Geography is an important element to monuments of epic nomadic folklore of the Oghuz Turks. The Book of Dede Qorqut (Kitab-i Dedem Korkut), a Turkic medieval written epic, is undoubtedly a most important early medieval source on social and cultural life of the Oghuz Turkic tribes. The epic generally rests on the border between oral and literary traditions — and between folk narratives and historical writings. The emergence of the twelve stories to have constituted The Book of Dede Korkut is customarily dated back to the 11th century but those were written down far later, approximately in the 15th century. The twelve songs-legends narrate about exploits of Oghuz heroes. The main plot scheme central to the stories is that of struggle between the Oghuz tribes and infidels, non-Muslims (kafir) in the lands of Asia Minor, as well as constant internecine strife among the Oghuzes themselves. The geography in the The Book of Dede Korkut combines two main stratums, namely: real geographical place names and toponyms mentioned in the epic, and the so-called ‘mythological’ geography and spatial orientation. The epical enemies of the Oghuzes in The Book of Dede Korkut are connected with some specific geographical realities — mainly in the South Caucasus and Eastern Anatolia — by some toponyms mentioned in the tales (a bulk of the latter being names of fortresses). An external enemy for the Oghuzes in The Book of Dede Korkut has specific (‘Tagavor of Trebizond’, ‘evil infidels of the Evnük’, etc.) and, at the same time, mythological features, thereby marking the boundary between the nomadic and neighboring sedentary worlds. Still, the second stratum of the geography in The Book of Dede Korkut has been less investigated. Those are traditional — for Turkic (and, in a less degree, Islamic) mythology — geographical images that exist along with the real ones and are embedded into the system of the existing geographical names (e. g., Mount Qaf). Along with a system of the Turkic archaic traditional spatial orientation (undoubtedly preserved by the Kitab-i Dedem Korkut to a certain extend), it reflects the nomadic worldview connected with Turkic mythology and some Islamic impact. Although the geography of The Book of Dede Korkut is a topic of separate research study, in this case, a clear localization of the epic characters illustrates the fact that a quite a number of the tales took their form and cyclization in the respective territories already.

The article investigates a number of documents contained in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire — thus, introducing the materials into scientific discourse — and explores the nature of Russo-Korean relations and the activities of Russian diplomacy in Korea on the eve of and during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–1905. The article argues that Russia’s main goal regarding Korea was to preserve its independence and territorial integrity. The paper primarily seeks to to show the efforts of Russian diplomacy during the period undertaken to ensure the independent existence of the Korean state and prevent the final transition of the country under the rule of Japan. As the author points out, Russia was the first among the powers to recognize the neutral status of the Korean state, being the only power to have condemned Japan’s violent course of action in immediate aftermath of its initiated hostilities and proclaimed it be illegal to seize power in the independent Korean state that had declared itself neutral. The article consistently examines the active support by Russian diplomats to the attempts of the Korean emperor Gojong to preserve the independence of the country, their opposition to the persistent attempts of the Japanese authorities to intimidate Gojong to conclude an agreement on the establishment of a Japanese protectorate over Korea. The work provides convincing evidence of the important contribution by Russian diplomats to the establishment of deeply trusting relations between the Russian and Korean imperial houses. Their honesty, decency, sincere concern for the welfare of Korea and its security proved efficient to win the favor and friendship of the Korean emperor who had repeatedly asked for asylum in the Russian mission in case of personal danger and even about assistance for resettling him towards Russia. The paper demonstrates the understanding by Russian diplomacy of the national-state interests in the region which resolved into preventing Korea from becoming a springboard for hostile actions against Russian Far Eastern possessions, analyzes the role of Russian representatives in developing Russia’s position on recognizing the neutral status of the Korean state as a measure to counteract the calculations of the Japanese Government to tie Korea by allied commitments in the event of hostilities and establish its protectorate over the latter. The article highlights in detail the joint efforts of Russian diplomats undertaken along with the French mission in Seoul in the absence of the Russian mission there aimed to defend the interests of the Russian Government and private Russian-nationals in Korea. In addition, the article mentions the efforts of Russian diplomats and agents to provide the Russian Government with accurate data about the plans and capabilities of the Japanese top military to prepare a base in Korea for a future war, in particular, on the disclosure of areas where enemy units were located, and on developing routes, providing troops with food supply in Korea in future defensive campaigns. Particular attention is paid to showing the aggressive policy of Japan in Korea.

The article analyzes notes of Russian travelers on legal development of the Dzungar Khanate in the early-to-mid 18th c. While South and Northeast Mongolia had been annexed to the Qing Empire, the Dzungar Khanate reached its golden age and began active policy of conquest subjugating the Kazakh Elder and Middle Hordes, Tashkent, Eastern Turkestan. Establishing a large state with nomadic and settled regions, the Dzungar Khanate became the last ‘Steppe Empire’ of Central Asia, and this was reflected in its legal policy. Scholars have analyzed different aspects of legal history of the Dzungar Khanate on the basis of surviving Oirat legal monuments, such as Ikh Tsaaz (‘The Great Code’) and edicts of Galdan Khan, as well as data contained in Chinese chronicles. But valuable information on Dzungar law is to be found in notes of Russian diplomats, intelligence officers and merchants who visited the Khanate during the considered period, observed and even participated in legal relations. The article provides an analysis of legal status of vassal states of the Dzungar Khanate: obligations of vassal rulers, supreme jurisdiction of Dzungar khans over the latter, combination of Turko-Mongol and Islamic laws applied to regulate their relations. Economic development of the Dzungar Khanate forced its rulers to regulate different directions of national economic activities including agriculture and industry, status of ‘foreign specialists’ (mostly captives and fugitives from Russia). Trade activities were reflected in special legislation on status of Dzungar and foreign merchants, protection of their interests even in the court. The Dzungar system of taxation was well regulated and included taxes in kind (cattle, armor, clothes, etc.), trade duties, tributes to be submitted by vassal states (in money and textiles), obligations to participate in military campaigns of Khans, support foreign diplomats, etc. There was an advanced system of punishments for crimes in the Khanate, especially if a subject of vassal state offended an ethnic Oirat. At that punishments of noblemen were, as a rule, less severe: they might be sentenced to exile or expropriation. But property crimes of Oirats against foreigners usually were examined by court for a long time and without results. Some notices on the family and succession law show the high status of Khans’ wives and priority of sons from legitimate wives before ones from concubines. So, one can state that notes of Russian travelers contain most valuable information on legal situation in the Dzungar Khanate and substantially differ from the above-mentioned legal monuments and Chinese chronicles. The analysis allows to draw a conclusion on a high level of law and legal relations in the Dzungar Khanate during the early-to-mid 18th c., and its active development (one could also say, ‘modernization’) was forcibly interrupted by the Qing conquest of the Oirat state.

The Communist Party had been central to the Soviet political system and society. Now that there is no ideological pressure, it is essential to view the history of the party of Bolsheviks (Communists) in deeper and non-biased perspectives, including on the regional level. Despite there are quite a number of publications examining the history of Kalmykia’s Communist movement, those to have studied its structure in the 1920s — and, namely, activities by the Department for Agitation and Propaganda of the Kalmyk Oblast Committee of the RCP(B) — are virtually absent. So, the issue has remained understudied, and the work is a first attempt to investigate the former. The article uses materials accumulated by the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. The documents contain valuable information about activities by departments of the Kalmyk Oblast Party Committee, the actual state and development of the party organization as such. The study aims to analyze activities by the regional Department for Agitation and Propaganda between 1921 and 1928. It uses the historical-and-genetic method to have made it possible to view the mentioned arrangements over time. The analysis of archival materials has been based on the principles of scientificity, objectiveness, and historicism that largely contributed to the issue be examined in certain historical contexts. The paper concludes Kalmykia’s party structure had emerged to instantly intersect with government bodies. This was typical enough for all regions during the Soviet era. The Department for Agitation and Propaganda was also — in addition to the functions declared — in charge with print media and directed activities of political-and-educational organs (Rus. politprosvet). The latter proved key conductors of the Party’s policies in the sphere of ideological propaganda. Party organizations laid special emphasis on public political education and constantly sought to develop and strengthen corresponding institutions that served as centers of such work in rural areas. The Department initiated establishments of party schools that would train cadres for the Kalmyk Party Organization and facilitate their better understanding of ideology and policies. This was actually a great achievement of the Kalmyk Oblast Soviet Party School. The conclusions made are essential for further understanding of Kalmykia’s party structure and activities by the regional Department for Agitation and Propaganda between in 1921–l928.

Introduction. The paper deals with sound-symbolic words of Mongolic languages characterizing a look of the person. For this purpose the work first reveals the circle of sound-symbolic words with meanings ‘shining’, ‘sparkling’, which had emerged due to verbalization of visual perceptions of lighting effects. Such words form an extensive layer of lexicon of many languages of the world and represent a linguistic universal. Goals. The research primarily aims to reveal the connection between acoustic and articulation features of the root consonant l and semantics of the examined words. Semantics of a root first of all depends on acoustic and articulation features of the leader root consonant (dominant), which contains the basic information about sensually perceived phenomena, at broad variability of vowels and the umlaut and auslaut (not dominant) consonants of a root. Materials. Such various lexicographic sources as bilingual, etymological and explanatory dictionaries have been used. Dialect and folklore materials, expedition records have also been surveyed. Results. The article considers lexemes semantically connected to a look because eyes — due to optical properties — can reflect light: they can shine, sparkle etc. In considered material such signs of a look as bright / dim, long / short-term, direct / squint were revealed. On the base of functioning of the Mongolian sound-symbolic lexemes with the meaning ‘eye’ the phonetic correspondence of Mongolian kilar ‘squint’ and Russian glaz ‘eye’ is suggested. The look could express senses and emotions, so the paper considers words with the stem consonant l in which such emotions as rage, hostility, anger, fear, fault, surprise (etc.) are expressed. The work supposes that acoustic and articulation characteristics of the front occlusive-lateral sonant l most precisely suited for verbalization of gloss, glow: steady, continuous rays of light corresponded in consciousness to a smooth current of air on both sides of tongue during the articulation of consonant l. The analysis of the words to have emerged by means of perception of the shining eyes of the person allowed specifying semantics of some words in dictionaries.

The article deals with the vocabulary which was used for the denotation of pieces of clothing and adornments in The Secret History of the Mongols. The study aims to analyze — where possible — the etymology of the lexical items in question or, at least, if the relevant data are not available, find respective lexical parallels in the modern Khalkha, Buryat and Kalmyk languages, figure out whether they belong to the common Mongolic vocabulary, and draw conclusions concerning the way the layer of household vocabulary has been formed in the Mongoliс languages. Being the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language, The Secret History of the Mongols has been thoroughly studied, and dozens of articles, monographs and other works of scholarship have been published since the 19th century when this written artifact was introduced into European scientific discourse by Palladius (Kafarov), a Russian Orthodox monk and, by a twist of fate, one of the first Russian sinologists. Still, there are no lexical studies specifically focusing on the 13th-century household vocabulary which has left traces in The Secret History of the Mongols, while research of that kind could give clues to the so called ‘Altaic problem’. The article is intended to fill this gap (partially). The paper examines the following lexical items: deel/degel ‘long garment, dress, gown, robe; clothes’, qubčasun/qubča ‘clothes’, emüsgel ‘garment’, daqu ‘coat with fur outside’, örmüge/örmege ‘overcoat, bast mat’, nemürge ‘raincoat’, heligebči ‘abdominal band’, emüdün ‘pants’, čamča ‘shirt’, dotoaǰi ‘underwear’, büse ‘belt’, γudusu(n) ‘footwear’, ǰaqa ‘collar’, qancu(n) ‘sleeve’, qormoi ‘bottom of one’s item of clothing’, maqalay ‘hat’, eemeg ‘earring’. It has been found that all the words listed have common Mongolic stems, and the words daqu ‘coat with fur outside’, örmüge/örmege ‘overcoat, bast mat’, and ǰaqa ‘collar’ are related to their common Turkic equivalents.

Bashkir onomastics has experienced a number of stages in its development, and is still of essential academic interest. However, despite the wide range of available works dealing with personal names, the issue of etymology of Bashkir family names remains understudied and requires further consideration. Special attention should be paid to the fact quite a number of them have been derived from ethnonyms, which makes it necessary to analyze ethnonym-stemmed Bashkir family names in historical and etymological perspectives. So, this is what the article actually deals with. The work applies a number of linguistic research methods, such as descriptive, etymological, comparative, and statistical ones. Works by researchers providing insights into the nature of anthroponymic lexis, classification of anthroponyms, and historical-etymological analyses have served as a methodological basis for the study. The paper studies family, clan and clan branch names derived from ethnonyms — names of nations. It is noteworthy that the analyzed family names have been borrowed from the academic publication Documents and materials on Bashkir history (1836–1842): records of service of officials within the Bashkir-Mishar Host between 1836 and 1842. The historical-etymological analysis of family, clan and clan branch names derived from the onyms Kalmak / Kalmyk, Kazakh, Suvash / Chuvash, Tatar, Kungur, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Istyak and compared to respective ethnonyms makes it possible to conclude that historical and cultural ties between the Bashkirs and neighboring peoples largely contributed to the national onomastics (including anthroponymy). For example, our insight into the onym Nogai ‘Nugai’ viewed as a respective stem-word has resulted in a number of versions of its origin, namely: firstly, the wide presence of Nogai-stemmed clan and clan branch names might be due to the fact the Bashkirs lived long under the hegemony of the Nogai Horde; secondly, those might stem from the similar name Nagaibak. The invasion of Tatar-Mongols resulted in the emergence of the family names Kalmakaev, Kalmakov, Kalmakkulov and their phonetic variants (Kalmykov, Kolmakov, Kolmychkov). The paper also accepts the hypothesis set forth by F. G. Khisamiitdinova and suggests the anthroponym might have stemmed from a personal name which is based on historical evidence: the legendary Mamyt was given the name ‘Kalmak’, his ancestors thus being referred to as ‘Kalmaks’; it might also be tied to the Turkic verb ҡалыу ‘stay’ or ‘leave’. Close relations between the Bashkir and Kazakh peoples gave rise to anthroponyms stemmed from the ethnonyms истәк ‘Ishtyak’, ҡаҙаҡ ‘Kazakh’: Istakov (Istӓkov), Istyagulov / Istyakgulov, Ishtakaev, Kazakaev, Kazakbaev, Kazakkulov, Baikazakov. The ethnonym Istyak was widely used by the Kazakhs to denote southeastern, or ‘internal’, Bashkirs who had lived next to them and sustained close contacts. The emergence of family names derived from Suvash / Chuvash, Tatar, Kungur, Uzbek, Kyrgyz are also due to close historical and cultural contacts with respective populations. The investigation of Bashkir family names in this perspective establishes a new trend in terms of history and etymology research. The materials can also be used for further studies of Turkic — including Bashkir — anthroponyms.

The article deals with epic toponymy which is of particular interest to clarify the history of the Kalmyk heroic epic Jangar. Names of natural objects remain preserved for thousands of years, so they are of high historical value. The analysis of epic place names makes it possible to trace the ethnic and migration processes in a certain area, to identify cultural contacts between different ethnic groups and to recreate the ethno-cultural background. In Jangar epic songs, some names of natural objects are associated with the Altai which is a characteristic feature of the entire epic of Mongolic peoples. Those also contain toponymic vocabulary that could have been included into the text of the epic tale of the Kalmyks in the Volga Region already where, according to the assumption of authoritative experts in epic studies, the cyclization of Jangar songs could have taken place. The paper attempts to substantiate into the ‘geography’ of the Kalmyk epic using the Eastern European and Central Asian toponymic elements.

The study of the lexeme богд throughout Jangar epic texts makes it possible to draw the conclusions as follows. The lexeme богд as titular epithet is a second most frequently used one among respective titles — after the title of Khan. In translations, this word is recorded in different meanings, such as ʻBogdo’, ‘ruler-Bogdo’ or ʻBogdo-rulerʼ. The titular epithet Bogdo is the highest religious and secular title — that of the main character of the Jangar epic; it is only once that the title is used to denote another character in the whole of the epic (Maƞхn Bogd Khan). A number of researchers have noted that the characteristic epithet — богд ʻmost augustʼ — indicates that Jangar is actually compared to deities. The protagonist of the epic is given not only the supreme religious title of Богд but is also bestowed other religious titles, namely: деед Богд ʻSupreme Bogdoʼ, Богд геген ʻBogdo gegenʼ. Jangarchis would give Jangar titles of supreme rulers of many nations: ‘Noyon Jangar’, ‘Khan Jangar’, ‘Khan Jangar Noyon’, ‘Noyon Khan Bogdo’, ‘Bogdo Jangar’, ‘Ruler Bogdo’, ‘Ruler Noyon Bogdo Jangar’, ‘Jangar the Supreme Bogdo’, ‘Jangar the Supreme Ruler Bogdo’, ‘Jangar the Supreme Noyon Bogdo’, etc. The title Bogdo is used in the epic in the singular only, the plural богднр recorded only once in the Baγa Tsokhor epic cycle. It is also is found in verb combinations that aim to praise and worship of Jangar Bogdo: Bogd Talan (neg) geckk ‘bow to the Bogdo (once)’, Bogd yuɣān bῡlʼx ‘praise the Bogdo Ruler’. The texts of the epic abounds with numerous epithets, praising Jangar Bogdo: ʻBogdo Ruler similar to a dreamʼ, ‘Jangar Bogdo Khan who is as marvellous as a dream’, ‘Great Noyon Ruler Bogdo’, ʻGlorious Bogdoʼ, ‘Proud-Hearted Noyon Bogdo’, ‘Glorious Jangar Bogdo’, ʻBaatar Bogdoʼ, ‘Happiest Bogdo’, ‘Bravest Bogdo’, ‘Proud-Hearted Noyon Ruler Bogdo’, ‘Ruler Bogdo the Celebrating ʼ. There are adjectives where the epithet богд includes purely religious meanings: shaǯin deed noyon bogd ‘Noyon Bogdo destined by Heaven’, burhn ǯindmnin xüvlɣǟn bogd ‘Bogdo — a manifestation of the divine Cintamani’. In the Baγa Dorbet and Baγa Tsokhor epic cycles one can find some fixed combinations with the lexeme богд: kǖkᵉn Bogd ‘young Bogdo’, zalū Bogd ‘young Bogdo’. Due to the archaic nature of the epic meanings of some religious epithets that include богд still remain unclear (Takl Bogd Ǯaƞɣᶺr ʻ? Bogdo Dzhangar’). In modern Kalmyk, the lexeme богд — with its limited compatibility and narrowed semantics — is classified as a historicism.

The article provides a comparative study of causative verbs in structurally different languages. The article aims to identify some semantic and functional features of causative verbs with permissive meanings in the Buryat and Russian languages. The main methods applied hereto include the comparative method, method of component and distributive analysis, and survey of informants. The actual materials for the study have been data contained in Buryat-Russian interlingual dictionaries, examples selected through continuous sampling from Buryat-language literary works, messages of informants. The paper presents a theoretical research base dealing with semantics of the permissive, describes its main expressive ways (means) in the Buryat and Russian languages, it also suggests contextual conditions for updating the permissive in the Buryat discourse, combinability and some grammatical signs. The permissive serves to express a situation when the causer permits an action but does not compel anyone to perform it. Permissive patterns revealed for the majority of Russian full verbs are rare enough, Buryat-language full verbs being able to express a permissive meaning within one lexeme only. The Russian and Buryat languages also provide a possibility to express permissive meanings of causation analytically, i.e., with the aid of poly-predicative constructions involving the verbs of volitional influence, such as зүбшөөхэ ‘permit’, хорихо ‘forbid’, үгэхэ ‘give’. And this method is actually central to the Russian language. Furthermore, the article proposes to consider the contextual conditions of actualization of permissive meanings in the Buryat language. Thus, such conditions included the imperative situation with a speaker without denial, the meaning of negligence, meaning of ‘unpleasant’ action, meaning of assumption. For the Buryat language, contextual interpretations of verbs of factitive and permissive causation with the aid of the sign ‘pleasantness / troublesomeness’ of action for the subject are important. The permissive is most often associated with the value of ‘pleasantness’ of action. In the Buryat language there are causative verbs containing — in their lexical meanings — semes of both the permissive and factuality. The compatibility (co-occurrence) of permissive verbs is rather wide, and the latter have limited compatibility with verbs of emotional state only since this sphere is difficult to manage, and to influence an individual through allowing to express certain emotions. At the morphological level, Buryat affixes are not divided into ones to express factitive causation and ones with permissive meaning. The same causative morpheme can serve to denote both the meanings. The article shows that double causation can be a means to express the permissive in the Buryat language.

This article analyzes Chinese modal verbs of wish, such as 要 yào (‘need’, ‘ask’, ‘want’, ‘need’, ‘will’, ‘to’)， 想 xiǎng (‘think’, ‘suppose’, ‘want’, ‘miss’)， 愿意 yuànyì (‘willing to want’, ‘desire’), 敢 gǎn (‘dare’, ‘not to be afraid’, ‘dare’)， 敢于 gǎnyú (‘dare’, ‘not to be afraid’, ‘dare’), 肯 kěn (‘agree’, ‘willingly’); investigates their grammatical characteristics, semantics and features of their actual use. Goals. The paper aims to examine the similarities and differences in the use of the above mentioned Chinese modal verbs of wish. Methods. The article surveys a number of various works by Chinese scholars dealing with modal verbs of wish in the Chinese language, and applies the generalizing and comparative research methods. Results. The modal verb 要 yào can express wish, necessity and possibility; the verb 敢 gǎn, besides expressing courage to do something, also expresses confidence in assessments. But acting as modal verbs, 要 yào and 敢 gǎn have the meaning of wish, as well as 想 xiǎng, 愿意 yuànyì, 敢于 gǎnyú, 肯 kěn. The first meaning of 要 yào is that of wish and decision of a subject of action, i.e., ‘intention to do something’. The second meaning of要yào is ‘must, should’, the modal meaning being ‘need and duty’ as external conditions make it necessary to perform the action. The third meaning that the verb 要 yào expresses is a modal meaning of possibility. The verb 想 xiǎng can act not only as a full verb but also as a modal verb. As a modal verb, 想 xiǎng can only express the meaning of wish. The verb 想 xiǎng expresses an indefinite assumption of the subject of action. Consequently, the verb 想 xiǎng, in addition to the modal meaning of wish, also expresses the meaning of assumption. At the same time, the meaning of ‘speculation and evaluation’ does not cluster with modal use patterns of the verb想 xiǎng. The verb 愿意 yuànyì (‘wish’) fully meets the criteria for the classification of modal verbs of wish. The modal verb 敢 gǎn expresses the meaning ‘courage to do something’, it also stands for ‘confidence in evaluating something’. The verb 敢于 gǎnyú can only express courage. The verb 肯 kěn expresses the subjective wish to do something voluntarily; expresses approval of requirements. Conclusions. The paper concludes that the grammatical characteristics of the verbs 要 yào, 想 xiǎng, 愿意 yuànyì, 敢 gǎn，敢于gǎnyú, 肯kěn coincide with those of modal verbs of wish, therefore these verbs can well be classified as modal verbs of wish. Thus, in modern Chinese, typical verbs of wish include the following verbs: 要 yào, 想 xiǎng, 愿意 yuànyì, 敢 gǎn , 敢于 gǎnyú, 肯 kěn.

The article examines Kalmyk comparative patterns. The task involves a number of aspects, namely: lexical-semantic, structural-grammatical, and linguocultural ones. Studies of Kalmyk comparative patterns have so far been reduced to investigations of structural-grammatical features of the former, without any essential insight into their linguocultural peculiarities. Since the phenomenon remains understudied, the work considers it in lexical-semantic and linguocultural perspectives. Thus, the paper aims to provide an overview of lexical-semantic and linguocultural features along with a corresponding classification of Kalmyk comparative patterns. The work studies Kalmyk fairy-tale texts recorded by the Finnish scholar G. J. Ramstedt. The scope of work has included textual, component, quantitative, and semantic-syntactic analysis of the mentioned texts. The obtained results include the revelation of key development trends in studies of comparative patterns, frequency use of different parts of speech in the context of the threefold comparative structure; the issue of correlation between different culture-specific codes within structural elements of comparatives has also been considered. The results significantly contribute to the development of the comprehensive approach to studies of the multifunctional and universal concept of comparison within folklore texts.

In the Yakut mythological system, associative thinking prevails which forms a basis for the formation of more ordered and holistic representations. In the worldview of ancestors, the awareness of the world in integrity and unity is depicted through imaginative systems built on the basis of similarities and analogies with concepts of the animal and plant worlds. It is important that in this context of ethnic awareness, the definition and position of the person in the universe also occurs. The analyzed epic formula ‘үс саха үөскүү илигинэ, түөрт саха төрүү илигинэ’ / ‘üs sakha üӧsküü iligine, tüӧrt sakha tӧrüü iligine’ (liter. ‘when the three Yakuts were not yet born, and the four Yakuts have not yet appeared’) in the Yakut tradition is not only sustainable but is also a universal element that transforms to penetrate into other genres and literature. The problem of understanding folklore texts — indivisibly connected to language semantics — on the basis of which cultural meanings are built still remains a most understudied topic in folklore studies. The structure and nature of information systems preserved and brought till nowadays by epic formulas have not been studied enough. The work aims to identify and describe the deep semantic structures of the epic formula ‘üs sakha üӧsküü iligine, tüӧrt sakha tӧrüü iligine’. The research approach is determined, firstly, by the mythological attitudes of primitive consciousness, and, secondly, by ethnic peculiarities of thinking. To achieve the goal of the study, methods of review, comparison, hermeneutics, extrapolation, and structural semantic analysis are involved. The use of the method of empathy based on the idea of ‘Yakut thinking or interpretation’ in the reconstruction of the meta-language of the studied formula makes it possible to view and evaluate the concept from inside, which certainly reflects the essence of research ethics. During the stage-by-stage analysis the study reveals that the stability of the term ‘Sakha’ supported by the review of historical materials of different eras and confirmed by the internal laws of the language is essentially archaic. The information encoded in the word ‘Sakha’ is represented as ‘санаалаах харамай’ / ‘sanaalaakh kharamai’ which means ‘a thinking living creature’, i.e., ‘person’. The root of the name kharamai ‘khara’ attracts special attention since the semantic meaning of the former in ancient and modern Turkic, Mongolian, Tungus-Manchurian languages is interpreted as ‘person’. The archived internal organization of the structure of the epic formula ‘üs sakha üӧsküü iligine, tüӧrt sakha tӧrüü iligine’ conveys the message ‘when person-man and person-woman were not yet born’ (‘when all mankind had not yet appeared’), containing echoes of ancient worldviews. The article — without coming into conflict with the concept of the multi-component Sakha ethnos — puts forward the hypothesis of fixing the central element, i.e., a common core ethnic substrate of the Sakha community which offers new opportunities for understanding the peripheral branches of origins of many ethnonyms. Such a positioning of the expressive content of the meta-language of the formula refers to the idea of reassessing mythological representations that occur in the depths of the Olonkho. The conclusion deals with times when not only one ethnos but the whole of humanity had been endowed with the name Sakha, which is the key one, and this thesis can serve as a starting research point in various areas in future. 

Introduction. Thе paper provides a first analysis of The Tengri Songs (2017) by the Russian-language Buryat poet Bair Dugarov which has proven quite a milestone in literature of Mongolic peoples. It seems essential to identify certain poetic and versification features inherent to works of national poets. Goals. The work aims to reveal mythological traditions and historical realities in B. Dugarov’s Tengri Songs, and to examine the role of genre, composition and rhythmic organization of verses in semantics of poetic discourse. Methods. The paper applies semantic-hermeneutical and versification analyses of the poetic discourse. Results. Bair Dugarov who writes in Russian and lives in the Eurasian cultural space harmoniously combines the East and the West in his works. His poems reflect the reality both in terms of national specificity, and in that of global cultural space and multiethnic society. The semiotically complicated text of The Tengri Songs reflects a new stage in the poet’s creative development, the latter dealing with artistic comprehension of history, spiritual heritage of the Mongolian world and a search of the author’s lyrical self-expression. Conclusions. In mythological perspective, the image of the Heaven (Sky) represents the fatherly principle, the Sky as God ruling destinies of not only humans but also all that exists in the Universe. The poet draws his own history of the Great steppe through emphasizing certain portraits, geographical names and significant events. As for versification patterns applied, a most essential is one that ascends to Turko-Mongolian poetic traditions. It is necessary to acknowledge the unique use of figured text arrangement means which emphasize the abundance of the author’s creative potential and, thus, become a part of meta-text structure of the work in general.