Plant names in historical dialect of Turkish

ABSTRACT The aim of this study, Plant Names in Historical Dialects of Turkish' which will constitute a good source for the science of plant names, is to select and examine significant works belonging to different eras. The most important characteristic of this study is that it has brought together the plant names in historical dialects of Turkish. The phrase 'Historical dialects of Turkish' stands for Orhun, Uighur, Karahan, Harezm, Kıpçak, Çağatay, Old Anatolian and Ottoman Turkish literary languages. Plant names in texts written in the mentioned eras were determined in this study. Thus, this study has brought out the vocabulary of Turkish relating to plant names altogether. Turkish people who generally lead a nomadic life engaged in farming as a part of the nomadic life. People have made use of plants for treatment of diseases since the old times. It was also observed that plants were regarded as sacred as a result of the belief on animism in the Old Turkish world. When we have a look at the naming of plants, we see that plants have mostly been used together with the word 'herb'. Plants were given various names according to their places of growth, nations and communities, time of growth, color and by metaphor (comparison with humans and human organs, animals and animal organs, goods and other creatures).