On the Sociolinguistic Origins of the term Qazaq: A Proposal for an Alternative Etymology of ‘Cossack’/‘Kazakh’ and an Argument for the Analytical Usefulness of Register in Historical Linguistics

Lewis, Patrick C. (2023) On the Sociolinguistic Origins of the term Qazaq: A Proposal for an Alternative Etymology of ‘Cossack’/‘Kazakh’ and an Argument for the Analytical Usefulness of Register in Historical Linguistics. ACTA ORIENTALIA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 76 (1). pp. 93-128. ISSN 0001-6446

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Abstract

Although the word qazaq is widely agreed to be the common ancestor of both ‘Cossack’ and ‘Kazakh’, there remains uncertainty about qazaq’ s etymology. This paper proposes that qazaq originated as a variant of the central Turkic etymon qaç(g)aq and thus derives from the Common Turkic root qaç - (‘flee’). The paper draws on data generated through the traditional methods of historical linguistics — the comparative method and philological analysis — in conversation with recent work in anthropological and sociolinguistics on the concept of linguistic ‘register’ to better theorize qazaq ’s historical development and the variation in its forms and meanings.

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