Letters of Khan Ayuka and Their Russian Translations: Anthroponyms Revisited. Preliminary Analysis

Introduction. Anthroponyms contain valuable insights into the history of ethnic language and culture. The historical aspect of anthroponymy needs further research to reconstruct a wider panorama of the ethnos-specific anthroponymic system. Goals. The article seeks to consider the anthroponymic elements of Khan Ayuka’s letters in comparison with parallel Russian translated equivalents of theirs. Comparison of the Kalmyk and Russian texts makes it possible to trace traditions of naming people in different ethnocultural societies, thus revealing materials for a Kalmyk 18th-century name list. Methods and Materials. The paper analyzes 1714 letters of the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka and their Russian translations (referred to 1714 as well) housed by the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. The personal names considered identified through the use of the continuous sampling method. The main research methods employed are the descriptive and comparative ones, and that of contextual analysis. The analyzed texts contain not only Kalmyk anthroponyms but also ones borrowed from other languages, which resulted from socio-political contacts with different peoples and states. Along with Russian, there are Kazakh, Tatar, Khiva, Turkmen, and other anthroponyms. Still, the article focuses on Kalmyk anthroponymic elements. Conclusions. Anthroponymy of each ethnos in each era has its own characteristics. In this regard, the material contained in the official correspondence of Khan Ayuka restores part of the Kalmyk anthroponymic register typical for the 1700–1720s. Restoration of the name list in diachrony requires both original texts and their Russian translations be used, since anthroponyms mentioned in the original documents and translated texts complement each other, which may indicate regularity, reproducibility of such personal names.

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