Colour words as linguistic and cultural markers of modern turkish anthroponyms

Ðàçìåùåíî íà http://www.allbest.ru

Ðàçìåùåíî íà http://www.allbest.ru

Word is a universal conservator of a nation's worldview. Being an intermediary between all the sign systems, word includes a large amount of culture-specific information. This is especially true for proper names, which, according to Darzamanova, are “the most specific and at the same time the most abstract category, which makes it possible to trace the conversion of a specific nominal value signs into a symbol, an image, into a general concept in language contexts, which captures the history of the people, the history of their worldview, the history of the word” (Darzamanova 110). We can say that every proper name is a word-symbol, a word-image, often metaphorical or metonymic, that is, in names we can see “the use of a word in a figurative sense based on similarity in some relation to two objects or phenomena” (“Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary” 296) or “the use the names of one object instead of the name of another object on the basis of external or internal ties” (“Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary” 310).

Personal names of Turkic origin form the largest group in the Turkish anthroponymic system. Often they are two-component names that contain descriptive or evaluative characteristics. In general, the Turkic anthroponyms - both single-component and multi-component - are names of common origin and clear etymology. Colour words refer to one of the oldest layers of the language. Giving a symbolic meaning to colours is a characteristic feature of the mythological worldview. Therefore, when analyzing the semantic meaning of the Turkish anthroponyms with colour components, we take into account that fact, that most of the analyzed names appeared many centuries ago in other social conditions, within the system of other semantic ties.

Brent Berlin and Paul Kay in their classical study on colours “Basic Colour Terms: Their Universality and Evolution”, published in 1969, suggest the existence of colour universals which “are related to the historical development of all languages in a way that can properly be termed evolutionary” (Berlin, Kay 1). Experimentally they figured out eleven basic colour terms that can be drawn in any language. They are white, black, red, green, yellow, brown, purple, pink, orange and grey. The scholars worked out the following sequence (Berlin, Kay 2-3):

“1. All languages contain terms for white and black.

2. If a language contains three terms, than it contains a term for red.

3. If a language contains four terms, than it contains a term to either green o yellow (but not both).

4. If a language contains five terms, than it contains terms for both green and yellow.

5. If a language contains six terms, than it contains a term for blue.

6. If a language contains seven terms, than it contains a term for brown.

7. If a language contains eight or more terms, than it contains a term for purple, pink, orange, grey, or some combination of these”.

As Berlin and Kay explain, increase in the number of basic colour terms may be seen as part of general increase in vocabulary, a response to an informationally richer cultural environment. So the chronological order may be interpreted as a “sequence of evolutionary stages” (Berlin, Kay 16).

This hypothesis is disputed by Anna Weirzbicka, who considers it anglocentric and untenable (Weirzbicka, “The Semantics of Colour”). To her view, colour itself cannot be a universal human concept because there are many languages in the world (for example, in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Africa) which do not have a word for “colour”. In the Anbarra language there are only two colour terms - for light and dark. The scholar writes: “People who habitually look at the world in terms of colours can find it difficult to believe that those from other cultures may have a profoundly different perspective on the visible world - for example, that they may habitually distinguish between things of high visibility (like sun, fire and blood) and those of low visibility, or between brightness and lack of brightness” (Weirzbicka, “The Semantics of Colour” 17). Weirzbicka points out, that different colours have close equivalents in many other languages, but “even overlapping with them, they are also different from them in meaning'(Weirzbicka, “The Semantics of Colour” 10).

Berlin and Kay's assumption that colour vocabulary relates to the historical development of a given language, and Weirzbicka's statement about difference of colour concepts in different languages seem to me quite argumentative. At the same time I agree with Weirzbicka, that we can not speak about colour universals which refer to all the languages of the world without exceptions.

In Turkish linguistics there are a number of articles devoted to the semantics of colour since the ancient Turkic times till nowadays. These are valuable works by Zeki Kaymaz (Kaymaz), Re§at Geng (Geng), Heyet Cevad (Cevad), Metin Ekici (Ekici), Ahmet Akkaya (Akkaya). But they are mostly concerned with the historical and cultural aspects of the colours and do not analyze them from the linguistic point of view. Significant in this respect is the paper of Nesrin Bayraktar “Turkgede Renk Adlariyla Ozel Ad Yapimi” (Coining Proper Names Through Colour Terms In Turkish) (Bayraktar), which, taking as a theoretical basis for her research Berlin and Kay's theory, suggests 2,178 proper names - among them 523 personal names - that contain colour terms. But the linguistic analysis, made in this paper, is not sufficient either. An interesting research angle is also provided in Kaidi Ratsep's paper “Preliminary Rresearch on Turkish Basic Colour Terms With an Emphasis on Blue”, where the scholar experimentally distinguishes the most salient colour terms in the modern Turkish language. According to the results of the experiment, they are ye§il (green), sari (yellow), siyah (siyah), kimizi (red) and mavi (blue). Next in line are beyaz (white), mor (purple), kahverengi (brown), pembe (pink), turuncu (orange) and gri (gray) (Ratsep 142).

Turkish personal names are analyzed in the works of Tuncel Gulensoy, Derya Duman, Laszlo Rasonyi, Aydil Erol, Saim Sakaaoglu, Ebulfez Kuli Amanoglu, Oguz Ergene and others.

Aim and hypothesis.

Despite the great interest that anthroponyms evoke today, many of the theoretical and practical aspects of the Turkish personal name have not yet been studied. In this paper I will investigate the semantics of Turkish personal names with colour terms as a rich source of cultural, historical and linguistic information. I will argue, that perception and semantics of colour terms varies not only in different languages, but also in different periods of a nation's development. The meaning and symbolism of colour concept in the period of the mythological worldview differs from a modern person's perception of colour. In order to prove this hypothesis I will investigate how people use colours in naming from the diachronic perspective of Turkic names, formed in the ancient times, and from the synchronic perspective of nicknames, given by Turkish people to each other nowadays. All these will allows us to gain insight into the cultural and linguistic changes in the Turkish society.

Methods and material

When investigating Turkish personal names and nicknames with a colour words, we used the continuous sampling method, methods of semantic and comparative analysis. The material for analysis was taken from the dictionaries and encyclopedias of modern Turkish personal names, as well as from some works of Turkish scholars, dedicated to Turkish nicknames.

Colour terms in Turkish personal names.

Russian researcher Gabysheva expresses an opinion, which correlates with Berlin and Kay's theory of basic colour terms, and suggests that the most significant for all the nations is the opposition of white and black in the semantic opposition of life / death, day / night, good / evil, social top/social bottom, good deities / evil deities, etc., as well as the triad white / red / black, which “forms the main triangle of the designation of colours in all the languages, representing a concentrated designation of large areas of psychological experience that affects both the mind and the senses” (Gabysheva 10). Turkish researcher Cevad Heyet points out, that the metaphorical meaning of colours arose from a man's observation of nature and its metonymic rethinking (Heyet 50). For example, black was associated with the darkness of the night - the time of man's rest and sleep, that is, his temporary death. Light colours, like white and pink, were colours of the dawn, that is, the revival of life; blue was the symbol of the heaven, high and inaccessible, the colour of the gods, etc.

246 masculine and feminine personal names out of 4,000 under analysis contain colour terms. Among the colours that are a part of the Turkish personal names there are ak (white), kara (black), al (red), gok (blue), mavi (blue), sari (yellow), ala (light brown; variegated), boz (gray, grayish brown, colour of soil), kir (light gray, dirty white), gakir (blue-gray eye colour), beyaz (white), pembe (pink), mor (purple). The following table shows the ratio and the number of masculine and feminine names with colour terms:

Table 1

word language symbolic colour

According to the Turkish researcher Cevad Heyet, it is peculiar for the Turks to endow colours with religious, divine, national, geographical and emotional connotations (Heyet 50). Some colours were loved, respected and considered to be lucky by the Turks. Sometimes they endowed the colours with divine meaning (as it was with the blue colour (gok)). Other colours, on the contrary, were considered to be unlucky, and in respect to them the Turks felt hostile. For example, they are such colours as kara (black) and sari (yellow). For comparison, in modern Turkish the verb sararmak means “to pale”, “to wither”, “to fade”, “to get old”, “to grow lean”, “to yearn”, “to grieve”. As researchers note, the Turks used colours to denote the sides of the world. White corresponded to the west, red - to the south, blue (from the 11th century - green) - to the east. The colour of the north was black.

As it can be seen from the table above, the most significant for the Turks were white, blue and clear-red.

Symbolic meaning of colours in Turkish history

White (ak) in the Turkic culture symbolized purity, noble origin, greatness, holiness, old age (wisdom). Among the Huns, which are considered to be the ancestors of the Turks, it also meant power and justice. The aristocratic elite during the war wore white clothes and rode horses of the sacred white colour. (A nice example for this is the entry of the conqueror of Constantinople Fatih Sultan Mehmet into the conquered city on a white horse). The hats and flags of the nobility were white. As already mentioned above, white was a symbol of the west. In this regard, Cevad Heyet puts forward a hypothesis that the Turkic name of the Mediterranean “'Akdeniz” (lit. “The White Sea”) is not random (Heyet 50).

Since ancient times, white has been considered the colour of good, and black has been the colour of evil. In the mythology of Altaic Turks, Ak Ata (lit. “White Father”), like Adam, was the forefather of the mankind. In the Oghuz Turks' epic stories (“Oguz Destani”), Ak Han (lit. “White Khan”) is an alegitimate ruler of noble descent. In contrast, Oghuz's father Kara Han (lit. “Black Khan”) is presented as a cruel man opposed to Islam. The binary opposition “white / black” is also reflected in the opposition “nobility (ak kemik) /common people (kara kemik)”. In the myths of the Altai and Northern Turks White Shamans (Ak §amanlar) brought iron from the heaven to the earth. In the “Book of Dede Korkut” the white colour of the house and the tent means happiness and good luck.

There is a remarkable hypothesis of the famous leader of the Turkish people Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk as for the word “ak” (white). Taking as a basis the theory of an Austrian linguist Herman F. Kvergic, according to which all the languages arose from the exclamations of a person watching the nature, Turkish linguists, inspired by Ataturk, created their “Sun Language Theory”. Proceeding from the fact that the main cult of the ancient people was the cult of the Sun, and the sound “a” was the simplest sound of human speech, they declared the word “ag” to be the initial word for all the languages of the world, the derivative of which was the word “Aryan” (ag + er), and thereby set the connection between the Turks and Aryans.

Black (kara) in the Turkic culture had a number of opposite meanings. Using the example of phraseological units we can trace some negative connotations that people have inclosed in this colour: kara gunler (black days), kara bayram (a mournful day), kara haber (bad news), kara yuzlu (an unscrupulous man), aralarindan kara kegi gegti (lit. a black goat crossed between them - their relations have deteriorated). However, in addition to negative connotations, Habysheva distinguishes the following metaphorical meanings of the word “kara” in the Turkic anthroponymy: large, major, powerful, strong, formidable, fearsome (Habysheva 7). For example, high, majestic mountains are called often Karadag (lit. Black Mountain).

Another major colour in the worldview of the Turkish people is red. It was believed to be the colour of the rulers and the colour that brought good luck. The Turks had two words for it: al and kizil. In the Turkic onomastics al is used more widely. Its material matches are fire and roof. The ancient Turks had a cult of the god of fire, which was called Al Ruhu (Red Spirit) or Al Ate§ (Red Fire). Re§at Geng believes that the use of red flags in the ancient Turkic states is also a reflection of this cult (Geng 2). Thus, red was a symbol of strength, aggression and excitement. In the Turkic mythology the eyes of heroes were red. As Ekici states, red was considered sacred in the Turkic culture, proving this by the fact that the ancient Turkmen wore red hats (that is the part of the clothes which is the closest to the sky and to the gods), as well as by the fact that nowadays in some dialects the word “al” preserves the meaning of “great”, “higher”, “omnipotent” (Ekici 104).

Red is also the colour of the Sun - heavenly fire, a source of power and energy. When the sun rises and sets, it colurs the sky red - «gogun kizilligi». The time of sunset and dawn was a sacred time when the Turks prayed. In the Turkish traditions red for a girl is a colour of happiness and maturity, as well as the colour of a wedding room for newlyweds. In “The Book of Dede Korkut” the bride and the groom wear a red dress (“Stories of Dede Korkut”).

The word “gok” stands in the Turkic languages as a determinant of blue, the semantics of which also included the meaning of green (gogermek - “to green”). As Berlin and Kay note: “To a group whose members have frequent occasion to contrast fine shades of leaf colour and who possess no dyed fabrics, colour-coded electrical wires and so forth, it may not be worhwhite to rote-learn labels for gross perceptual discrimination such as green /blue, despite the phsycophysical salience of such contrasts” (Berlin\ Kay 16).

The ancient Turks worshiped the god of the sky (Gok Tanri), as a result blue obtained connotations “great”, “elevated”. The researcher of Turkic mythology Bahaeddin Ogel points out that in the myths the face of the saint people had a blue colour, the face of good people - white, and that of bad people - black. Moreover, Gok Boru or Bozkurt (Blue Wolf) which was described in the epic “Oghuz Khan” and was believed to have shown the Turks the road to their new homeland, was sent by the god of heaven or was the god itself, embodied in the body of a wolf (Oge l 111-112). Later, the blue colour gained the connotations of maturity and experience.

As we see from the table, the word “yeyil”, which indicates green, is not a productive component of the Turkish anthroponyms. The only name that contains it is a feminine name Yeyil, which is the name of the colour itself. In the Turkic tradition green colours were a symbol of nature, youth and life. The word “yeyil” does not occur in “The Book of Dede Korkut”, the word “gok” is used instead of it. However, in later works this word is mentioned quite often. As we know, the green colour during the Islamic era also gained some spiritual significance and became the colour of the Prophet Muhammad's lineage.

Yellow (sari) had ambiguous semantic connotations in the Turkic culture. As Re§at Geng points out, the golden hue of the yellow colour (altin sarisi) embodied wealth, reign, scholarship, center of the world (Geng 3). In the time of Gennghis Khan, yellow became a symbol of statehood; the headquarters of Batu Khan was called Sari Ordu, which later was transformed into Altin Ordu (Golden Horde). The name of the Altai Mountains (Altay), which are considered sacred among shamans, comes from two words altin - “golden” and tay (tag /dag) - “mountain”.

On the other hand, in the Turkic epics yellow was a symbol of illness and misfortune. In the Turkic fairy tales a yellow dragon embodied suspicion and bad feelings (Heyet 5), and fairy-tale heroes, in order to prove their strength and courage, had to fight with this animal. However, yellow was often used in descriptions of nature and spring flowers.

Colour terms like boz (gray, grayish brown, colour of soil) and kir (light gray, dirty white) make up components of 8 % of Turkish personal names, and these terms can be found in old Turkic epics (Akkaya 529). The wide use of such “non-basic” colours in the Turkic language can be explained by the fact that for a long period of time the Turks were nomadic people and used these colour terms to denote horses' coat colour - roan (kir) and bay (boz). The horses with the coat colour of ak-boz were important in the Turkic culture, they were ridden by military commanders and thought to be sacred (Akkaya 531). This once again proves that colour terms can be cultural markers and to some extent disproves the hypothesis of Berlin and Kay about the basic colours, which are similar for all the nations in the world.

Semantics of colour terms in Turkish personal names

Among the Turkish anthroponyms, which include the word “ak” / “ag”, the most numerous group is personal names where the second component is a name of a nature object such as rock (kaya, dag), water (su), stream (sel), stone (tay), fire (alev), moon (ay), iron (demir, timur), cloud (bulut), wind (yel), sea (deniz), branch (dal), sun (guney), etc. For example, Akay, Akkor, Akpolat, Aksel, Aktay, Aksu, Aggelik, Aktimur, Akdag, Akyel, Akduman, Akdeniz, Akbayak, Akdal. That is, the word “ak' here states the white (light) colour of the objects (Akay, Akduman, Akbulut, Akguney), or imparts the connotation of purity (Aksel, Aksu, Akkor, Akdal). The second largest group is a group of anthroponyms, which mean an “honest, pure-hearted person”. They are also composed names that have a component which denotes a person, his moral qualities or a part of a human body: man (man), hero (alp, batur), warrior (er), can (can), self (oz), maturity (ergin), hand (el), forehead (alin), voice (ses). For example, Akcan, Akoz, Akergin, Akersan, Akalp, Akbatur, Akman, Akmaner, Ozakay, Akata, Akel, Akalin. There are also many anthroponyms that reflect a noble lineage, nobility of the family. The components of these names are words denoting different titles (han, bek, giray), as well as words like family (soy), mister (bay), glory (un, san), name (ad). For example, Akbay, Akbek, Akgiray, Aktekin, Aksoy, Akersoy, Akunal, Akad, Akadli. We can also single out a group of anthroponyms where the word “ak”' means “bright”, “happy”: Akgun, Akmut, Akyit, Akguner. The word "ak" can also denote a light colour of skin: Akdogan, Akdogmuy, Akga. It should be noted that in feminine names white is mostly used to emphasize the physical or spiritual beauty and purity of a girl (Akpinar (Pure Source), Akyildiz (White Star), Akguney (White Sun), Akipek (White Silk), Akgul (White Rose), Akses (Pure Voice), Akcan (Pure Soul), Akkiz (White Girl)) or is used to wish happiness: Akgungor (lit. see the light day), Akkutlu (white + joyful), Akmutlu (white + happy).

Personal names with the colour term “kara” are fewer, and they occur only in the names of men and mean “big”, “fearsome” (Karahan, Karabey, Karatay) or “dark-skinned” (Karaalp, Karayagiz, Karaca, Karacan, Karacaoglan).

As already mentioned above, in the ancient Turks' tradition red was a symbol of fire and blood, that is, aggressiveness, fearlessness and heroism, which is reflected in the names with the lexeme “al”: Alkan (Red Blood), Alkin (Red Sheath), Alkor (Red Fire), Aldemir (Red (Hot) Iron). Taking into account that red was also a sacred colour and the colour of the rulers, we can distinguish a group of personal names with this meaning: Alhan (Red Khan), Alsan (Red Glory), Altug (Red Tug (Banner)), Aldogan (Born of Red). Another group of anthroponyms with the lexeme “al” are names with a component which denotes natural phenomena, that emphasize a person's beauty (this is especially true for women's names): Algun (Red Day), Altan (Red Dawn), Ozaltan (Red Dawn Itself), Altaner (red dawn + warrior), Algul (Red Rose), Almila (Red Apple), Ozal (Red in its Essence), Altuna (red Danube). The anthroponym Alsag (Red Hair) is the only one that describes appearance.

The lexeme “gok” conveys two concepts: it denotes the blue colour and the sky. Among the personla names that contain this component, we can distinguish a group of names, the second component of which is a natural phenomenon: leaf, lightning (berk), branch (dal), sea (deniz), stream (sel), water (su), stone (tag), mountain pass (bel), dawn (tan), etc. In these examples, the word “gok” denotes the colour of an object or phenomenon (blue or green) or emphasizes its beauty. For example, Gogen, Gokbel, Gokbelen, Gokberk, Gokdal, Gokdeniz, Goksel, Goksu, Goksun, Goktag, Goktuna, Gokgin, Goktan, Goktung. When analyzing the semantics of blue in the ancient Turks' tradition, we found out that it had connotations like “higher”, “great”, “holy”. Proceeding from this, we can distinguish a group of anthroponyms, the second component of which contains the title of a ruling person (bay, bey, han, tekin) or the name of a nation of divine origin (Hun, Turk): Gokbay, Gokbey, Gokgen, Goktekin, Goktug, Gokhun, Gokturk.

In combination with the words like man (men), warrior (alp), warrior (er), soul (can), in addition to the meaning “hero” the name also obtains the connotation “a light-skinned and blue-eyed man”: Gokalp, Gokbaran, Goker, Gokmenalp, Gokger, Gokcan. The same connotation is found in the names which mean tones of blue: Gokge, Gokgen, Gokgin, Gokgin.

One more group includes the names in which the lexeme “gok” means “sky” and which are related to heavenly objects or phenomena: Gokada (Galaxy), Gokhan (Ruler of the Sky), Gokseven, Goksever (one, who loves the sky), Gokben (lit. sky + me), Goksen (lit. sky + you).

Above we found that the yellow in the Turkic culture obtained some negative connotation, but at the same time it had a positive meaning when describing nature and flowers. Therefore, names with the colur term “sari” are few, and they are mostly feminine names-descriptions of natural objects: Sariyildiz (Yellow Star), Sariguzel (yellow + beautiful), Sarigul (Yellow Rose), Sarigigek (Yellow Flower).

Another small group includes anthroponyms with the lexeme “ala” - “light-chestnut colour”, “variegated”. They are also mostly feminine names-descriptions of natural phenomena and objects: Alatan (Dawn), Alapinar (Colourful Spring), Alanur (Colourful Beam), Ala (Variegated), Alaca (Colourful), Alagun (Cloudy Day).

The colour term “Kir” can be found in four Turkish masculine names: Kirhan, Kirbay, Kirtay and Kirboga, where this lexeme indicates the colour of hair - grayish white. Boz is found in 13 masculine names and has a meaning of “garay, grayish brown, colour of soil”: Bozdemir, Bozyel, Bozdag, Bozyigit etc. I can suggest that, being at the same time the name for equine coat colour, these colour terms, used in personal names, get an additional connotation of “a warrior”, “a rider”, “a brave man”. This is confirmed by the meaning of the second component of the name: dag (mountain), yigit (brave), tay (foal), boga (bull), demir (iron), etc.

A masculine name Bozkurt needs a special mention. Bozkurt was the main totem of the ancient Turkic tribes and was considered a national symbol since the time of the Huns till the Ottoman Empire.

The first written mention of the colour term gakir occurs in Divan-i Lugat-it Turk (1070) by Mahmut Kashgarli, where it is used in the meaning of “blue-gray, eye colour”, which is relevant today too. Among all the names we have found only three masculine names with this colour term: Qakir (blue-gray eyed), Qakirbey (blue-gray eyed lord), Qakirer (blue-gray eyed worrier).

Lexemes beyaz, pembe, mor and mavi are borrowings from Arabic, Persian and Greek languages in the later period of the Turkish language's development, and we can see that personal names, containing these colour terms, are quite few. Basically, these are feminine names. The colour here does not have any symbolic meaning, but conveys the connotation of beauty and youth, which is clearly seen in the second components of these names - “gul” (rose) and “ay” (moon): Morgul, Gulbeyaz, Pembegul, Gulpembe, Moray. Also names with these colour terms may reflect some physical characteristics of a woman (blue or light blue eyes): Mavi, Mavig, Mavisel.

Colour terms in modern Turkish nicknames

On the basis of the results of Turkish scholars' researches on modern nicknames in different regions of Turkey (Ozkan), (Oguz, Oguz), (Kaya), (Erol) it appeared that about 13 % of the nicknames under analysis contain colour terms. The most popular colour words are kara (black), ak (white), sari (yellow) and gok (mavi). Meanwile, colour terms like yegil (green), mavi (blue), kir (light gray, canescent, grayish white), gakir (blue-gray), ala (light brown; variegated), kizil (kirmizi), pembe (pink) are used less. It is remarkable, that even nowadays Turkish people in small towns and villages use the traditional lexemes kara (gara), ak, gok and kizil, like in old Turkic personal names, instead of modern words siyah, beyaz, mavi and kirmizi to denote black, white, blue and red respectively.

The Turkish investigators in their papers give the explanation why people use this or that colour word when naming each other. And it turns out, that nowadays colour terms have lost their symbolic meaning, reflected in the mythopoetic picture of the world of the ancient Turks, and are mostly used to denote a colour in a person's appearance - colour of his hair, moustache, beard, eyes, skin etc. Kara states for dark skin or hair, sari for blond hair and light skin, mavi and gok for blue eyes, kizil for red hair. Colour terms and their derivatives formed by suffixation can be used by themselves: Mavi, Sari, Yegil, Gokge, Kizilca, Karaca, Akga, Mavig. However, in most cases, colour terms attribute a person's name: Gara Osman, GokAli, AkMehmet, Sari Hayri, Qakir Huseyin.

Colour terms can also be used in a combination with:

- kinship terms: Gok Kiz, Gok Oglan, Karadayi, Karadayioglu, Karaoglan;

- words denoting a person: Kara Yigit, Gokmen;

- terms of social status: Yegil Aga, Sari Bey, Akkoca;

- parts of a human body: Garagagla (Karakaglar), Garabiyikla, Ak kag, Karabacak, Karabag, Kara goz, Kara kag, Kizilbagoglu, Gara Sakal, Girbag, Alabag;

- names of profession: Gara Ogretmen;

- names of animals and plants: Gara Bakla, Bozkurt, Karagahin.

In this paper I do not take into consideration nicknames formed on the basis of a person's place of birth, like Akdereli, Aksazli, Akyali, Alaagagli, Akhisarli, Akgehirli, or a celebrity's personal name, like Gara Dagak, Garaboce, Karayel.

Concept of colour in modern Turkish nicknames is also expressed by such lexems like Arap and Kurt for dark skin: Arap §ikilop, Kurt; and kina (gina) for red: Gina Biyik (red moustache).

Our analysis showed that colour terms, in addition to designation of colour itself, have certain cultural and historical connotations. It can be clearly seen in personal names, formed in the ancient Turkic period, when each of the base colours had a profound symbolic meaning. Today, as we can see on the example of modern nicknames, colour terms in a personal name mostly have a direct meaning but add some emotional connotations and are used to indicate the features of a person's appearance. Both in ancient times, and in modern Turkish society the following colour terms are actual: ak (white), kara (black), al (red), gok (blue), sari (yellow), ala (light brown; variegated), boz (gray, grayish brown, colour of soil), kir (light gray, dirty white), gakir (blue-gray eye colour). Beyaz (white), pembe (pink), mor (purple) and mavi (blue), being borrowed words from other languages, are quite few.

It should be said that Berlin and Kay's theory regarding colour universals is not entirely plausible with regard to the Turkish language, as in the early periods of the development of the Turkish language we can see not only the basic 11 colour terms, that they singled out (although, of course, black, white, red and blue are of primary importance in the ancient Turkic culture), but also such colours as boz, kir, ala. The name reflects only the most significant and important realities and events for the people, therefore the presence of such colour terms as boz, kir, ala in personal names indicates their importance and is specific for the culture of the nomadic Turks, that, as we suggest, is related to the earth and animal breeding. However, Berlin and Kay's hypothesis about the evolution of colour terms related to the historical development of language is confirmed by our research.

In modern Turkish, we can see more colours and more words for their reference, including borrowed words, such as kirmizi, beyaz, siyah, mavi, which almost supplanted the Turkic terms in the literary language. However, as we can see on the example of modern Turkish nicknames, the traditions of the use of old Turkic terms are preserved among the people in small towns and villages.

Turkish anthroponyms with colour words are generally two-component words, the first component of which is a colour lexem which has descriptive or evaluative characteristics (sometimes in combination with the words oz, tung, gun, and tan, the colour lexeme may be placed at the end of the word, for example, Ozaltin, Tanaltan, Ozal, Tungal, Gunal). Single-component names are words, denoting the colour itself or its hues: Akca, Alaca, Gokge, Yegil, Mavi;

All the anthroponyms with colour terms have a positive meaning, although the colours that are included in them, may have some negative connotations (for example, sari (yellow) and kara (black));

The most important colours in the Turkish culture are ak (white), gok (blue), kara (black) and al (red).

Two personal names contain a combination of two colours: Akal, Aksari.

By their lexical meaning all the Turkish personal names with colour terms can be divided into the following groups: 1) names that represent natural phenomena; 2) names that reflect a person's high position in society and his nobility; 3) names that reflect the external and internal beauty of a person, his positive qualities. Positive qualities for men are heroism, strength, courage, reflected in such lexemes like demir, tag, alp, batur, er, tung; positive qualities for women are beauty, tenderness, purity, reflected in the lexems ipek, pinar, bagak, nur, gul. However, in modern nicknames colours are generally used to denote a person's apperence - colour of hair, eyes, beard etc.: Kizilbag, Karakag, Sari, Mavig.

In two- and three-component personal names all the colour lexemes can be combined with the words er, alp, can, oz, tan, tag, tung, demir, deniz, sel, su, Tuna, bey, bay, han, indicating their significance for the Turks, that requires more detailed research.

References

1. Akkaya, Ahmet. “Alip Mana§ Destaninda Renkler” (“Colours in the Epic of Al-Manas”). Tarih Okulu Dergisi (TOD) (Journal of History School (JOHS)). September, 2013. Year 6, Issue XV. 527-544. Print.

2. Amanoglu, Ebulfez Kuli. “Divanu Lugati't-Turk'deki Ki§i Adlari Uzerine” (“About Personal Names in Diwan Lughat al-Turk”). Ataturk Universitesi Turkiyat Aragtirmalari Enstitusu Dergisi (Ataturk University Turkic Studies Research Institute Journal), (2000), 15. 5-14. Print.

3. Bayraktar, Nesrin. “Turkgede Renk Adlanyla Ozel Ad Yapimi” (“Coining Proper Names Through Colour Terms in Turkish”). Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 9(2), 2013. 95-114. Print.

4. Berlin, Brent-Kay Paul. Basic Colour Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. University of California Press, 1991. Print.

5. Colour and colour naming: crosslinguistic approaches. Centro de Lingmstica da Universidade de Lisboa / Universidade de Aveiro, Sep 1, 2016. Print.

6. Darzamanova, Hulnaz. “Otrazheniye Kartiny Mira v Russkikh, Tatarskikh, Angliyskikh Frazeologicheskikh Yedinitsakh s Lichnymi Imenami (Reflection of the Picture of the World in Russian, Tatar, English Phraseological Units with Personal Names)”. Yazykovaya semantika i obraz mira (The Language Semantics and Image of the World). - Kazan State U. (2004): 110-112. Print.

7. Ekici, Metin. “Turk Kulturunde “Al” Renk” (“Scarlet” the Colour in Turkish Culture”). Turk Dunya incelemeleri Dergisi (Journal of Turkish World Studies) 16/2 Ki§-Winter (2016): 103-107. Print.

8. Ergene, Oguz. “Turk Ki§i Adlarinda Orneklenen Soz Dizimsel Yapilar” (Syntactic Structures in Turkish Personal Names”. Uluslararasi Turkge Edebiyat Kultur Egitim Dergisi (International Turkish Literature Culture Education Journal), (2016), 5(2). 626-650. Print.

9. Erol, Aydil. Adlarimiz (Our Names). Ankara: Turk Kulturunu Ara§tirma Enstitusu yay., 1992. Print.

10. Gabysheva, Luiza. Slovo v Kontekste Mifopoeticheskoy Kartiny Mira (Na Materiale i Yazyke Kul'tury Yakutov) (A Word in the Context of the Mythopoetic Picture of the World (Based on the Material and Language of the Yakut Culture)).Diss. Russian State Humamtary U. Moskow. 2003. Abstract. Print.

11. Geng, Re§at. “Turk Du§uncesi, Davram§i ve Hayatinda Renkler ve Sari, Kirmizi, Ye§il” (“Turkish People's Thought, Behavior and Colours in Their Life and Yellow, Red, Green”). Nevruz ve Renkler (Nevruz and Colours). Ankara: Ataturk K. M. Yayini, 1996. 41-48. Print.

12. Gulensoy, Tuncel “Turk Ki§i Adlannin Dil ve Tarih Agisindan Onemi” (“The Importance of Turkish Person Names in Terms of Language and History”). Turk Dili (Turkish language). 565 (1999): 3-8. Print.

13. Gulensoy, Tuncer. “XXI. Yuzyilda Turkiye Ki§i Adlarina Bir Baki§” (“A Glance at the Turkish Personal Names in the 21st Century”). iDiL, Volume 1, Number 5, 2012. 1-7. Print.

14. Heyet, Cevad. “Turklerin Tarihinde Renklerin Yeri” (The Place of Colours in the History of Turks). Nevruz ve Renkler (Nevruz and Colours). Ankara: Ataturk K. M. Yayini, 1996. 49-61. Print.

15. Kaymaz, Zeki. “Turkiye Turkgesi ve Agizlarinda Renk Bildiren Kelimelerin Kullanili§i ve Sistematigi” (“The Use and Systematics of Colour Terms in Turkey Turkish and Dialects"). Turk Dili Aragtirmalari Yilligi Belleten (Turkish Language Research Yearbook Belleten). Ankara, 1997. 251-341. Print.

16. Lingvisticheskiy Entsiklopedicheskiy Slovar' (Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary). Ed. by Viktoria Yartseva. Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1990. Print.

17. Ogel, Bahaeddin. Turk Mitolojisi (Kaynaklari ve Agiklamalari ile Destanlar) (Turkish Mythology (Resources and Epics with Explanations)). Ankara: Turk Tarihi Kurumu Basimevi, 2002. Print.

18. Rasonyi, Laszlo-Baski, Imre Onomasticon Turcicum: Turkic personal names. Indiana University, Denis Sinor Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 2007. Print.

19. Ratsep Kaidi. “Preliminary research on Turkish basic colour terms with an emphasis on blue”. New Directions in Colour Studies, UK: John Benjamins Publishing, 2011. 133-146. Print.

20. Sakaoglu, Saim. Turk Ad Bilimi (Study on Turkish Names), Ankara: TDK yay., 2001. Print.

21. Sistemy Lichnykh Imion u Narodov Mira (Systems of Personal Names of the Peoples of the World). Ed. by Roza Dzharylhasynova, Mikhail Kriukov, Vladimir Nikonov, Aleksandr Reshetov. Moscow: Nauka, 1989. Print.

22. Superanskaya, Aleksandra. Obshchaya Teoriya Imeni Sobstvennogo (General Theory of Proper Names). Moscow: Nauka, 1973. Print.

23. Wierzbicka, Anna. “The Semantics of Colour. A New Paradigm”. Progress in Colour Studies: Language and Culture. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 2006. 1-24. Print.

24. Wierzbicka, Anna. Semantics: Primes and Universals. UK: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

Ðàçìåùåíî íà Allbest.ru