SOME STAR NAMES IN MODERN TURKIC LANGUAGES-I*

Abstract

The Altaic theory, i.e. the theory about the affinity of Turkic, Mongolian, and Manchu-Tungus, including or excluding Korean, is not accepted by all scholars. Regardless of the Altaic theory, the Turkic material can be useful when studying the ancient history of the Koreans.The first capital of the kingdom of Goguryeo, an ancient Korean kingdom located in Manchuria and northern part of the Korean Peninsula, was Jolbon (or Holbon). The meaning of Jolbon (or Holbon) cannot be understood in modern Korean. The form Jolbon reminds us of the Turkic star name Čolpan 'Venus'. But, we are not sure that these names are related to each other.In the present paper we will treat the words for (1) star, (2) full moon, (3) Venus, (4) the North Star, (5) the Great Bear/the Big Dipper, (6) the Little Bear, (7) the Pleiades, (8) comet, and (9) meteor/meteorite in modern Turkic languages. We will focus on the linguistic analysis of the terms and deal with the cultural/historical background only as necessary.The main materials are from various dictionaries. We will also use the materials from the fieldwork studies carried out by the Turkic languages team of the ASK REAL (The Altaic Society of Korea, Researches on the Endangered Altaic Languages).Kew words: Altaic theory, Korean, linguistic analysis, star names, Turkic.Çağdaş Türk Dillerinde Bazı Yıldız Adları-I