Lexico­-Semantic Features of Arabisms in the Work "Shajara-­i Tarākima"

Abstract

This article investigates the lexico-­semantic features of Arabic-­origin words found in the historical manuscript Shajara-­i Tarākima by Abulgazi Bahadur Khan, with particular attention to their continued usage and evolution in modern Kazakh and in Kazakh folklore. The study analyzes thirty Arabic loanwords selected from the manuscript, comparing their meanings, forms, and semantic transformations across three linguistic domains: Chagatai Turkic, modern Kazakh literary language, and oral folklore. The analysis reveals that many of these borrowings have retained their core religious, philosophical, or socio-­political meanings, while others have undergone semantic shifts or gained idiomatic usage in oral tradition. The methodology is based on comparative lexico­-semantic analysis supported by tabular data and transliterations, enabling a clearer visualization of diachronic changes. Special emphasis is placed on distinguishing literary from colloquial adaptation processes and on identifying the influence of Islamic conceptual frameworks embedded in the vocabulary. The discussion highlights the layered nature of lexical integration, showing how Arabic elements served both as carriers of religious authority and as tools of poetic expression in Turkic literature. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the cultural and linguistic dynamics between Arabic and Turkic languages, offering new insights into the historical lexicology of the Kazakh language. This study thus enriches the fields of Turkic philology, historical semantics, and contact linguistics in Central Asia.