A Word from Old Uyghur to the Present: Alıg

Abstract

In this study, we examine the etymology of the the word alıg, which has appeared in various Turkic languages starting with Old Uyghur. Researchers have so far put forth different theories regarding the origins of this word, which survives today in different parts of the Turkic-speaking world with various phonetic and semantic changes. Some have associated it with al- ‘to take’ (‘almak’) (< al-ı-g), which is semantically problematic, or with hypothetical roots which they reconstruct variously as *al (< al+ıg), *al- or *alı-. Considering earlier proposals, we narrow down the set of possible etymologies for alıg in accordance with their relative merits.