The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited
Introduction. Kazakhs are a Turkic people dominant in present-day Republic of Kazakhstan. The former also reside in adjacent territories of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Turkey. Ancient written sources employed quite a number of ethnonyms — including the endonym қазақ (Qazaq) — to denote...
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Российской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центр
2020-11-01
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doaj-54462828bbad487ea2be1b316d3249d22020-11-25T04:09:46ZengРоссийской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центрМонголоведение2500-15232020-11-0112352152810.22162/2500-1523-2020-3-521-528The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants RevisitedNarmandakh Gombyn0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6329-6203Lanzhou UniversityIntroduction. Kazakhs are a Turkic people dominant in present-day Republic of Kazakhstan. The former also reside in adjacent territories of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Turkey. Ancient written sources employed quite a number of ethnonyms — including the endonym қазақ (Qazaq) — to denote the ethnos. And the issue of etymology is still debatable. According to the main version, the word қазақ stands for a ‘free, unrestricted, independent person’. Goals. The paper seeks to examine spelling variants of the ethnonym in national languages of bordering countries — Mongolian, Chinese, and Russian. Results. The ethnonym has two spelling variants in Mongolian, namely: хасаг and казак. The former is the traditional spelling adopted by Mongols since ancient times. In Mongolian, the first syllable ка- (ka-) turns into ха- (kha-), which thus gave rise to the mentioned form. The second spelling variant was borrowed in the mid-to-late 20th century from Russian, and is a neologism. The Chinese hasake is as transformed as other ethnonyms, e.g., монгол (Mongol) — menggu, русский (Russian) — eluosi, ойрат (Oirat) — weilate, elute. Russians tended to call Kazakhs ‘Kirghiz-Kaisaks’, or ‘Kirghizes’ till the early 20th century. The latter ethnonym was replaced by қазақ (Qazaq), and further the spelling казах (Kazakh) was officially accepted.https://mongoloved.kigiran.com/jour/article/view/532/422ethnonymqazaqmongolskhasagmongolian languagerussian languagekazakkazakh |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Narmandakh Gombyn |
spellingShingle |
Narmandakh Gombyn The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited Монголоведение ethnonym qazaq mongols khasag mongolian language russian language kazak kazakh |
author_facet |
Narmandakh Gombyn |
author_sort |
Narmandakh Gombyn |
title |
The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited |
title_short |
The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited |
title_full |
The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited |
title_fullStr |
The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Ethnonym Kazakh in Four Languages (Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese and Russian): Spelling Variants Revisited |
title_sort |
ethnonym kazakh in four languages (mongolian, kazakh, chinese and russian): spelling variants revisited |
publisher |
Российской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центр |
series |
Монголоведение |
issn |
2500-1523 |
publishDate |
2020-11-01 |
description |
Introduction. Kazakhs are a Turkic people dominant in present-day Republic of Kazakhstan. The former also reside in adjacent territories of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Turkey. Ancient written sources employed quite a number of ethnonyms — including the endonym қазақ (Qazaq) — to denote the ethnos. And the issue of etymology is still debatable. According to the main version, the word қазақ stands for a ‘free, unrestricted, independent person’. Goals. The paper seeks to examine spelling variants of the ethnonym in national languages of bordering countries — Mongolian, Chinese, and Russian. Results. The ethnonym has two spelling variants in Mongolian, namely: хасаг and казак. The former is the traditional spelling adopted by Mongols since ancient times. In Mongolian, the first syllable ка- (ka-) turns into ха- (kha-), which thus gave rise to the mentioned form. The second spelling variant was borrowed in the mid-to-late 20th century from Russian, and is a neologism. The Chinese hasake is as transformed as other ethnonyms, e.g., монгол (Mongol) — menggu, русский (Russian) — eluosi, ойрат (Oirat) — weilate, elute. Russians tended to call Kazakhs ‘Kirghiz-Kaisaks’, or ‘Kirghizes’ till the early 20th century. The latter ethnonym was replaced by қазақ (Qazaq), and further the spelling казах (Kazakh) was officially accepted. |
topic |
ethnonym qazaq mongols khasag mongolian language russian language kazak kazakh |
url |
https://mongoloved.kigiran.com/jour/article/view/532/422 |
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