A Semantic study of the Military Terms in Ötämiš Ḥājī ’s Čingiz-nāma
Abstract
Čingiz-nāmä, ‘Book of Čingiz Khan’ written by Ötämiš Ḥājī in the 16th century, has gained increasing attention among scholars in recent years. The manuscript, which is in Chagatay, a Turkic literary language of Central Asia, preserves oral traditions and the Kipchak linguistic features. The current study aims to collect and analyze the military terms in this historical text from three dimensions: lexical meaning, etymologies, and semantic relations. A qualitative research design guided this study, wnabling the probe of 42 words of the military terminology, divided into several groups viz., soldiers, military officer, military equipment, military organization, military operation and military construction. The study uncovered the historical and etymological origins of these terms, tracing their evolution within the Turkic linguistic framework, and shedding light on the internal structure of the Turkic military vocabulary system of the 16th century. Additionally, the study discerned patterns within the historical evolution of Central Asian Middle Turkic military terminology, offering insights into the cultural and linguistic phenomena of the medieval Turkic language. Through careful analysis, the research not only mapped out the semantic landscape of military terminology but also revealed the reasons driving its historical evolution.