Phytonymic Lexicon of the Siberian Tatars in a Comparative-historical Aspect

The relevance of this study arises from the need to examine dialectal phytonymic vocabulary from a functional-semantic point of view. The scientific novelty demonstrates the functional potential of the investigated category of the dialectal vocabulary of the Tatar language. The phytonymic vocabulary was analyzed with regard to its composition and origin, the relationship between dialectal and literary vocabulary with a close interweaving of synchronic and diachronic methods, and the functioning of the individual lexical units in the dialects and the spoken language of the Siberian Tatars. To comprehensively analyze the functioning of phytonymic vocabulary in the article, the following linguistic methods were used: The main method was the descriptive-analytical method, which includes a number of linguistic observations, systematization, generalization, interpretation, and typologization techniques. In addition, comparative-historical and comparative methods are applied. Elements of etymological analysis are also used to determine the origin of the word and rule out the possibility of misinterpretation. The systematization of the lexical units in the work is based on the biological classification of the plant world. The classification of plants according to life forms into trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants is traced. Phytonyms denoting edible plants, garden and fruit crops, cereals, vegetables, cucurbits, and fungi are emphasized separately. The origin of phytonyms is identified in the article. When analyzing the lexical units, different types of dictionaries were used, which make it possible to determine the origin and the correct interpretation of the lexemes: “Etymological Dictionary of Tatar Language” (2015), “Dictionary of Siberian-Tatar Dialects” (1992), “ArabicRussian Dictionary” (1989), “Arabic-Tatar-Russian Dictionary of Borrowings” (1993), “Tatar-Russian-Latin Dictionary of Plant Names” (2002), “Tatar-Russian Explanatory Dictionary of Phytonyms” (2020). The study’s theoretical basis is the work of linguists who deal with the linguistic peculiarities of the Siberian Tatars and the phytonymic vocabulary of the Tatar language. The analysis considers synonymy and variability within a separate lexical-thematic group from the perspective of modern division into literary and dialectal units; the features of the functioning of phytonymic vocabulary in the modern Tatar language and its dialects, especially in the dialects of the Siberian Tatars, and the use of plants in the material and spiritual culture of the Siberian Tatars are identified. As a result of the study, it is found that the composition of the dialectal phytonymic lexicon differs in its uniqueness and has its own peculiarity, which undergoes transformation and semantic changes in the course of evolution. It has been established that the phytonymic lexicon of Siberian Tatars is genetically heterogeneous: two main layers can be distinguished – the Indigenous Turkic-Tatar lexicon and borrowings (mostly of Arabic-Persian origin). It was found that the names of deciduous trees predominate in the phytonymic lexicon and that the phytonymic names denoting the taxon ‘fungi’ are the least represented among the quantitative names.