Turkic-Mongolian Names of Wild Predatory and Fur-bearing Animals in the Mongolian Languages

Abstract

The article reviews a group of terms for wild prey and fur-bearing animal nominalization with the aim to identify their Turkic roots. The investigation is based on the materials of the Khalkha-Mongolian, Buryat, Kalmyk and Old Mongolian languages. For more convincing evidences of the fact that the given Turkic parallel does have a Turkic character the material was taken from «the Ancient Turkic language». The authenticity of the Turkic character is confirmed by initial forms and etymology of Turkic parallels. The Mongolian languages have a significant number of common Turkic-Mongolian terms for wild prey and fur animals. The analysis showed that in many cases these Turkic-Mongolian terms are of Turkic origin due to their Turkic etymology. This issue requires a special research. As the article notes, some words came to the Mongol language during the pan-Mongolian period of development, others - after these languages began to develop independently having their own contacts with the Turkic tribes. The presence of numerous correspondences with the Mongolian terms is an evidence of contacts between the ancient Mongols with Turks and later contacts of individual Mongolian people with specific Turkic tribes.