Functional Characteristic of the Designation of the Equine Coat Color in Epic Texts in a Comparative Aspect

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the functions of the designation of the horse colors in the epic texts of related Turkic peoples – the Yakuts, the Khakass and the Altaians. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that until now in the Yakut language the lexical layer denoting the names of the horse colors has not become the subject of a comprehensive study. The purpose of the article is to study the semantics of designation of equine coat colors in the epic texts of mentioned Turkic peoples and to identify the commonality and specificity of its functioning. It was found that in the texts of the northern olonkho there are 10 color designations of horse colors, in the Khakass epic – 10, in the Altai – 7. It was revealed the general that designations of the horse color in the literal sense serve for a reliable and colorful description of the appearance of an epic horse; in the Altai and Yakut epos, depending on the context, the sacred meaning associated with the mentality of each of the peoples is realized. In the Yakut epic, horses of a certain color turn into different objects, and in the Altai - into horses of a different color. In the texts of the northern olonkho, there are no designations of dun, roan colors, and this is due to the fact that horses of these colors were rare in the places of residence of the northern Yakuts; in the Khakass epos, many designations of equine coat colors indicate piebald horse color.