Until recently, Tuvans had led a nomadic lifestyle in the Republic of Tuva in Southern Siberia under the Russian Federation. Upon examining the Tuvan vocabulary, one can see that many words are found in relation to equine coats in their language, words that are quite common and extensive. This study features a diachronic and synchronic examination of the equine coat names identified in Tuvan.

An equine coat name is defined as the color of a horse’s hair. This definition is accompanied by the distinctive color of a horse’s hair, the distribution of this color over the entire body of the horse, as well as the color of the tail, mane, and other relevant markings. However, a number of limitations is revealed at this stage of the definition, the first of which is that how the appearance of the hair color covering the horse’s body is interpreted can vary from person to person. Secondly, the horse’s hair color can change in winter and summer. Lastly, the horse’s hair color can be evaluated differently based on whether the weather is hot or cold. These issues should be considered problematic parts that increase subjectivity in defining an equine coat. Another point to consider in the language evaluation is that the form of words related to equine coats are observed to change in meaning, although the form may be preserved within the historical and contemporary branches of the language. When reviewing Turkish sources related to the study’s subject matter, one can observe that the meanings of particular horse coat names as witnessed in historical period texts are not reflected in the forms used in contemporary Turkish. These semantic changes are sometimes completely different while at other times bear small but distinctive common features.

The primary source regarding the compilation of equine coat names analyzed in the study is the album section of Vyaçeslav Darja’s (2014) work, Loşad’ v Traditsionnoy praktike Tuvintsev Koçevnikov [The Horse in the Traditional Practices of Tuvan Nomads] issued in Kızıl, capital city of the Republic of Tuva. The second source where phrases regarding equine coats is witnessed is Kuular Еlena Мandan-Оolovna’s (2017) article “Leksemı, oboznaçayuşçiye masti loşadey v Tuvinskom Yazıke [Words Indicating Equine Coats in Tuvan]” that was written to identify horse hair colors and is based on Darja’s (2014) work. Apart from the equine coat data in these two sources, no other studies have been encountered directly related to the research subject. However, the equine coats in Tuvan as identified in these sources overlap with some words in Tuvan language dictionaries prepared during the analysis stage. While the study performed a synchronic (i.e., present time) analysis for all words for equine coat, it also performed diachronic analyses regarding cases where equine coat names had manifested within the historical periods of the Turkish language. In this context, the diachronically analyzed units are shown alongside their historical testimonies. From this perspective, the study uses the qualitative method due to identifying the research subject as equine coat names in Tuvan.

This study has been conducted because upon reviewing studies on horse coats, even the sources used (Darja, 2014; Мandan-Оolovna, 2017) are not seen to have presented both diachronic and synchronic analyses of the Tuvan materials. Thus, as mentioned above, this article uses diachronic and synchronic analysis methods to analyze the equine coats present in the Tuvan language due to the shortcomings and limitations identified in the studies thus far.

In order to introduce the method the study followed for categorizing equine coats, differing assessments should be mentioned to exist pertaining to these categorizations. While horse coats are generally discussed under three headings (i.e., basic, derived, and variegated), other studies have described these coats in more detail. Furthermore, the differences in the categorizations used for equine horse coats has occurred not only with regard to the main headings but also the sub-headings. For instance, while bay as an equine coat is considered one of the basic equine coats in some categorizations, other categorizations accepted bay as being modified or derived. Due to the lack of specific objectivity in any of the categorizations, this study also does not adhere to any specific categorization. Instead, the study arranges equine coat names in alphabetical order as they appear in the Tuvan language based on their nominative case as main items (e.g., kara [black], melder (kaldar) [chestnut]). The study additionally analyzes sub-items under these main forms (e.g., das kara [coal black, black matte color like a vulture], kuskun kara [the color of a brilliant raven’s wing]).

As a result, the study completed an analysis of the 18 main items and their sub-items that appeared when exploring equine coats specific to the Tuvan language. The analysis stage also introduced certain morphemes that were found to have been borrowed in the language. In this way, the study has revealed the meanings and structures of words related to horse coats, and the analyses have allowed a semantic understanding of the distinctive components used in defining the Tuvan equine coat names as well as the form characteristics of the equine coats that were examined structurally in the Tuvan language sources.