Names of animals in the epic “Idegei”

The purpose of the study was to present the zoonymic system of the epic ‟Idegeу”. To achieve the aim, the following tasks were solved: to identify the composition of zoonymic vocabulary; define the structure; and to trace the evolution of animal names. In the course of the analysis descriptive, statistical, semantic-etymological, semantic-logical methods were used, which made it possible to create a picture of the zoonymic system preserved in the work and determine changes in the semantics of names. The relevance of the study is due to the insufficient study of the history of the Tatar language terminology, the zoological terminology system in which is one of the bright systems that have a significant layer of prototherms preserved in works of folklore. The scholarly novelty of research lies in the fact that zoonyms functioning in the text were studied for the first time as a systemic lexico-semantic group. The work analyzed more than 100 names that are elements of the theriological (names of mammals), herpetological (names of amphibians and reptiles), ichthyological (names of fish), insectological (names of insects), ornithological (names of birds) subsystems. Hyperonyms and hyponyms were revealed, lexemes preserved in dialects and in works of folklore were highlighted, phonetic variants and synonyms were indicated, semantic transformations were revealed. It was determined that the most richly represented groups are therionim and ornithonim, which is associated with the lifestyle of the people. In the formation and systematization of ornithological vocabulary, the generic component plays an important role. The presence of couples with and without a generic component shows a characteristic development of the zootherminosystem, in which the omission of the generic component indicates the term's desire for brevity. Most of the names of animals recorded in the epic are used in the modern Tatar language, which indicates the stable nature of the elements of the system in the process of its development.

The obtained results open up prospects for comparative studies on the material of other Turkic languages and the study of the national-cultural specifics of zonyms in the epic. The work complements the picture of the zoological thermosystem formation of the Tatar language. The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of using the results in historical lexicology and lexicographic practice.

Funding: This work was supported by a grant awarded by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan to research and teaching staff of its separate structural units to encourage them to defend doctoral dissertations and conduct research (Agreement No. 2/2025-PD dated December 22, 2025)

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