LEXICAL UNITS REFLECTING RELIGIOUS AND FOLK BELIEFS IN TURKMEN AND AZERBAIJANI LANGUAGES

10.52773/tsuull.conf.2026.23.05/TREX3784

Аннотация

The article studies lexical units reflecting religious beliefs and folk beliefs in
the Turkmen and Azerbaijani languages from a comparative-ethnolinguistic perspective. The main
goal of the study is to determine the semantic features of lexical units expressing the mythological
worldview, religious thinking and ancient belief system of the people in both languages. The study
shows that the lexical layer related to religious beliefs in the Turkmen and Azerbaijani languages
was formed as a result of the synthesis of ancient Turkic mythological ideas and elements of the
Islamic religion. The article analyzes the semantic load of lexical units such as “God/Teŋri
(God)”, “kut (the concept of luck, happiness and holiness)”, “uğur (luck, happiness)”, “pir (saint,
person with a fortune)”, “ocaq (holy place, place of pilgrimage)”, “bednazar (evil eye)”, “cadı
(witch woman)”, “tilsim (amulet, magical item)”, “al ruh (spirit of the soul)”, “kara basmaq
(basinkirash, karabasan)”, “dua (prayer)”, “iman (faith)”, “şeytan (devil)”, “çahnnem (hell)”,
“bakht (happiness, destiny)”. It was found that these units do not only perform a nominative
function, but also serve as ethnocultural indicators reflecting the people's models of protection belief, fear and mystical thinking. The research used methods of comparative linguistics and
semantic analysis. The analysis showed that a large part of the religious and mythological lexicon
in the Turkmen and Azerbaijani languages has a pan-Turkic semantic basis. At the same time,
both languages have their own local features and various semantic subtleties. The article
concludes that lexical units reflecting religious and folk beliefs are important language units that
preserve the historical memory, spiritual world and ethno-cultural identity of the Turkmen and
Azerbaijani peoples. The study of this lexical layer is of great scientific importance from the point
of view of studying the historical lexicology and ethnolinguistics of the Turkic languages