Kazakh anthroponyms derived from metal and mineral terms

Abstract

The article deals with Kazakh male and female first names derived from appellatives denoting metals and minerals. The mining industry in the Turkic world originated in ancient times, and its terminology was widely used in medieval Eurasia by speakers of Old and Middle Turkic languages. The spread of the mining industry in Turkic-speaking areas went hand in hand with the use of mining terminology by the Turks, also for forming personal names. There are plenty of Turkic anthroponyms derived from metal and mineral names in both ancient and modern sources. Our research on Kazakh first names has shown that there are more than 160 masculine and feminine anthroponyms containing terms referring to metals and minerals in Kazakh lexicographical sources. These are mostly composite, formed according to a certain pattern: an appellative plus an additional component, often a title or a general term denoting a person. Generally, those components tend to be grammaticalized as evaluative markers (honorifics or markers of hypocorism). However, as structural components of first names they do not render evaluative semantics. It is interesting that Kazakh masculine personal names are mostly derived from names of metals and ores, i.e. natural materials that have not been made or processed by human beings, while feminine personal names are mostly derived from terms used for minerals and gemstones.