Definition of Etymology, A Short Evaluation on Etymological Dictionaries and The Ways of Entry of Foreign Words with r- into Turkish
Mehmet ÖlmezThe definition of etymology varies from researcher to researcher. According to some researchers, etymology only consists of indicating the language the word comes from or showing the oldest form. According to others etymology is the representation of the smallest units and the derivational affixes that make up the word. Etymology, in its most widely known sense, is the work of making such explanations. The first known etymologist of Turkish language was Mahmud al-Kashgarî, who prepared Dîvânu Lugâti’t-Turk. Kashgarî was followed by Ottoman lexicographers, and Şemssettin Sami with his Kâmus-ı Türkî (according to me) was the most distinguished among them. Vámbéry outside of Turkey, B. Kerestedjiyan from Ottoman Empire can be counted as the firsts of the field. The oldest Turkish name for etymology is užik bošgutı “knowledge of syllable/vocabulary”. If we want to look up etymology of a word in contemporary Turkish, we should look at H. Eren, A. Tietze, S. Nişanyan and Kubbealtı Akademisi’s Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük. When it comes to the history of Turkish and the history of borrowings, the widespread understanding tells that the age of the written language of Turkish has gone back to 1300 years. Actually, it is the age of the common written language. In their known history Turkic languages have borrowed words from other languages within the framework of certain rules. Below are examples of borrowing of foreign words starting with r-.
Etimoloji Sözlükleri Üzerine Kısa Bir Değerlendirme, Tanımı ve r-’li Yabancı Kelimelerin Türkçeye Giriş Yolları
Mehmet ÖlmezEtimolojinin gerçekte bir tek tanımı olması gerekse de bu tanım veya etimolojiden ne anlaşıldığı araştırmacıdan araştırmacıya değişebilmektedir. Kimi araştırmacıya göre etimoloji, sözcüğün hangi dilden girdiğini göstermekten ya da en eski şeklini göstermekten ibarettir. Kimisine göre sözcüğü oluşturan yapım ekleri ve sözcüğün götürülebildiği, yapılarına ayrılabildiği en küçük birimlerin gösterimidir. En yaygın bilinen anlamıyla etimoloji, bu tür açıklamalar yapma işidir. Türkçenin bilinen en eski, ilk etimoloğu Dîvânu Lugâti’t-Türk’ü hazırlayan Mahmud el-Kaşgarî’dir. Kaşgarî’yi Osmanlı sözlükçüleri takip etmiş, bu konuda da zirveye Kâmus-ı Türkî’siyle (bana göre) Şemssettin Sami oturmuştur. Türkiye dışında Vámbéry, Osmanlıda ise B. Keresteciyan bu konudaki ilklerdendir. Etimoloji için kullanılan en eski Türkçe kelimenin ise ise ujik boşgutı “hece/kelime bilimi” olduğunu söyleyebiliriz. Günümüzde Türkçeyle ilgili bir kelimenin etimolojisine bakmak istersek H. Eren, A. Tietze, S. Nişanyan’ın çalışmaları ile Kubbealtı Akademisi’nin Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük’üne bakmamız gerekir. Türkçenin tarihine, alıntıların tarihine gelince, yaygın anlayış Türkçenin, yazı dilinin yaşının 1300 yıl eskiye gittiğini anlatır. Oysa 1300 yıl geriye giden ortak yazı dilinin yaşıdır. Türk dilleri bilinen tarihi içerisinde başka dillerden kelime ödünçlerken belirli kurallar çerçevesinde bu ödünçlemeleri yapar. Aşağıda r- ile başlayan yabancı kelimelerin ödünçlenişinden örnekler yer alacaktır
The definition of etymology varies from researcher to researcher. According to some researchers, etymology only consists of indicating the language the word comes from or showing the oldest form. According to others etymology is the representation of the smallest units and the derivational affixes that make up the word. Etymology, in its most widely known sense, is the work of making such explanations. The first known etymologist of Turkish language was Mahmud al-Kashgarî, who prepared Dîvânu Lugâti’t-Turk. Kashgarî was followed by Ottoman lexicographers, and Şemssettin Sami with his Kâmus-ı Türkî (according to me) was the most distinguished among them. Vámbéry outside of Turkey, B. Keresteciyan from Ottoman Empire can be counted as the firsts of the field. The oldest Turkish name for etymology is užik bošgutı “knowledge of syllable/vocabulary”. If we want to look up etymology of a word in contemporary Turkish, we should look at H. Eren, A. Tietze, S. Nişanyan and Kubbealtı Akademisi’s Misalli Büyük Sözlük. The dictionaries of H. Eren and S. Nişanyan are etymological dictionaries from A to Z. The dictionary of A. Tietze is not complete yet. Misalli is essentially a Turkish dictionary, but the article heads are etymological and many etymological information which mostly omitted by the Turkish dictionaries of Turkey can be found there. For example the information that Mongolian is the oldest source of the words ağa, kaburga, serin etc. is not included in most dictionaries, but here. H. Eren’s dictionary is evaluated in the following article. Accordingly, the dictionary contains approximately 5000 articles. This shows that it is a dictionary of ‘selected’ words. Words are analyzed in this order: 1) First of all, a short and clear definition of the word is stated. 2) The forms in contemporary Turkic languages are shown with expressions like “live in ‘dialects’ or ‘contemporary dialects”, “seen as fallowing forms” etc. 3) Information of since when it has been used in Turkish is given. 4) The origin is explained if it is known, if not an expression like ‘we do not know the origin clearly’ is added. 5) Explanations of major etymologists (G. Ramstedt, M. Räsänen, Sir G. Clauson et al.) are listed. 6) Borrowings from Turkish to other languages are mentioned. In Eren, the long vowels that must be considered in a study on the etymology of Turkish and the first and only comprehensive book on the subject (Primary Long Vowels in Proto-Turkish) have never been used. Therefore, -b- in cibin (and cibinlik derived from that) remained unexplained. Some articles in the dictionary are quite long. In other words, there is no harmony between the items in terms of shortness and length. I have to say that I like these encyclopedic, long descriptions as a reader. However, in terms of lexicography, this method is not in demand. An comprehensive evaluation of the dictionary would take entire publication by itself. It is a dictionary I read with pleasure and utmost benefit and as a reader, I mentioned above some points about what “it should be”. When it comes to the history of Turkish, the histo r y of quotations, the widespread understanding tells that the age of the written language is 1300 years old. However, it is the age of the common written language which goes back 1300 years. In their known history Turkic languages have borrowed words from other languages within the framework of certain rules. Below are examples of borrowing of foreign words beginning with r-. It is a well-known
