’. The present study traces them back to the Proto-Turkic verbal base
*pïrŭ- and regards the latter as the source of Kitan *pur- ‘to bless’, Jurchenic *piru- ‘to
pray’, ‘to curse’, Proto-Korean *piru- > Middle Korean :pil- ‘to pray’, and Proto-Mongolic
*hiröɣe- ‘to wish well’, ‘to bless’. These borrowings are taken as a confirmation of the
cultural impact of the Turkic-speaking peoples on the other Altaic peoples and their lan-
guages in the prehistoric era.
International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 2023
The present paper argues for two radical consonantal changes in Late Proto-Turkic, which can be f... more The present paper argues for two radical consonantal changes in Late Proto-Turkic, which can be formulated as *t₁ > g /V_iVr₁/₂ and *d₁ > g /V_iVr₁. Using this new sound law, some lexemes that have the phonemic shape /°VgVr/ or /°VgVz/ in Common Turkic are etymologised as being derived from verbs ending in °t- or °d-. The reconstructed Turkic forms are also partly supported by Mongolic data.
![Research paper thumbnail of Is the Tocharian Mule an "Iranian Horse" or a "Turkic Donkey"? Further examples for Proto-Turkic */t₂/ [ts]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/96749740/thumbnails/1.jpg)
International Journal of Old Uyghur Studies, 2022
Tocharian B etswe 'mule' is a newly attested word. It has been identified as a loan from Iranian ... more Tocharian B etswe 'mule' is a newly attested word. It has been identified as a loan from Iranian *atswa (< Proto-Indo-European *h₁ék̂wos 'horse'). The present study proposes a Turkic etymology for the Tocharian word in question. It has been suggested that the Proto-Turkic form *ät₂gä [ɛtsʰˈɣɛ] 'donkey', the origin of the Common Turkic äšgäk and Khalaj äšgä, is the source of the Tocharian B etswe. Tocharian /w/ is a substitution of the Proto-Turkic phoneme */g/. An etymology has also been proposed for Proto-Turkic *ät₂gä. According to this, the form *ät₂gä originally denotes 'eared (animal)' and derives from the root *ät₂i 'ear', which is also the root of the verb *ät₂id-'to hear' (> Common Turkic äšid-, Chuvash ilt-). The Proto-Turkic root *ät₂i 'ear' is related to the Akkadian ḫasīsu(m) /hatsītsu(m)/ 'ear; wisdom' and further Akkadian loanwords in Turkic are discussed.
Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 2022
Kitan is the best documented Old Mongolic language. It is attested in Large and Small Script insc... more Kitan is the best documented Old Mongolic language. It is attested in Large and Small Script inscriptions from the period of the Liao dynasty, as well as in Chinese transcriptions from the Yuan period. The speakers of Kitan were in contact with the early Turks, both prehistorically and historically. The long-term contact of Kitan with Turkic reveals itself first and foremost in its vocabulary, which contains numerous Turkic loanwords. Some of these loanwords have already been dealt with by A. Vovin, M. Erdal, and A. Róna-Tas.
The present study discusses another possible Turkic loanword in Kitan, which is tu.úr- ‘(honorific) to die’. In contrast to earlier opinions, the Kitan verb tu.úr- is argued to have been borrowed from the Turkic verb *tōr- ‘to be or become weak or emaciated’, which also entered Mongolic as tura- ‘to be or become emaciated’. The phonetic and semantic change that the word underwent in Kitan stands at the centre of the study and is discussed in-depth through examples.
Bitig Türkoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2022
Irk Bitig, Eski Uygur dönemine ait kâğıda yazılı runik metinlerin şüphesiz en önemlisidir. Bu met... more Irk Bitig, Eski Uygur dönemine ait kâğıda yazılı runik metinlerin şüphesiz en önemlisidir. Bu metnin kırkıncı ırkı, nihai anlamlandırılması hâlâ yapılamamış nadir ırklardan biridir. Bu çalışma, söz konusu ırkın ilk cümlesi üzerine yoğunlaşmaktadır. Bu cümlenin anlamlandırılmasını zorlaştıran, ilk iki kelimedir. Çalışmada bu iki kelimenin farklı okumaları göz önüne alınarak ırkın ilk cümlesi için üç okuma ve anlamlandırma önerisi sunulmuştur. Bu yorumlardan üçüncüsü semantik sebeplerle elenmiş, kalan iki yorumdan ikincisi doğru okuma olarak belirlenmiştir.
Sino-Platonic Papers, Apr 1, 2022
The present study takes as a starting point the question of whether Proto-Turkic had an onset *h-... more The present study takes as a starting point the question of whether Proto-Turkic had an onset *h- or *p- and aims at reconstructing its consonantism. The answer to the initial question is searched for in the fourteen Turkic lexical loans of adjacent languages such as Mongolic, Kitan, Yeniseian, and Samoyedic. At first sight, the data provided by these loanwords seem ambiguous. However, once it is demonstrated that both the daughter languages of Proto-Turkic, namely Proto-Bulgar Turkic and Proto‑Common Turkic, had the historically unattested initials *d2- and *ń-, these data can be taken to point to the existence of *p- in these languages as well as in Proto-Turkic. The discussion is extended with the question of rhotacism and lambdacism. As regards the rhotacism, Proto-Turkic is assumed to have two rhotic consonants, phonologically denoted as */r1 r2/. The lambdacism, on the other hand, turns out to be a tougher problem. Based on several lexical borrowings into and from Turkic, a further consonant */t2/ is posited for Proto-Turkic. This consonant, originally of affricate and probably later of fricative pronunciation, yielded /š/ in Common Turkic and /l/ in Bulgar Turkic. Thus, the Proto-Turkic consonantism is reconstructed as having a series of consonants */t2 d2 r2/ that underwent serious changes in historical Turkic. Finally, */k2/ is added to this series to explain the correspondence of k- and vocalic onset between some Turco-Mongolic cognates. In addition, significant sound changes in the prehistory of Turkic are dated through external evidence.
Key words: Proto-Turkic, onset consonant, lexical borrowing, consonantism
Gazi Türkiyat, Jun 15, 2020
Bu çalışmanın konusu, Kül Tegin ve Bilge Kağan Yazıtları'nda geçen ve Türgeş kağanının ordusu içi... more Bu çalışmanın konusu, Kül Tegin ve Bilge Kağan Yazıtları'nda geçen ve Türgeş kağanının ordusu için kullanılan otča bwrča ifadesidir. Bu benzetme, Wilhelm Radloff'un çalışmasından başlayarak günümüze kadar yalnızca yazıtlarla ilgili yayınların değil, müstakil çalışmaların da konusu olmuş, defalarca irdelenmiş ve farklı açıklamalarda bulunulmuştur. Bu makalenin amacı, önceki okuma, etimoloji ve açıklamaları bir araya getirerek bunlar içinde hangisinin en ikna edici olduğunu belirlemektir. Sonuç olarak, otča borča okuması ile "ateş ve toz bulutu gibi" anlamlandırmasının en muhtemel yorum olduğuna karar verilmiştir.
The subject of this study is the phrase otča bwrča used to describe the army of Türgäš Qagan in the Kül Tegin and Bilgä Qagan inscriptions. From Wilhem Radloff's study to the present day, this simile has been the subject not only of publications on the inscriptions but also of independent studies. It has been scrutinized several times, and different explanations have been put forward. The purpose of this article is to bring together the previous readings, etymologies, and explanations, and to determine which of them is the most convincing. In conclusion, it is found that the most likely interpretation of the phrase is to read it as otča borča, meaning 'like fire and a cloud of dust'.
Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, Apr 2020
Bu makalede yalnızca Batı Oğuz grubuna dâhil olan Türk dillerinde görülen yardımcı /y/ sesinin kö... more Bu makalede yalnızca Batı Oğuz grubuna dâhil olan Türk dillerinde görülen yardımcı /y/ sesinin kökeni üzerinde durulmaktadır. Öncelikle, bütün tarihî ve çağdaş Türk dilleri ile Moğolca ve Farsçada görülen yardımcı /y/ sesi üzerine bilgi verilmiştir. Ardından, Oğuz Türkçesinin tarihî ses bilgisi ışığında farklı ek tiplerinin gelişimi incelenmiş ve yardımcı /y/ sesinin türemesinin muhtemel sebepleri tartışılmıştır. İlk Oğuzcada yalnızca yardımcı /g/ sesi olduğu öne sürülmüştür. Son olarak Harezm Türkçesinde ve Moğolcada görülen yardımcı /g/ sesi üzerinde durulmuş, Batı Oğuz dillerinde görülen yardımcı /y/ sesinin ek başı /g/ düşmesiyle tetiklenerek ünlü zarf-fiili ve geniş zaman ekinin /y/ ile başlayan yanbiçimbirimlerine benzeşmeyle oluştuğu sonucuna varılmıştır.
Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher N. F., 2019
The present paper offers new readings and interpretations of the inscriptions on the silver bowl ... more The present paper offers new readings and interpretations of the inscriptions on the silver bowl from the famous Issyk Kurgan and the silver ingot from Ai Khanum.
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List of publications by Orçun Ünal
Books by Orçun Ünal
The main purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that the donor language of the Turkic loanwords in Hungarian which exhibit sz- in place of the Common Turkic y- was not a Middle Bulgar dialect but an ancient Oguric branch of Turkic whose history goes much deeper than has hitherto been assumed. The demonstration of the existence of this ancient Turkic language, which is named ‘S-Turkic’ by the author, is mainly achieved through numerous Turkic loanwords in languages such as Mongolic, Kitan, Xiongnu, Tabgač, Manchu-Tungusic, Finno-Ugric, Proto-Samoyedic, Tocharian and Armenian. The first two parts of the study are dedicated to the investigation of the S-Turkic loanwords in various languages including Turkic itself. Every possible S-Turkic loanword in these languages is analysed with accompanying detailed etymological notes.
The question arises of how such an influential language never came to be written down. The answer is that the runiform note at the end of the so-called Kievan Letter may well be one of the rare written attestations of this language. The runiform expression is interpreted as ‹š1wk1wr1ẅk2› *śokur ök ‘[this document] is eligible’, which can be taken to be a stamp of approval by an appropriate authority. The verbal form attested here, namely *śoku-, is related to the Common Turkic yok ‘benefit, advantage’, Mongolic *ǰokï- ‘to fit, to suit’ and Hungarian szokik ‘to get used to sth, to become accustomed to sth’. This runiform note is discussed in the third part.
In the fourth part, the phonetic and morphological features of S-Turkic are summarized based on loanwords found in several languages.
Having thoroughly discussed seven personal names, a tribal name and a theonym recorded in various Greek, Armenian, Arabic, Georgian and Russian sources in the fifth part, it is concluded that the so-called ‘Hunnic’ peoples in North Caucasia and the North Pontic steppes, such as Kutrigurs, Utigurs, and Sabirs, are the most probable candidates for the speakers of S-Turkic. Sabirs (also called Suvars) who migrated from West Siberia to North Caucasia and settled there stand out among this group as they also established ties with Khazars, Bulgars and Alans, and are mentioned by Ibn Fadlān and Kāšγarī in connection with the Volga Bulgars. These three peoples seem to have spoken S-Turkic with minor dialectal differences.
In the fifteen tables given below, the S-Turkic loanwords in various languages (with the exclusion of Turkic) are brought together. The fifteenth table presents the reoccurring loanwords and aims to demonstrate the existence of similar words in languages that have had no direct contact.
Papers by Orçun Ünal
‘omen’ and ‘divination’. The present study traces them back to the Proto-Turkic verbal base
*pïrŭ- and regards the latter as the source of Kitan *pur- ‘to bless’, Jurchenic *piru- ‘to
pray’, ‘to curse’, Proto-Korean *piru- > Middle Korean :pil- ‘to pray’, and Proto-Mongolic
*hiröɣe- ‘to wish well’, ‘to bless’. These borrowings are taken as a confirmation of the
cultural impact of the Turkic-speaking peoples on the other Altaic peoples and their lan-
guages in the prehistoric era.
The present study discusses another possible Turkic loanword in Kitan, which is tu.úr- ‘(honorific) to die’. In contrast to earlier opinions, the Kitan verb tu.úr- is argued to have been borrowed from the Turkic verb *tōr- ‘to be or become weak or emaciated’, which also entered Mongolic as tura- ‘to be or become emaciated’. The phonetic and semantic change that the word underwent in Kitan stands at the centre of the study and is discussed in-depth through examples.
Key words: Proto-Turkic, onset consonant, lexical borrowing, consonantism
The subject of this study is the phrase otča bwrča used to describe the army of Türgäš Qagan in the Kül Tegin and Bilgä Qagan inscriptions. From Wilhem Radloff's study to the present day, this simile has been the subject not only of publications on the inscriptions but also of independent studies. It has been scrutinized several times, and different explanations have been put forward. The purpose of this article is to bring together the previous readings, etymologies, and explanations, and to determine which of them is the most convincing. In conclusion, it is found that the most likely interpretation of the phrase is to read it as otča borča, meaning 'like fire and a cloud of dust'.
The main purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that the donor language of the Turkic loanwords in Hungarian which exhibit sz- in place of the Common Turkic y- was not a Middle Bulgar dialect but an ancient Oguric branch of Turkic whose history goes much deeper than has hitherto been assumed. The demonstration of the existence of this ancient Turkic language, which is named ‘S-Turkic’ by the author, is mainly achieved through numerous Turkic loanwords in languages such as Mongolic, Kitan, Xiongnu, Tabgač, Manchu-Tungusic, Finno-Ugric, Proto-Samoyedic, Tocharian and Armenian. The first two parts of the study are dedicated to the investigation of the S-Turkic loanwords in various languages including Turkic itself. Every possible S-Turkic loanword in these languages is analysed with accompanying detailed etymological notes.
The question arises of how such an influential language never came to be written down. The answer is that the runiform note at the end of the so-called Kievan Letter may well be one of the rare written attestations of this language. The runiform expression is interpreted as ‹š1wk1wr1ẅk2› *śokur ök ‘[this document] is eligible’, which can be taken to be a stamp of approval by an appropriate authority. The verbal form attested here, namely *śoku-, is related to the Common Turkic yok ‘benefit, advantage’, Mongolic *ǰokï- ‘to fit, to suit’ and Hungarian szokik ‘to get used to sth, to become accustomed to sth’. This runiform note is discussed in the third part.
In the fourth part, the phonetic and morphological features of S-Turkic are summarized based on loanwords found in several languages.
Having thoroughly discussed seven personal names, a tribal name and a theonym recorded in various Greek, Armenian, Arabic, Georgian and Russian sources in the fifth part, it is concluded that the so-called ‘Hunnic’ peoples in North Caucasia and the North Pontic steppes, such as Kutrigurs, Utigurs, and Sabirs, are the most probable candidates for the speakers of S-Turkic. Sabirs (also called Suvars) who migrated from West Siberia to North Caucasia and settled there stand out among this group as they also established ties with Khazars, Bulgars and Alans, and are mentioned by Ibn Fadlān and Kāšγarī in connection with the Volga Bulgars. These three peoples seem to have spoken S-Turkic with minor dialectal differences.
In the fifteen tables given below, the S-Turkic loanwords in various languages (with the exclusion of Turkic) are brought together. The fifteenth table presents the reoccurring loanwords and aims to demonstrate the existence of similar words in languages that have had no direct contact.
‘omen’ and ‘divination’. The present study traces them back to the Proto-Turkic verbal base
*pïrŭ- and regards the latter as the source of Kitan *pur- ‘to bless’, Jurchenic *piru- ‘to
pray’, ‘to curse’, Proto-Korean *piru- > Middle Korean :pil- ‘to pray’, and Proto-Mongolic
*hiröɣe- ‘to wish well’, ‘to bless’. These borrowings are taken as a confirmation of the
cultural impact of the Turkic-speaking peoples on the other Altaic peoples and their lan-
guages in the prehistoric era.
The present study discusses another possible Turkic loanword in Kitan, which is tu.úr- ‘(honorific) to die’. In contrast to earlier opinions, the Kitan verb tu.úr- is argued to have been borrowed from the Turkic verb *tōr- ‘to be or become weak or emaciated’, which also entered Mongolic as tura- ‘to be or become emaciated’. The phonetic and semantic change that the word underwent in Kitan stands at the centre of the study and is discussed in-depth through examples.
Key words: Proto-Turkic, onset consonant, lexical borrowing, consonantism
The subject of this study is the phrase otča bwrča used to describe the army of Türgäš Qagan in the Kül Tegin and Bilgä Qagan inscriptions. From Wilhem Radloff's study to the present day, this simile has been the subject not only of publications on the inscriptions but also of independent studies. It has been scrutinized several times, and different explanations have been put forward. The purpose of this article is to bring together the previous readings, etymologies, and explanations, and to determine which of them is the most convincing. In conclusion, it is found that the most likely interpretation of the phrase is to read it as otča borča, meaning 'like fire and a cloud of dust'.
The first word wčwk is derived from the noun ōč “the depletion (of a thing)” which occurs in Dīwān Luγāt at-Türk. Until now it has been mistakenly read ūč. The Yakut (Sakha) verb uohun- (< *ōčun-) “to diminish” which is derived from ōč reveals that the vowel must have been /ō/. The verb *ōču- derived from the noun *ōč must have meant “to diminish, to be depleted”. The adjective očuk as attested in the Tuñuquq inscription is derived from *ōču- and means “diminished, depleted”.
The reading of the second word bears an epigraphic diffulty due to the square-shaped letter. It has been concluded that this letter which occurs only once in the word □g² in the Orkhon inscriptions has the sound value /š/ in the Yenissei inscriptions. If it has the same sound value in the Tuñuquq inscription all possible readings of the word □g² can be formulated as (ä/e)š(ä/i)g. A cognate of the base of this lexeme, namely of äšäg as we read it, can be found in the verb išey- “to increase” and the adjective išlĕ “abundant, plentiful” in Tatar and Bashkir. The base *iš “abundant, plentiful” regularly goes back to *äš. The adjective äšäg derived from *äš is retained in the Yakut adjective ihegey “abundant, rich”. Considering the correspondence of Mongolic /lb/ and Turkic /š/, Mongolic elbeg “abundance; abundant, plentiful, rich” may be
the cognate of Turkic äšäg. Yakut elbē- which is apparently borrowed from Mongolic shows that elbeg is derived from the verbal base elbe-. It is, however, not preserved in Mongolic. Mongolic *elbe- is a cognate of Turkic äšä-.
Considering the fact that in the Old Turkic runiform inscriptions some letters with the sound value /s/ are used to denote /š/, the next possible sound value of the square-shaped letter in the Tuñuquq inscription is /s/. In this case, □g² may be read as (ä)s(i)g. This word might be identical with äsig attested in Dīwān Luγāt at-Türk and mistakenly read äsik. The adjective äsig
derived from äs- “to stretch” with the formative -(X)g means “vast” in Dīwān Luγāt at-Türk. It probably means “spread” in the Tunyukuk inscription since it qualifies human beings.
In the conclusion, it is shown that that the sentence in the eighth line of the Tunyukuk inscription must be read and translated as follows: Y(a)g(ï)m(ï)z t(ä)grä oçuk t(ä)g (ä)rti biz (ä)š(ä)g / (ä)s(i)g (ä)rt(i)m(i)z “The enemies around (us) were as if they were diminished [but] we were increased in number / spread”."
The ambiguous verbal suffix -zU occurs only twice in the whole Old Turkic corpus. In the introduction, it is concluded that it is a virtually obsolete causal converb.
Having analysed the sound change *ǰ > z in Turkic by means of various cases, *-r2U and *-ǰU are presented as two equally possible Proto-Turkic reconstructions of the converbial suffix -zU. Since internal evidence is indecisive in reconstructing -zU as *-r2U or *-ǰU, external evidence is taken into account.
The Mongolic converbs in -ǰi ~ -ǰU and -rUn are suggested as two possible cognates of -zU. Both are discussed in detail, and the Mongolic converb in -ǰi ~ -ǰU is ruled out due to its semantic discrepancy. It is concluded that Mongolic -rUn might be the cognate of Turkic -zU whereas Mongolic -ǰi ~ -ǰU is a borrowing of the Turkic converb in *-dI.