Names of fur coats in the Altai language

This study examines the vocabulary used for outerwear in the Altai language. The relevance of the research stems from the fact that this lexical layer has not been sufficiently studied in Altai. The practical significance of this study lies in the fact that its findings can be used in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of language, folklore, and ethnography, as well as in the compilation of various dictionaries, including the forthcoming explanatory dictionary of the Altai language. The study employs an integrated methodology combining descriptive and comparative methods with etymological and statistical analysis. The research material was drawn from lexicographic, ethnographic, folkloric, and other sources. The lexical layer under investigation was analyzed using materials from other Turkic languages, as well as Mongolic languages. The study considers the names of various types of Altai fur coats worn during the cold season. These include uncovered and cloth-covered coats; long and short coats; coats with the fur worn outward or inward; and coats made from the hides of domestic and wild animals, including sheep, lambs, calves, roe deer, moose, foxes, sable, lynx, mink, marmots, and others. At the same time, it was established that in the Altai language, men’s, women’s, and children’s fur coats are primarily referred to using general terms, with very few specialized terms for them. The findings show that most Altai names for fur coats are complex descriptive expressions containing the common component ton ‘fur coat; coat’. It has been shown that the most productive motivating feature in the naming of fur coats in the Altai language is the material from which they are made. Less frequently, names are motivated by such features as color, fur or wool length, fur or wool density, the method used to finish the hide, the size of the fur coat, and so on. In total, the study identified 24 names for fur coats in Altai. It was established that some of them are inherited Turkic words (25%), some are borrowings from Mongolic languages (16,7%), and many are regional terms (58,3%). The analysis of this lexical group drew on materials from other Turkic and Mongolic languages.

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