Vocabulary related to Status and Hierarchy in Kutadgu Bilig (Wisdom of Royal Glory)
(55th Meeting, 2012)
Kutadgu Bilig[1] is the oldest and first masterpiece of Islamic Turkish literature. This work consisting of 6645 couplets is the first masnavi of Turkish literature. A product of 11th century Classical Oriental Literature, written by the Turki author Yusūf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib of Balasagun, was presented to the prince of Kashgar. This paper describes the language of the work which technically is a Karakhanid, or Middle Turkish, along with the management of state and the social structure of society. Different social classes are represented. Kutadgu Bilig, is structured around the relations between four main characters, each representing an abstract principle. These are, Kün Toġdı (Rising Sun lit. “the sun has risen”); Ay Toldı (Full Moon lit. ”the moon is full”); Ögdülmiş (Highly Praised lit. “praised”); Oēġurmış (Wide Awake lit.”awakwned”).
This paper lists the vocabulary related to status and hierarchy in Kutadgu Bilig and presents the equivalent of this vocabulary in other Turkic dialects. It will be tried to determine if there are some living words in modern Turkish placed into mentioned vocabulary too.
[1] Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes. By Yusuf Khass Hajib translated with an introduction and notes by Robert Dankoff, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1983, Pp. 1-5.