Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 73. kötet (1971)

Tanulmányok - Mándoky István: Néhány kun eredetű nagykunsági tájszó [Some Dialectal Words of Cumanian Origin to Be Found in Great Cumania] 365

NÉHÁNY KUN EREDETŰ NAGYKUNSÁGI TÁJSZŐ 385 Some Dialectal Words of Cumanian Origin to Be Found in Great Cumania The Cumanians, who settled down in Hungary in the middle of the 13th Century, played a very important rôle in the formation of the Hungárián people in the Great Plain. Though after their settlement they lived in closed ethnie unity for quite a few centuries, in the quarters allotted to them, isolated from the Hungárián inhabitants of the surrounding régions; nevertheless their way of life, their eustoms, costumes etc. found several followers among Hungarians living far away. Owing to this fact, the result was among others that some of their words denoting characteristieally Cumanian ideas and ob jeets found their way intő the Hungárián standard language, in which some of them are still in use, while others died out in the course of time. The standard words of Cumanian origin are considered by Hungárián linguists as belonging to the middle layer of our Turkish loan-words, the so-called Cumanian-Pecheneg layer. It cannot always be clearly decided whether the words classed so dérive from the language of the Cumanians or that of the Peehenegs, for those two nomadic Turkish peoples were nearly similar in their language, in their way of life, as well as in their culture. The Cumanians of Hungary were most probably assimilated in their language to the Hungarians during the Osmanli Turk conquests, that is during the 16th and 17th centuries. In the initial stage of their assimilation they probably used more words of Cumanian origin in their Hungárián speech which denoted ideas, objects, etc. mostly unknown among Hungarians. In the course of time the way of life of the Cumanians had changed considerably and gradually the words of Cumanian origin ref lecting their former eustoms and way of life died out from their language having become completely Hungárián. Hardly a few of them hâve sur vi ved to this day and even thèse are known only on the territories of the Great Plain that hâve still remained Cumanian, and in their immédiate vicinity. In this article the author présents 6 or 7 words of Cumanian origin in the Hungárián dialect of the Cumanians of Great Cumania. (A territory in the Great Plain, in the East of Hungary, named after the Cumanians). In Great Cumania, in the parlance of the elderly génération 'the heavily built, long-haired, shaggy sheep dog (about Hungárián dogs "komondor" and "kuvasz")' is called bardg (bâràg). This word goes cack to the Cumanian baraq 'long-haired, shaggy sheep dog' which is well-known nearly among ail the Turks, but mainly in the Kipehak branch. The word kajtár (káytár) in Great Cumania also has the meaning of 'migrating bird'. According to the author the word is the participle aorist of the Cumanian verb qayt- 'return' which together with the word que 'bird' gave the meaning 'migrating bird'. The word qaytar que 'migrating bird' is known also by the Tartars who settled in Dobrudjà from the Crimea in the middle of the last Century. The Cumanian form qaytar qu§, possibly. lost its posterior constituent que at the time of bilinguism or it was replaced by its Hungárián équivalent, the word madár (madár) 'bird'. The word kamesi (kdmci) 'ornamental long whip, riding whip' which is the adaptation of the Cumanian word qam£ï 'whip' is known only in Great Cumania. A varient Cumanian dialectal form of this word where there is a change of c to ë giving qamsï is the origin of the form kamsi (kâmsi) <~^ kamzsi (kâméi) known only in Great Cumania and its vicinity with the meaning 'ox or buffalo whip, long whip or lash'. Today only the very old people of Great Cumania know the word kangyík with the meaning of 'a strap ornamenting the sweat flap or fastening the objects or luggage to the pommel'. This word is mainly known among the Kipchak-Turks and so it goes back to the Cumanian word qanjïya 'girth leather, luggage-fastening strap on the saddle'. The word kapkány (kápkán, kápká) 'snare, trap' is known only in Great Cumania, which is the derivative of the verb qap- 'catch' with the participle suffix -qan. In Great Cumania and in the central part of the territory east to the river Tisza there are a few botanical terms of Turkish or more exactly of Cumanian origin, but their Turkish Originals have up-to-now not been found in the Turkish lexicographical works at our disposai. One of the botanical terms whose etimology can be easily traced is the word karambél (kárámbeél) which is mainly the name of the 'Gypsophila muralis L.' but which is used by a few as the name of 'Stellaria holostea' or 'Lychnis coronaria'. The karambél 'Gypsophila muralis L.' belongsto the family of "Caryophyllaceae" 'the family of pinks', the name of which originates from the Cumanian qarampil or qarampil 'Dianthus' which is the name of the plant 'Dianthus caryophyllus' belonging to this family. The Cumanian word qarampil, by the way, is a Persian loan-word. ISTVÁN MÁNDOKY