Color Term al ‘Scarlet, Pink’ in Turkic Languages: Historical and Lexical-Semantic Development Revisited

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the color term al ‘pink; scarlet’ in Turkic languages. Goals. The study aims at considering the lexeme in comparative historical and lexical-semantic perspectives. This involves a number of objectives, such as to review and analyze hypotheses on etymology of the word, identify the functioning of the lexeme in ancient and modern languages, determine characteristics of use of the word’s meanings in certain Turkic languages, delineate common Turkic and specific (belonging to a separate subgroup) development trends of the lexeme al. Materials and Methods. To facilitate the latter, an extensive theoretical and source base on Turkic languages is employed: when it comes to origins of the word, special attention is paid to fundamental scientific works on Turkic and Altai etymologies; ancient Turkic, medieval written monuments, lexicographic works on particular Turkic languages are examined to reveal semantic features of the word in ancient and modern languages. In general, the work proves topical due to the absence of any comprehensive study dealing with etymology, development and functioning of the token in Turkic languages. Results. The study reveals that the al lexeme is essentially ancient: scholars have restored its Pre-Turkic (*Āl) and Pre-Altaic (*ŋiōle) forms, with its Nostratic origin identified. The word is frequently traced in written sources of the Turks from earliest monuments. The token al is integral to most Turkic languages, except for the Chuvash, Altai, Tuva, Karachay-Balkar, and Karakalpak ones. In Yakut and Khakass, the lexeme ālaj is perceived as a loanword. Thus, the gloss al was widely used mainly in Western Turkic languages. In ancient and modern Turkic languages, the word al has meanings as follows: ‘scarlet, pink, ruddy’, ‘orange’, ‘brown’, ‘red, bay (horse coat color)’, ‘young’, ‘yellow’, ‘noble’, ‘magical’, ‘bright, motley’, and some substantives ― ‘seal, credential issued by Khans’, ‘rouge’, ‘woman’s headwear’. Conclusions. The ancient Turkic colour term al is (was) not universally distributed in all Turkic languages. The wide (though uneven) use of the word and further development of its semantics occurs in the Kipchak and Oghuz languages where the gloss al has a number of additional connotative and metaphorical meanings

Keywords

• color term
• scarlet
• pink
• turkic languages
• comparative-historical research
• lexical and semantic characteristics