THE ETYMOLOGY OF “ASH” AND THE IMPORTANCE OF IT IN THE KYRGYZ CULTURE

“KÜL” KELİMESİNİN KÖKENİ VE KÜLÜN KIRGIZ KÜLTÜRÜNDEKİ ÖNEMİ ÜZERİNE

Abstract

In a variety of research conducted so far on the Turkish culture on "ash", nation's beliefs and ideas on ash, fire in general, were addressed by clarifying issues on stove. Whereas, there are many cultural elements related to ash as powdery substance that we throw away as remnants of fire for centuries, which we benefit from it again for various purposes. An important part of these elements are reflected to our language within the folk literature such as proverbs, idioms, epics, tales, folk songs, requiems, applause, curse, taboos, etc. For instance, Turkish people have taboos about ashes such as do not step on ashes against ashes, do not scatter ashes, do not pour water to the ash, etc.. However, there are contradictory statements about the reason for the output source of such taboos. While some researchers associate the traditional practices related to ash coincident among the community, the others connects it with the stove or some other cult. These show that cultural values of ash are not fully identified in the minds of the Turkish people. Indeed, questions such as the place of ash in our culture, what are the cultural values in the society and how they are reflected to dialect has not yet found the answer. In addition, debate about the origin of the word "ash" continues. All these conduced toward approaching both linguistic and cultural dimensions of the subject "ash". The purpose of the study is to overcome the deficiencies and to contribute to solve the problems specified above. Due to the discussion of the subject in article format, it must be stated that it only mentions the use in Kyrgyz and it is limited to the Kyrgyz culture. The matter was approached in terms of language at first and the term "ash" was evaluated in terms of origin information and considering the history of Turkish and the use of other contemporary literary language. Then the Kyrgyz conceptual dimension of the word was emphasized and the use of the word in Kyrgyz proverbs and idioms were discussed to clarify this dimension. As is known, proverbs and idioms as the original product of the oral traditions, which combines language and folklore, are the values that have the characteristics of a bridge between the two. In particular, idioms reflect the unique ideas of public and the effect of the imagination. Thus, in the Kyrgyz proverbs and idioms, the folkloric dimension of the term "ash" must be examined while assessing the conceptual field of the term. From this point of view, the importance of ash in the Kyrgyz Folklore has been focused on further. As a result of the study, the following can be said about the origin of the term "ash", conceptual field in Kyrgyz and its importance in the Kyrgyz culture in summary: 1) The word "ash" did not undergone many changes in terms of both form and terms despite the fact that its written sources from ancient Uighur Turkish to each area of Turkish are encountered. The right approach to be emphasized about the word's origin is the approach that occur with the addition of the letter -l to the b-verb <*kü- "store, preserve" that transferred verb to word by Gülensoy. However, the kü- verb estimated to be used as "preserve, store" associate with the verb küy- used as "burn; external carbonization; be angry; feel pain; long for; worry; be anxious; be sad; sincere love" as in some Turkish literary languages such as New Uygur, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Tatar. The -y- at the end of the verb küy- is the developed version of the -d- suffix that is the additional reinforcement suffix from Old Turkish to -d- and -y- in the following eras. Thus, there is a possibility that the verb *kü- has the meanings of "burn, feel the pain" as well as "to store, preserve" and the possibility to have the word ash originate from the nominalization of the -l suffix is higher. 2) "Ash" in the minds of the Kyrgyz has taken place in both positive and negative concepts and they have been reflected to their language, literature, traditions, customs and other cultural values. It is possible to associate the reason for ash to emerge as a positive concept with fire, stove and the cult of ancestors that have very close ties in between. This means that ash has a meaning that associates the sacred fire, life energy of the house and the spirit of the deceased. In addition, ash being widely used in folk medicine as treatment material indicates that it has positive marks in the mind of the society. We can associate the cause of negative concept to the language reflection as extraordinary creatures such as puerperal fever, ghouls, ace, Azita the "road diverting creature", etc. considered to be the representatives of the underground world the more traditional system of Turks and Mongols. Apart from this, especially when we look at the whole conceptual space in some proverbs and idioms, it is possible to see that the meanings "depleted, finished, disappearing, unworthy, contaminating" are imputed to the "ash" word. 3) There has not been any evidence that the term ash is used in the Kyrgyz fortune-telling tradition. However, it is seen that it is being used widely in the Kyrgyz folk medicine among doctors for the treatment of human diseases and animal diseases. It is understood that the physicians consider ash as direct drug or ointment in the treatment of the injured parts of the body and a magic material in the treatment of some diseases, such as the evil eye and epidemic. In addition, it is also seen that ash is mixed with different materials such as flour and oil and be used as a paste in the treatment of certain diseases. It is understood that the Kyrgyz have the belief that ash withdraws all the negative energy from the patient's body and save from the influence of evil spirits. However, it has been observed for the patient to drink the water from the ash or have ash eaten in the Kyrgyz folk medicine.

Özet

Türk kültürüyle ilgili bu güne kadar yapılan çeşitli araştırmalarda "kül" maddesine, toplumun küle ilişkin inanış ve düşüncelerine, genellikle ateş, ocak ile ilgili konulara açıklık getirilirken değinilmiştir. Hâlbuki günlük hayatımızda asırlardır hep karşılaştığımız, ateşin kalıntısı olarak dışarı attığımız, ancak çeşitli amaçlarla tekrar ondan yararlandığımız bir madde olan külle ilgili pekçok kültürel unsur vardır. Bu unsurların önemli bir kısmı atasözleri, deyimler, destan, masal, türkü, ağıt, alkış, kargış, tabu vs. gibi halk edebiyatı ürünleri bünyesinde dilimize yansımıştır. Sözgelişi, Türk halklarının çoğunda küle karşı "küle basmayın", "külü dağıtmayın", "küle su dökmeyin" vs. gibi tabular mevcuttur. Ne var ki, bu tür tabuların çıkış kaynağı, sebebi ile ilgili çelişkili açıklamalar vardır. Halk arasında rastlayan kül ile ilgili geleneksel uygulamaları kimi araştırmacılar ateş kültüyle ilişkilendirirken kimileri de ocak ya da diğer kültlere bağlamaktadırlar. Bunlar külün Türk halklarının zihinlerindeki kültürel değerinin henüz tam olarak tespit edilemediğini gösteriyor. Gerçekten de külün kültürümüzdeki yeri, toplum zihnindeki kültürel değerleri nelerdir ve bunlar dile nasıl yansımıştır? sorusu henüz yanıtını bulmuş değildir. Ayrıca "kül" kelimesinin kökeniyle ilgili tartışmalar da devam etmektedir. Bütün bunlar çalışmada "kül" konusunun hem dilsel hem de kültürel boyuttan ayrıca ele alınmasına vesile olmuştur. Burada konunun makale formatında ele alınması nedeniyle yalnız Kırgızcadaki kullanımı ve Kırgız kültürüyle sınırlandırıldığını da belirtmek gerekir. Çalışmada konu önce dil açısından ele alınmış ve "kül" kelimesinin kökeni, Kırgızcadaki kavramsal boyutu değerlendirilmiştir. Ardından külün Kırgız Halk Bilimindeki önemi üzerinde de ayrıca durulmuştur