The Linguistic and Conceptual Representation of the Celestial World in Mahmud al-Kashgari’s Dīwāni Lughāt-it-Turk

Abstract

The article examines, from linguocultural and conceptual perspectives, the linguistic units related to the celestial world represented in Mahmud Kashgari’s Dīwāni Lughāt-it-Turk. The aim of the study is to identify the distinctive features of the cosmological worldview of the medieval Turks on the basis of linguistic data, to describe the conceptual system of the celestial world, and to determine its historical and cultural continuity in the modern Kazakh language. The study provides a semantic and cultural-cognitive analysis of such cosmonyms and astronomical concepts as kök, čıɣrı, tegre, kün, ay, yulduz, Temür kazuk, Ülker, Yetigen, Karakuŝ, Erentüz, and Bakırsokım. Based on these linguistic units, the study systematizes the Turkic peoples’ conceptions of the structure of the heavens, cosmic motion, time and space, the cyclical movement of the Sun and the Moon, orientation by the stars, and the prediction of natural phenomena. The distinctive features of the perception of celestial bodies through anthropomorphic and zoomorphic models are also identified. Particular attention is paid to the historical continuity of the cosmological concepts of Kashgari’s era, which have been preserved in fixed expressions of the modern Kazakh language, traditional astronomical names, and the traditional worldview. The findings demonstrate that the astronomical vocabulary of Dīwāni Lughāt-it-Turk constitutes a complex cultural-cognitive system reflecting the folk astronomical knowledge, mythological perceptions, and distinctive features of the conceptualization of the universe by the medieval Turks.