HORSE TACK VOCABULARY IN THE WRITTEN MONUMENT MUNYAT AL-GHUZAT: A HISTORICAL-LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive historical and linguistic analysis of lexical units related to horse equipment attested in the written monument Munyat al-Ghuzat, composed in the medieval Mamluk-Kipchak language. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a comprehensive investigation of the lexical repertoire of Turkic written monuments as an important source of information on the material culture, worldview, and linguistic history of the Turkic peoples. The aim of the study is to determine the historical and linguistic nature of terminology related to horse equipment and to identify the specific features of the functioning of these lexical units in the modern Kazakh language. The object of the study is the language of the written monument Munyat al-Ghuzat, while the subject of the research comprises the lexical-semantic and structural features of horse-equipment terms.

The study employs historical-comparative, semantic, contrastive, etymological, and historical-phonetic methods of analysis, which make it possible to examine the development of the investigated vocabulary from a diachronic perspective. For the first time in Kazakh Turkological studies, the semantic features and linguistic evolution of horse-equipment terms attested in Munyat al-Ghuzat are systematically analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the origin of the terms, their word-formation structure, phonetic changes, and degree of preservation in the modern Kazakh language. The findings demonstrate that a significant proportion of the analyzed lexemes have retained their semantic foundations and continue to function actively in contemporary Kazakh, indicating the continuity of the linguistic and cultural traditions of the Turkic peoples.

The results of the study demonstrate that horse-equipment terms constitute an important layer of linguocultural vocabulary reflecting the economic activities, everyday life, military practices, and spiritual culture of the Turkic peoples. The conclusions of the study contribute to the development of historical lexicology, Turkology, ethnolinguistics, and historical semasiology, while also expanding our understanding of the linguistic worldview of medieval Turkic societies.