Animals of the Mustelid Family in the Linguistic Picture of the World of the Altaians

Abstract

Purpose. The article describes zoonyms of the Altai language and folklore denoting mustelids, representatives of the fauna of the Altai Mountains. This lexical-semantic group of lexemes in the Altai linguistic culture has not been thoroughly studied yet. The identification of the lexical potential of zoonyms denoting mammals of the mustelid family provide information about the etymology, dialect variants, donative and connotative features that express ideas about those animals in the language and folklore of the Altaians, and their mythological context of use.

Results. Lexical meanings of zoonyms have been identified and established: agas /aas ‘ermine’, kish ‘sable’, borsuk ‘badger’, jeeken ‘wolverine’, saras ‘kolinsky’, ‘weasel’, kushkuly/kalazak ‘weasel’, suzar ‘marten’, ‘mink’, toktonok ‘weasel’. Of these, the general Turkic layer of vocabulary includes: agas ‘ermine’, suzar ‘marten’, kish ‘sable’, borsuk ‘badger’, küzen/joonmoiyn ‘ferret’, jeeken ‘wolverine’. Denotative and connotative features that characterize animals are presented in various folklore and literary texts that provide information about their color, body structure, habitat, and their habits.

Conclusion. In the religious and mythological picture of the world of the Altaians, such animals as kish/albaa ‘sable’, agas ‘ermine’ were revered totem animals. In relation to these animals, there were certain rules of behavior during the hunt. These factors influenced the development of a system of euphemisms in the language of hunters, formed with the help of such linguistic means of objectifying concepts as metaphor and metonymy.