Article

Name: Dialect names of mutovka in the Yakut language (a case study of lexicographic sources)

Authors: Egor R. Nikolaev

Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

This paper addresses the semantics of dialectal names of mutovka (a stick with branches at the end used for mixing or stirring), with all of them belonging to the lexical-thematic micro-group “Utensils” in the Yakut language. Over 40 dialect names of mutovka with different connotations have been identified in dialectological, lexicographical, and ethnographic materials. The nomination principles of mutovka are determined on the external form and functions. The form and structure of mutovkas (round, branched, cross-shaped), material (wood, cow horn) depend on their purpose. Mutovka has different functions: for whipping koumiss, cream, or butter, and others, with the movement of the tool also of importance for nomination. The basic characteristic of any mutovka is ytyyyy “mixing, stirring, and churning.” The comparative analysis revealed that the Yakut lexemes ytyk and bhiheyeh indicate a common Turkic similarity. Most names of mutovka are part of the lexical fund of the Yakut language developed in the linguistic landscape of modern Yakuts (Sakha). Also, the dialect names bilier, biriel “kumys mutovka” have been found to have Mongolian roots. A semantic description allowed the origin of khamnatar “kumys mutovka” to be determined as an apotropaic lexeme with both all-Yakutian and dialectal meaning. The semantics of the mutovka names concerned reflects the cattle-breeding culture of Yakuts (Sakha) developed and spread in the subcontinental climate in the vast territory of the North-East of Russia. The findings specify the lexical-semantic micro-groups “Tableware,” “Utensils” to “Kumys ware and utensils,” “Ytyk,” to compile the thematic lists of Yakut household culture.

Keywords: Turkic languages, yakut language, lexic, yakut dialectisms, names of utensils, semantic field

Bibliography:

Afanas’eva E. N. Istoricheskoe razvitie leksicheskogo sostava yakutskogo yazyka: Ucheb. posobie [Historical development of the lexical composition of the Yakut language: Tutorial]. Yakutsk, NIFU Publ. H., 2019, 92 p.

Antonov N. K. Materialy po istoricheskoy leksike yakutskogo yazyka [Materials on the historical vocabulary of the Yakut language]. Yakutsk, Yakut. kn. Izd., 1971, 175 p.

Bagdaryyn Sүlbe. Aal uotu ottunan: Talyllybyt үleler [Thoughts at the hearth: Selected works].D’okuuskay, Bichik, 2013, vol. 2, 544 p.

Bal’zhinimaeva B. D. Traditsionnaya remeslennaya leksika v mongol’skikh yazykakh: sravnitel’no-istoricheskiy aspekt [Traditional handicraft vocabulary in Mongolian languages: a comparative historical aspect]. V. I. Rassadin (Ed. in Ch.). Elista, Dzhangar, 2018, 198 p.

Bolo S. I. Proshloe yakutov do prikhoda russkikh na Lenu: Po predaniyam yakutov byvshego Yakutskogo okruga [The past of the Yakuts before the Russians came to the Lena: According to the legends of the Yakuts of the former Yakutsk district]. Yakutsk, Bichik, 1994, 352 p.

Fedorov E. E. Өbүgelerbit өlbөt-sүppet үyeleekh үgestere [Ancient traditions of our ancestors]. V. V. Illarionov (Comp.). D’okuuskay, Bichik, 2011, 256 p.

Gotovtseva L. M. Leksika traditsionnoy odezhdy sakha v tekstakh olonkho [The vocabulary of traditional Sakha clothing in olonkho texts]. Severo-vostochnyy gumanitarnyy vestnik. 2016, no. 3 (16), pp. 95–101.

Iokhel’son V. I. Kumysnyy prazdnik i dekorativnoe oformlenie kumysnykh sosudov [Kumis festival and decorative design of kumis vessels]. V. Korotov (Comp.). Yakutsk, SMIK-Master. Poligrafiya, 2015, 88 p.

Ivanov S. A. Leksicheskie osobennosti govorov yakutskogo yazyka [Lexical features of the dialects of the Yakut language]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2017, 392 p.

Khooray as-tamakhtary [Khakass national dishes]. Abakan, Khakasiya, 1994, 32 p.

Korkina E. I. Severo-vostochnaya dialektnaya zona yakutskogo yazyka [North-eastern dialectal zone of the Yakut language]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1992, 270 p.

Maak R. K. Vilyuyskiy okrug Yakutskoy oblasti [Vilyui district of the Yakutsk region]. St. Peterburg, Tip. i khromolit. A. Transhelya, 1887, pt. 3, 192 p.

Popov V. G. Nazvaniya vidov starinnogo yakutskogo nastupatel’nogo kholodnogo oruzhiya kak ob”ekta sravnitel’nogo issledovaniya [The names of the types of the old Yakut offensive edged weapons as an object of comparative research]. Severo-vostochnyy gumanitarnyy vestnik. 2019, no. 1 (26), pp. 106–116.

Potapov L. P. Ocherki narodnogo byta tuvintsev [Essays on the folk life of Tuvans]. AN SSSR. In-t etnografii im. N. N. Miklukho-Maklaya. Tuvin. nauch.-issled. in-t yaz., literatury i istorii. Moscow, Nauka, 1969, 402 p.

Rudenko S. I. Bashkiry: Istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki [The Bashkirs: Historical and ethnographic sketches]. Ufa, Kitap, 2006, 376 p.

Savvin A. A. Pishcha yakutov do razvitiya zemledeliya (opyt istoriko-etnograficheskoy monografii) [Food of the Yakuts before the development of agriculture (the experience of a historical and ethnographic monograph)]. Yakutsk, IGI AN RS (Ya), 2005, 376 p.

Troshchanskiy V. V., Pekarskiy E. K. Yakuty v ikh domashney obstanovke: etnograficheskiy ocherk. II. Iz yakutskoy stariny: starye pisateli o yakutakh [Yakuts in their home environment: an ethnographic sketch. II. From Yakut antiquity: old writers about the Yakuts]. St. Peterburg, Tip. M-va put. soobshch. (tov. I. N. Kushnerev i K), 1909, 32 p.

Yazykovaya kartina mira teleutov: Monografiya [The linguistic picture of the Teleut world: Monograph]. L. A. Araeva et al. Kem. gos. univ., Kemerovo, 2016, 237 p.