Reconstruction:Proto-Turkic/yabaĺč
Proto-Turkic
editReconstruction Notes
editThere is no consensus on the identity of the final sibilant sound for the Proto-Turkic stage. Reconstruction with the postulated palatalized alveolar coda ( *ĺ ) is unfounded, with no Oghur descendants to support it.
Alternative Reconstructions
editEtymology
editUnknown. Probably a deverbal from the unattested verb *yaba- (“to calm down (?)”), further etymology cannot be satisfactorily established.
Räsänen, Vasmer[1] and Nemeth[2] suggest that the ethnonym for Chuvash people (čăwaš) is borrowed from *yabaš (“calm, peaceful”), via intermediaries. Proto-Mongolic *namukan is given as a cognate by Räsänen (cf. Mongolian намхан (namxan, “gentle, peaceful”))
Altaicists instead compare *yabaĺ with Khalkha Mongolian зөөлөн (zöölön, “soft, weak”) (cf. Written Mongolian ᠵᠣ᠊᠊ᠢ᠊ᠭᠡ᠊ᠯᠠ᠊ᠨ (ʒögelen)) and Japanese 柔ら (yawara, “something soft, fragile, gentle”). Despite semantic and phonological similarities, Altaic comparisons are severely criticized by mainstream historical linguistics.
Adjective
edit*yabaĺč
- peaceful, quiet, calm, mild (Common Turkic)
- Synonyms: *akuru(n), *amul (~ -ïl), *enč, *tölen
- slow (Oghuz Turkic)
- Synonym: *akuru(n)
- soft (Karakhanid, Siberian Turkic)
Descendants
edit- Common Turkic: *yabaš
- Karluk:
- Kipchak:
- Kipchak: iavas (yawa:š, “docile and obsequious (of animals)”)
- Kipchak-Bulgar:
- Kipchak-Cuman:
- South Kipchak:
- Kyrgyz-Kipchak:
- Siberian Turkic:
- North Siberian Turkic:
- Earlier Yakut: *samā- ("calm, pleasant, easy-going")
- ⇒? Yakut: самаан (samaan, “favourable summer, warm weather”)
- Earlier Yakut: *samā- ("calm, pleasant, easy-going")
- South Siberian Turkic:
- North Siberian Turkic:
References
edit- ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “чуваш”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress, pages 4, 376
- ^ Nemeth, Gyula. 1976. K voprosu ob avarah. Turcologica pages 298-304
- Clauson, Gerard (1972) “yavaş (yava:ş)”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 880
- Räsänen, Martti (1969) “jabaš, yawaš”, in Versuch eines etymologischen Wörterbuchs der Türksprachen (in German), Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, page 175
- Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*jabaĺ”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill