From the history of words V. Turkisms in Russian dialects

Abstract

Russian etymological lexicography has or is likely to have works that tend to have a thesaurus form (like the Russian Etymological Dictionary), and those of a less global nature. However, such works can be structured as follows: a basic reference book of the Russian vocabulary and etymological dictionaries devoted to particular strata of the Russian vocabulary. It is obvious that there is a need for a new dictionary of Turkisms / Orientalisms. Such a work could contain information not only about the etymons of Russian (Old Russian) words but also the details of the borrowing and adaptation of Turkisms (Mongolisms, Iranianisms, and others), their diffusion paths, possible intermediary languages, et cetera. This paper presents some material suitable for a dictionary of Turkisms / Orientalisms, with only Oriental / Turkic etymologies of Russian words provided, taken mainly from the dialect of the Cossacks on the Ural (Yaik) River. The material is presented alphabetically, as dictionary entries, with the sign “//” separating the part being explained (presenting the Russian lexical material) and the explanatory part (presenting the etymological information). For Russian words, if possible, the year or century of the earliest fixation in the literature (monuments of writing) is indicated. The paper analyzes the following examples: dzhablúk, dzhavlúk ‘Kazakh large scarf, women’s headband’ from Kazakh zhaulyk ‘women’s headscarf’; dzhantak ‘camel grass or camel’s tail or camel’s thorn’ from Kazakh zhantak = turkic jandaq, jantaq ‘thorny plant’; dzhusán ‘wormwood’, zhusán, dzhusán ‘small bitter wormwood, used to feed livestock’ from Kazakh zhusan ‘wormwood’.