Lexical-Semantic Analysis of Occupational Names in Temür Qutlugh Khans’ yarlïğ
(65th Meeting Astana, 2023)
The Golden Horde, also known as Jochi Ulus, emerged during the 13th century as an empire established by Chinggis Khan’s offspring, originally a Mongol and later Turkified (or Kipchackified) Khanate. The article aims to analyze the language used in a historical document called Yarlïğ, meaning a royal decree in Turco-Mongols, which was a message from Khan Temür Qutlugh of the Golden Horde to the Crimean royal family around 1397. These documents have valuable historical and linguistic information for Turkic studies because the rulers of the Golden Horde dispatched many decrees and commands for both internal and external reasons, and a predominant part of the Khans’ letters was in the Middle Kipchak language during the Golden Horde’s rule, especially in the middle and later periods of the Horde. This article investigates the occupational names based on the case study of Temür Qutlugh’s Yarlïğ and discovers their potential meanings in syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. Meanwhile, the article hopes to identify word-forming associative units within the semantic field based on the text. To achieve this, the author employs etymological and comparative methods. The study on the semantics of the Yarlïğ makes it possible to interpret the cultural and socio-political situation of the Eurasian Steppe under the rule of the Golden Horde from a new perspective.
Keywords: Golden Horde, yarlïğ, semantic field, occupational names, semantic analysis.