Functional and semantic features of the lexeme ulug (based on the work of Mahmud Bulgari “Nahj al-Faradis” (14th century)

Abstract

   The main purpose of this article is to describe the semantic aspects of the lexeme Ulug, found in the Arabographic medieval Turkic-language monument “Nahj al-Faradis” by Mahmud Bulgari, which is of particular value for the history of Tatar linguistics.

   The relevance of the study is due to the lack of research devoted to the semantic and stylistic features of Mahmud Bulgari’s work.

   A contextual analysis and comparative method enabled us to show the grammatical and lexical features of the polysemous word Ulug in a diachronic sense and to identify the frequency phrases with the determinative Ulug. The research is based on the authoritative lexicographic sources and the Istanbul manuscript of “Nahj al-Faradis” rewritten in 1360. This article traces and describes the narrowing of meaning of the word olug in the modern Tatar language in comparison with the lexeme found in the manuscript “Nahj al-Faradis”. It was established that the manuscript contains both traditional meanings of the lexeme Ulug and the meanings that have an individual authorial semantics, some of them are used only in the work of Mahmud Bulgari. Further development of the topic is seen in the comparison of “Nahj al-Faradis” polysemantic lexemes with their equivalents in the modern Tatar language, which will make it possible to see the features of the Turk-Tatars’ world perception in the Middle Ages.