Western Yugur Botanical Names
The sources on the Western Yugur language contain a small number of botanical names. Many of these are loanwords from Chinese; there are also a few botanical names borrowed from Eastern Yugur and Tibetan, especially in the speech of Dàhé.
Some names are hybrids, consisting of elements from both the Western Yugur and the Chinese language. A few names are calques (loan translations) from Chinese.
The botanical names in the sources reflect an arid climate with cold winters, while the botanical names exclusive to the speech of Dàhé reflect a mountainous environment.
The Western Yugur language discerns between terek, trees, tihken, thorny shrubs, and oht, grasses, weeds, and herbs.
The common word for flower is xuar, a loanword form Chinese; the Turkic word for flower, çeçek, is attested in the sources as jhüjük but seems to be obsolescent.
The Western Yugur word for leaf is lahpçïq, which occurs in Eastern Yugur as lapçhêq, and may ultimately be a hybrid formation of the Turkic word for leaf, yapurgak, and the Mongolic word, nabçin or labçin. An alternative Western Yugur word is lawïr, perhaps another hybrid formation.
The Western Yugur word for tree trunk is terek qohqpa, a loanword from Tibetan khog-pa, trunk of the body, and the word for bark is terek qhaztïq, which is most likely related to Turkic kaaz, bark.
The word for root is yiltïs, derived from Turkic yildiz; it was borrowed into Eastern Yugur as yeltes.Read more on:
- Western Yugur names of trees
- Western Yugur names of shrubs
- Western Yugur names of mushrooms
- Western Yugur names of grasses and herbs
Back to the index of The Western Yugur Language