Oriental Studies (Dec 2023)
Layers of Borrowings in Karachay-Balkar Cultural Vocabulary
Abstract
Introduction. The publication of the joint monograph titled ‘Karachays. Balkars’ and edited by M. Karaketov and H.-M. Sabanchiev introduced into scientific circulation a large layer of vocabulary characterizing some specific aspects of Karachay-Balkar culture. Quite a number of lexemes associated with traditional culture prove absent in the Karachay-Balkar–Russian Dictionary (30,000 word entries). So, Karachay-Balkar terminology happens to comprise the already expected Turkic lexemes ⸺ and a huge layer of loanwords missing in other Turkic languages. Goals. The article attempts an analysis of borrowings in the Karachay-Balkar language that are not typical for other Turkic languages. Results. The etymological analysis has excluded the undeveloped (literary) Orientalisms of Arab-Persian origin associated with Islam, law, and social order. The greatest number of parallels is noted for Digor Ossetian: over 300 words contained in the mentioned monograph arrived from the latter language. Our investigation of the monograph was followed by additions of already existing etymologies from comparisons by V. Abaev ⸺ with some corrections and certain Digor Ossetian parallels. Some Orientalisms and Caucasisms assimilated into the target vocabulary have also been interpreted as Ossetian parallels, i.e. their penetration into Karachay-Balkar is assumed to have taken place through Digor. The remaining vocabulary is distributed among Western Caucasian loanwords and those from Nakh-Dagestani languages. The article provides complete materials of the borrowed terminology divided into semantic fields, which makes it possible to assess the degree and realms of cultural influence. Interpretations of how the borrowing may have penetrated into the vocabulary and, accordingly, of how the languages contacted prove instrumental in determining the intermediate ancestral homeland of the Karachay-Balkar forefathers. That may have been the area of historical Salatavia north of the Salatau Ridge, bounded on the west by the Aktash River, and on the east ⸺ by the Sulak River. The article is intended for Turkologists and experts in Caucasian studies. The material shall be of interest to historians, ethnographers, and culturologists.
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