Wind-Related Terms in Mongolic Languages: Etymology and Semantics

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines etymologies and semantics of wind-related terms in the Mongolic languages. Goals. The study primarily seeks to identify some etymological and semantic–typological features inherent to the specified thematic group of the general Mongolian lexicon. The concept of wind is included in the basic vocabulary and, in particular, can be traced in most languages of the world. Materials and methods. The work investigates a variety of Mongolic dictionaries, these be supplemented with etymological insights into the Mongolian vocabulary and certain dictionaries of other Altaic languages, field data of expeditions aimed at compiling context-based Swadesh lists for dialects of Mongolic languages. Results. The paper indentifies a total of 25 wind names in the Mongolic languages. The analysis shows there are a significant number of proto-Mongolic terms for wind and their varieties. All of them are authentic (i.e., essentially Mongolic) and have reliable Altaic parallels. The six lexemes — kei ‘air, wind’, *sal-kïn ‘wind, air’, *kuyï(n) ‘whirlwind, tornado’, *sïhurgan ‘blizzard, snowstorm’, *boruhan ‘storm with snow or rain’, *serihün ‘coolness; cool; fresh breeze’ — are reconstructed only from proto-Mongolic stems. Meanwhile, such lexical units as *kabsur-ga ‘cold dry wind’, *ǰïbar ‘coolness, freshness; wind’, ǰüse ‘strong, sudden wind; prolonged rain’; *simarga ‘snowstorm with sleet’, *sebsihen ‘fresh, light breeze’, *sense ‘light breeze’ are probably proto-Northern Mongolian neologisms. The words formed in some Mongolic languages from verbs expressing similar concepts (‘to fan’, ‘to wave’, ‘to be cool’) have also been traced.

Keywords

• lexicology
• wind-related terms
• etymology
• semantics
• mongolic languages