REVISITING THE MONGOLIAN STRATUM OF KAZAKH PLACE NAMES
Dybo A.V. Baibossyn A.M. Kenzhalin K.K. Begimova G.A. Abdualiuly B. Khoninov V.N.
2024Ural Federal University
Voprosy Onomastiki
2024#21Issue 127 - 71 pp.
The study examines a representative sample of toponyms located in the territory of Kazakhstan, that can potentially be of Mongolian origin. These toponyms are classifi ed into three categories: 1) settlement names (oikonyms), 2) water body names (hydronyms), and 3) geographical feature names (oronyms). In cases of duplicate toponyms (oikonym and oronym), precedence is given to the geographical feature name, following the most common direction of toponymic transfer. The analysis investigates the signifi cance of Mongolian names in the Kazakh language, encompassing motivational, word-formational, and etymological aspects, and proposes new hypotheses of their origin while considering earlier theories. The authors identify the main challenges faced by etymologists and toponymists and review previous authors’ unsuccessful etymological solutions. Errors detected in the data include references to Russifi ed place names borrowed into contemporary Kazakh, inattention to early toponym records, neglect of phonetic changes in Kazakh and Mongolian, as well as their relative chronology, and disregard of potential phonetic adaptation patterns that one could expect based on the phonological peculiarities of both the source and receiving languages. The study aims to categorise place names according to the time and source of borrowing, each name being evaluated based on whether it was initially borrowed as a toponym or an appellative word that later integrated a Kazakh toponym. The analysis concludes that Kazakh toponymy of Mongolian origin (i.e. place names that were borrowed as toponyms) is predominantly recent and associated with the borders of two historical Mongolian states — the Dzungar and Kalmyk khanates.
etymology , language contacts , lexical semantics , Mongolian languages , toponyms , Turkic languages
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Institute of Oriental Cultures and Antiquity, Russian State University for the Humanities, 6, Miusskaya Sq, Moscow, 125047, Russian Federation
Department of Ural-Altaic Languages, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1, Bolshoi Kislovsky Lane, Moscow, 125009, Russian Federation
Department of Kalmyk Language, Mongolian and Altaic Studies, Kalmyk State University, 11, Pushkin St, Elista, 358000, Russian Federation
Department of Kazakh Linguistics, L. N. Gumilev Eurasian National University, 2, Satpayev St., Astana, 10000, Kazakhstan
Department of Turkic Studies, L. N. Gumilev Eurasian National University, 2, Satpayev St., Astana, 10000, Kazakhstan
Institute of Oriental Cultures and Antiquity
Department of Ural-Altaic Languages
Department of Kalmyk Language
Department of Kazakh Linguistics
Department of Turkic Studies
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