European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and Management Studies
16
https://eipublication.com/index.php/eijmrms
TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
16-19
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
22 April 2025
ACCEPTED
18 May 2025
PUBLISHED
20 June 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue06 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
The Rich Vocabulary of
Alisher Navoi's Works
Khalilov Farhad Khalilovich
Senior Lecturer of the National University of Uzbekistan named after
Mirzo Ulugbek, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Abstract:
The article examines the lexical and semantic
aspects of the vocabulary of Alisher Navoi's works,
which help to determine the lexical richness of the
literary language of that time. It is revealed to at the
words found in the poet's work are not identical from
the point of view of the source. In addition to the
vocabulary of the Old Uzbek language, the vocabulary
of other languages also makes up a certain layer. The
poet's invaluable contribution to the formation and
comprehensive development of the Uzbek literary
language and literature is particularly noted. His work
vividly reflected the richness of vocabulary, artistic
possibilities, beauty and grace of the Uzbek language.
Keywords:
Outstanding
thinker,
statesman,
vocabulary, lexico-
semantic aspects, borrowings, Оld
Uzbek language, Arabic language, Persian-Tajik
language.
Introduction:
The biography and work of the most
talented Uzbek poet, outstanding thinker and
statesman of his era, Nizamiddin Mir Alisher Navoi
(1441-1501) attracted the attention of many oriental
historians, linguists and literary scholars. The literary
legacy of the famous poet that has come down to us is
great and multifaceted: these are about 30 collections
of poems, verses, scientific works and poetic treatises
that fully reveal the spiritual life of Central Asia at the
end of the 15th century. Serious works are devoted to
the study of Navoi's works, and a school of Navoi
studies was created in the poet's homeland. But the
relevance of this topic does not diminish over time,
and, perhaps, it would be worth devoting entire
volumes to the analysis of each work of this author,
whose poetics are extremely interesting and diverse in
European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and Management Studies
17
https://eipublication.com/index.php/eijmrms
European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Management Studies
techniques, and whose views are unusually progressive
for a representative of medieval Eastern civilization. Let
us dwell on the lexical and semantic aspects of the
vocabulary of Alisher Navoi's works, which help to
determine the richness of the literary language of that
time. Significant progress has been made in linguistics
in the field of studying the vocabulary of works by poets
and writers. The vocabulary of the works of A.S.
Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, L.N. Tolstoy, N.V. Gogol and
A.P. Chekhov, W. Shakespeare, M. Cervantes and many
other famous writers and poets has been deeply
studied. A.S. Pushkin, who made a huge contribution to
the enrichment of the Russian literary language, used a
total of 21,197 words in his works [6, p.48].
Shakespeare used about 20,000 words in the language
of his works [7, p.149], and Cervantes - more than
18,000 [5, p.261]. Turkology also studies the vocabulary
of written sources and works of many poets and
writers. It is known from sources that the famous
Azerbaijani poet Nasimi used 3,338 words [3, p. 24], the
Tatar folk poet Tukay - 14,000 [1 p. 189], and the Kazakh
poet Abay - 6,000 [4, p. 12]. Considering that the
written monuments of the Uzbek language, especially
the vocabulary of written sources of the 15th century,
have practically not been studied, the famous Uzbek
linguist Bakhrom Bafoev chose 24 poetic, prose and
scientific works of Navoi in the old Uzbek literary
language as the object of study [2].
The masterpieces of artistic creativity created by the
poet surpass other Turkic-language works both in
volume and in artistic skill. As noted above, the
vocabulary used in the works of Alisher Navoi provides
rich material for determining the vocabulary of the Old
Uzbek literary language.
Based on the study of the vocabulary of Alisher Navoi's
poetic and prose works in the Old Literary Language in
various aspects (composition and volume of
vocabulary, thematic and lexical-semantic groups of
vocabulary, historical and etymological studies of
individual language units), the following conclusions
can be made:
1. In the 24 works of Alisher Navoi studied by B. Bafoev,
26,035 words were identified, including geographical
names and names of people [2, p. 19]. The words found
in the poet's works are not identical in terms of source:
in addition to the vocabulary of the Old Uzbek
language, a certain layer also consists of the vocabulary
of different languages.
1) The vocabulary of the Arabic language is more
numerous in comparison with the vocabulary borrowed
from other languages. There are 7973 "pure" Arabic
words (30.62% of the total vocabulary), words with the
first component from Arabic and the second
component from the Persian-Tajik language 1270
(4.87% of the total vocabulary), words with the first
component from the Persian-Tajik language and the
second component from Arabic 285 (1.09% of the total
vocabulary). The largest number of "pure" Arabic words
begin with the letter "M" and there are 1794 of them.
The smallest number are words starting with the letter
"e" (4 words). Words of Arabic origin do not begin with
the letters "g", "e", "y", "p", "ch", "u". The same
situation is observed in words of Arabic + Persian-Tajik
type. The words of the Persian-Tajik+Arabic type do not
contain words beginning with the letters "a", "e", "yo",
"y", "i", "l", "u", "yu", "e", "ts", "r". 2) There are 5487
"pure" Persian-Tajik words (21.08% of the total
vocabulary) and here there are no words beginning
with "e", "yo", "y". There are 1033 words of the Persian-
Tajik+Uzbek type (3.97% of the total vocabulary), 496
words of the Arabic+Uzbek type (1.90% of the total
vocabulary), 134 Arabic+Persian-Tajik+Uzbek type
(0.5% of the total vocabulary), 24 Persian-
Tajik+Arabic+Uzbek type (0.9% of the total vocabulary).
In addition to these, there are 13 words borrowed from
Hindi (0.05% of the total vocabulary) and 31 words
from Greek (0.12% of the total vocabulary). Also, Turkic
and Mongolian parallels are found in the works of
Alisher Navoi. Thus, 64.59% of the vocabulary in the
poet's works are words borrowed from other
languages.
2. 35% of the vocabulary of Alisher Navoi's works are
old Uzbek and Turkic words. In total, 302 action nouns
are recorded in the poet's works, of which only 2 words
have the suffix -ish. Participles and adverbial participles
are also found. In general, 844 verbs and verb forms are
recorded in the poet's works, of which 302 are action
nouns, 79 participles, 255 adverbial participles and 208
other verb forms. 3. The study of written sources or the
vocabulary of the literary language of a certain period
by thematic groups provides material for covering
many aspects of the history of the people. Based on the
study of the vocabulary of Alisher Navoi's works by
thematic groups, the following was discovered:
1) 218 names of human div organs and related
names, many of which are old Uzbek words. Persian-
Tajik and Arabic words also make up a certain part.
In this group, parallel use of material from these three
languages is also common;
2) 79 names of professions and related words. In them,
Old Uzbek, Persian-Tajik and Arabic words are found in
almost equal quantities;
3) musical terms and related names 119. Most of them
are Arabic and Persian-Tajik words. Only about 10 Old
Uzbek words were recorded;
4) military affairs and related names ‒ 186, with the
European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and Management Studies
18
https://eipublication.com/index.php/eijmrms
European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Management Studies
majority being Arabic, followed by Persian-Tajik and
Old Uzbek words. There is also a word from Hindi;
5) various games and related names also make up a
large number in the poet's works, which consist of
materials from the Old Uzbek, Persian-Tajik and Arabic
languages; 6) names of diseases and related names 95,
with Old Uzbek and Persian-Tajik words making up a
small number, and Arabic words in large numbers;
7) writing and words related to it make up 136. Of
these, 81 are Arabic, 37 are Persian-Tajik and the rest
are Old Uzbek words;
8) cons
truction and related words ‒ 225, many of them
are Persian-Tajik and then Arabic words. Old Uzbek
words make up a relatively small number;
9) gender and related names ‒ 39;
10) time designation and related words ‒ 109, with the
majority being Arabic and Persian-Tajik words, and Old
Uzbek words making up the rest; 11) celestial bodies
and related words ‒ 62, most of which are Arabic;
12) trade and related words ‒ 27, they consist of lexical
material from different languages;
13) religion and related words ‒
212, of which 157 are
"purely" Arabic words. Persian-Tajik words are also
found. From the Old Uzbek language, only the word
tengri and the words tengrilik, tengrilik formed from its
stem were identified;
14) clan, progeny and related kinship names ‒ 140,
most of which are Persian-Tajik words. Old Uzbek and
Arabic words make up almost an equal number;
15) words denoting an action, state and related names
- 242. This group of words contains a relatively large
number of Old Uzbek words, because adjectives and
adverbs from another language are adopted in another
language much less often than words related to
nominal parts of speech;
16) rank, position and related words make up 104, most
of which are Arabic and Persian-Tajik words;
17) everyday, economic and related names 393. They
consist of Old Uzbek, Persian-Tajik, Arabic, Indian and
Greek words;
18) Colors, shades, smells and related names - 150,
most of which are Persian-Tajik words. There are many
Old Uzbek, Arabic words, as well as Indian and Greek;
19) Volume, measure, level, side and related words -
80, most of which are Old Uzbek;
20) Food, liquid and related names - 150, most of which
are Old Uzbek, Persian-Tajik and Arabic words. There
are also Chinese and Greek words.
21) Alisher Navoi's works contain 70 words denoting
ethnonyms.
The
poet
provides
ethnographic
information about different nations and peoples in his
works;
22) There are more than 40 words related to holidays
and rituals. All of them are from Arabic, Persian-Tajik
and Old Uzbek languages.
23) In the Old Uzbek literary language of the 14th-15th
centuries, literary terms had a certain advantage over
terms from other areas, many of them are mentioned
in written sources. In the works of Alisher Navoi, 152
terms on philology are recorded, almost all of them are
borrowed from Arabic and Persian-Tajik languages;
24) in the works of Alisher Navoi, words related to the
animal world also make up a large layer, consisting of
357 words. Most of them are from Persian-Tajik and
Old Uzbek languages;
25) words denoting plants, 243; they are lexical
material of different languages;
26) the poet's works also contain an abundance of
words denoting counting and number, many of which
are Uzbek. There are few Arabic and Persian-Tajik
words in this thematic group.
4. In the works of Alisher Navoi, a large lexical group
consists of people's names, pseudonyms and
nicknames. In total, 762 such words taken from the Old
Uzbek, Persian-Tajik and Arabic languages are recorded
in the poet's works.
5. When determining the vocabulary of a language,
geographical names are considered as linguistic units.
In the vocabulary of each literary language,
geographical names also constitute a certain layer. In
the works of Alisher Navoi, 295 geographical names
were noted, most of which are borrowings from the
Persian-Tajik and Arabic languages.
6. Lexical and semantic study of the vocabulary of
Alisher Navoi's works helps to determine the richness
of the literary language of that time, the possibilities in
literary creativity. This means homonyms, antonyms,
synonyms and polysemantic phenomena. In the poet's
works there are an incredible number of synonymous,
antonymous and homonymous words, which proves
the richness of artistic creativity. These synonymous,
antonymous, homonymous words are the material of
different languages. Alisher Navoi masterfully used
polysemantic words in his works.
7. Historical and etymological study of words helps to
study the history of the language in which a given word
is used, and the speakers of this language. In addition,
it is material for identifying, to a certain extent, the
stages of development of people's thinking.
The great poet and thinker Alisher Navoi created his
immortal works, which entered the treasury of world
culture, in the Uzbek language, glorifying it throughout
European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and Management Studies
19
https://eipublication.com/index.php/eijmrms
European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Management Studies
the world.
It should be noted that in addition to Alisher Navoi,
great ancestors - outstanding figures of science and
literature of different times and eras, such as Yusuf
Khos Khozib, Ahmad Yugnaki, Atoi, Lutfi, Babur, Agakhi,
Mashrab, Mukimi, Furkat and other famous educators,
whose works vividly reflected the vocabulary wealth,
artistic possibilities, beauty and elegance of the Uzbek
language, made an invaluable contribution to the
formation and comprehensive development of the
Uzbek literary language and literature.
REFERENCES
Амиров Г.С. Словарь языка Тукая.—
В сб.: Тюркская
лексикология и лексикография.
-
М., 1971.
Бафоев Б. Навоий асарлари лексикаси. –Ташкент:
Фан, 1983.
Гахриманов
Жахонгир.
Насим
диванынынг
лексикасы.
-
Бакы, 1970.
Искаков А. Абай тили суздиги.
-
Алматы, 1968.
Касарес
X.
Введение
в
современную
лексикографию. Перевод с испанского.
-
М., 1958.
Фрумкина Р.М. Статистические методы изучения
лексики.
-
М., 1964.
Xакулинен Л. Развитие и структура финского языка.
Часть I (Лексикология и синтаксис).
-
М., 1965.
