Origin and diversity of the words denoting some traditional Eurasian pulse crops in Mongolic and Tungusic
Abstract
Supporters of the existence of the Altaic language family consider it to include Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Korean and Japonic branches, and believe that all of these originated from the Proto-Altaic. On the basis of archaeological findings, one may expect that traditional Eurasian pulse crops, such as peas (Pisum sativum), lentils (Lens culinaris), chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), faba beans (Vicia faba), vetchlings (Lathyrus spp.) and vetches (Vicia spp.), were known to the ancestors of the modern Altaic nations. This assumption is confirmed by two Proto-Altaic roots. The first root is *bukrV, denoting pea. Its three main direct derivatives preserved the original meaning and transferred it to their modern descendants, namely the Proto-Turkic *burcak to the majority of modern Turkic languages, such as Kazakh with bursaq; the Proto-Mongolic *bu gamma urcag, giving the modern Mongolian burcag; and the Proto-Tungusic *boKa-ri, giving the Manchu boxori. Another root is *ziabsa, denoting lent...il. It gave the Proto-Turkic *jasimuk, the Proto-Mongolic *sisi and the Proto-Tungusic *sibsV. In Turkic and Tungusic, its original meaning was preserved, such as in the Turkmen jasmiq or the Nanai siusi, while in Mongolic it shifted to Sorghum spp., such as in Kalmyk, with sis.
Source:
Dialectologia Et Geolinguistica, 2012, 20, 1, 63-70Publisher:
- Mouton De Gruyter, Berlin
Funding / projects:
- Increasing the market significance of forage crops by breeding and optimizing seed production technology (RS-MESTD-Technological Development (TD or TR)-31024)
DOI: 10.1515/dialect-2012-0004
ISSN: 0942-4040