Uygurca töŋürge, Moğolca döŋge, Anadolu Ağızları töŋge Hakkında

Abstract

Old Uyghur inscriptions and Central Asian Buddhist Culture were the mother lodes of the Old Uyghur language. Of course, these were not the limits. In terms of vocabulary, there was a wide cultural circle ranging from Manichaean-Sogdian to Nestorian Christianity. Although Uighur (~ Common Turkic) forms its basic vocabulary, it also included Sanskrit, Chinese, and words from other neighboring languages which loaned them from Tocharian. There was a rich vocabulary of an estimated 20 000 words (apart from Ottoman and Chagatai) including loanwords. Therefore, it was one of the three richest languages of the historical Turkic languages in terms of vocabulary. We can state the life range of Old Uighur, which was around for 400 years, between the 10th and 14th centuries. However, in the last period beginning from the mid-13th century, the influence of Mongolian can be seen primarily in the administrative language. In the same period, Tibetan words also entered the language due to the translation of Tibetan Buddhism works. With the adoption of Islam, Sogdian-based script was no longer used and the Arabic-based alphabet having Persian additions was adopted. However, the Uighurs' old alphabet of Sogdian origin is still being used among the Mongols as of today. The Mongols, who started using the Uighur letters and were influenced by Uighur Buddhism, also borrowed many of their words; through Mongolian they ensured the survival of some words that are forgotten among Uyghurs and other Turkic tribes today. On the other hand, as the Mongols dominated Anatolia for some period, many Mongolian words and to some extent Turkic words entered Anatolian Turkish by reborrowing (Ruckentlehnung). Here, in this article, I will mention the Uyghur toŋurge and its forms in Mongolian and Turkish, which I think is one of such words.