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Roots of Anthropotcentric Interpretation of Proper Nouns in the Works of Abu Rayhan Beruni

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Roots of Anthropotcentric Interpretation of Proper Nouns in the Works of Abu Rayhan Beruni Journal of Critical Reviews ISSN- 2394-5125 Vol 7, Issue 5, 2020 Review Article ROOTS OF ANTHROPOTCENTRIC INTERPRETATION OF PROPER NOUNS IN THE WORKS OF ABU RAYHAN BERUNI 1Yuldashev Doniyor Takhirovich 1Department of Uzbek Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, Urgench State University, Urgench, Uzbekistan. Received: 13.01.2020 Revised: 23.02.2020 Accepted: 25.03.2020 Abstract The article analyzes the scholar's anthropocentric views on the subject through some examples devoted to the interpretation of proper nouns in the works of Abu Rayhan Beruni. These facts support the important role of Abu Rayhan Beruni’s views and works in the formation of the anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics. Key words: anthropocentrism, proper nouns, Abu Rayhan Beruni, thinking condition, generality, specificity, onomastic units, Uzbek linguistics. © 2019 by Advance Scientific Research. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31838/jcr.07.05.201 INTRODUCTION stand on the ridge of the constellation of Saturn ... The word The roots of the formation of anthropocentrism in linguistics go Surayyo is an abbreviation of “Savra” and is actually derived back to the views of such scholars as W. von Humboldt, E. Sapir, from “Sarva”. “Sarva” means “gathering” and “plurality”. Some B. Wharf, L. Weisberger. But in this case, we should not ignore people think that this (star) is called by such a name because of the works and views of the representatives of Uzbek classical the reason that it rained at their set and created “Sarva”, i.e. philology. Because in the works of such scholars as Beruni M. wealth. These stars are also called “najm” [2.31]. Zamakhshari, M. Kashghari, N. Rabghuzi, A. Navoi, Babur, Abulghazi Bahodirkhan, although they did not use the terms of From this view of Abu Rayhan Beruni, the following conclusions anthropocentrism, there are valuable facts about the principles can be drawn from today's point of view: of names and naming words. First, there are six stars that stand out in the constellation Although many of Abu Rayhan Beruni’s views are directly related Surayyo, which are similar to a bunch of grapes, and if a formal to marking naming principles, the development of nomination resemblance to the name is the basis, a name related to the process, he offered valuable ideas on the issue of anthropocentric grapes in the constellation should be chosen. interpretation of proper nouns, as well as ethno-linguistics, Secondly, the fact that some people unjustifiably consider it a linguistic aesthetics and areal linguistics. Abu Rayhan Beruni “buttock of hamal” confirms the above-mentioned views of the wrote in his work “Qadimgi xalqlardan qolgan yofgorliklar scholar. (Monuments of the Ancient Nations)”: “If you look at the names given to the permanent lamps by the Arabs, although Abu Third, Surayyo is actually a diminutive form of “sarva” meaning Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah al-Jabali spoke “wealth”, which is associated with rain at star set, a name derived long in all his books, especially in his book on the superiority of from a folk ethno-culture formed depending on the nature of the the Arabs over the non-Arabs, “they know better than anyone area inhabited by the Arabs. Because it is natural that in the way else the state of their places of rising and setting”, you will find of life of the Arab people rain is associated with the concept of out that the Arabs are far from knowing the constellations and “wealth”. their images. I don’t know whether [Abu Muhammad] did not Fourth, we see that the word “najm”, which means “star” in know that farmers and herdsmen would start [field] work Arabic, is actually a proper noun, not a common name for a star. everywhere, that they would know the appropriate time for As-surayyo – الثُّریَّا ,An-najm – ال َّنجمُ ,Indeed, in Muqaddimatu-l-adab َ ْ them, or that he would not know himself? He who sees the sky at were given as a variant [12. 47]. The original lexical meaning of the top and the lights always rising and setting in the same order, the word “Najm”, according to Zamakhshari, is “newly grown covering nothing but the sky, connects the knowledge of the vegetation” [12.104]. In the Koran, it is used in both senses: beginning and time of their work to the lights” [1. 283]. Beruni “star” in verse 1 of surah “Najm”, and “melon crop” in verse 6 of emphasizes that the Arabs can immortalize all events, myths and surah “Ar-Rahmon” [24, 526, 531]. legends, whether true or false, through myths, poems, and narrations, which are important in the anthropocentric MATERIALS AND METHODS interpretation of proper nouns. It is known that the main sources of the Khorezmian language In another point, the scholar writes: “The Khorezmians knew the are words and phrases written in the Arabic alphabet, constellations better than the Arabs, and the fact that the names supplemented with additional characters in the scientific and they gave to the zodiacs corresponded to the names given by jurisprudential literature of the 10th and 13th centuries [22. 368]. astronomers and did not correspond to the Arabic language and There has emerged some research works in our linguistics on described them with images other than those given by the these sources [10. 40-43; 37-42]. One of the important sources in officials, show that our view is correct” [ 2.26]. determining the grammatical and lexical peculiarities of the Khorezmian language is undoubtedly the collection of some Beruni, in particular, wrote the following in his interpretation of proper nouns mentioned in the works of Abu Rayhan Beruni. the cosmos Surayyo: “Surayyo is a collection of six stars, very This collection consists mainly of anthroponyms, toponyms, similar to a bunch of grapes. The Arabs called it the “hamal calendar (holiday, moon, day) names, astronomical (some dumbasi (buttock of hamal)”, but it was not. Because these stars Journal of critical reviews 989 ROOTS OF ANTHROPOTCENTRIC INTERPRETATION OF PROPER NOUNS IN THE WORKS OF ABU RAYHAN BERUNI constellations and lunar positions) and astrological (zodiac) based it on the comparison of the Sogdian forms of the word зу names [16. 200]. In the works of the scholar “Monuments of with the Khorezmian version, along with other Iranian languages Ancient Peoples” (“al-Osor ul-boqiya ‘an qurun ul-holiya”), “Kitob [11. 449]. The second component, п-ч-к-р-и-к, is common with as-saydana fit-tibb”, “Kitob at-tafhim” and “Qonuni Mas’udi”, the ancient Persian word patikara, meaning “image”. The same there are names related to the Khorezmian language in a certain word is used in Pahlavi as patkar, in Armenian as patker amount. The names of Khorezmian calendars, holidays and [21.447]. famous days mentioned in Abu Rayhan Beruni’s work “al-Osor ul-Boqiya” are specially studied. In particular, V.A. Livshits There is no doubt that the word picture [9. 15], which means studied the names of the calendar (months and days) [27. 61- image, picture, description in English, has the same root with the 169]; M.N. Bogolyubov studied the famous days and holidays of common Iranian word. If we take into account that the English Khorezm [4. 28-33; 35-39]. It is noteworthy that in later periods, orthography is mainly based on a historical principle, it is clear the elements of the Khorezmian language were studied and that the word, which is pronounced today as [piktʃə], has identified in comparison with European languages and the historically been used in the form of a picture or pictur, and this system of proper nouns [13. 12-15; 693-697]. supports our view above. Based on the form of this word in different periods of development of the Persian language, it is Abu Rayhan Beruni's work “al-osor ul-boqiya” was first studied possible to speak about the phonetic phenomenon т – ч – й and it by the German scholar E. Zahau. E. Zahau published a German becomes clear that the original pronunciation of the word in translation of this work in the 70s of the 19th century together Beruni’s п-ч-к-р-и-к form was пачикар(ик). The -ик component with the Arabic text [29]. Since then, this work has not escaped in the word is a grammatical index of the noun in the the attention of world scientists. “The Khorezmian names in the Khorezmian language. work served to identify the inscriptions on the coins found is the Khorezmian name of the Uzbek zodiac sign ﺨرﭽُﻧﻚ during the excavations by members of the Khorezm Хrčnk in Persian ,ﺴراﻄاﻥ Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition, to date the Crab [1, 220]. In Arabic it is called Саратон in Russian it is called Рак. The part xr ,[545 .15] خرچنگُ Khorezmian eras and for similar historical and chronological Харчанг purposes. Abu Rayhan Beruni in “Osor ul-boqiya” cites old (xara-) of this word is added to the name of insects in most Khorezm myths about pre-Islamic Khorezm rulers [29. 35]. Iranian languages. For example, in the Khorezmian language, According to him, the founder of the dynasty was a person βwmy’ xrck is the name of a locust species, word by word means named Afrig, and his son built the Khorezm fortress, known as “earth locust” [14. 59]. It is noted that the part хr in the word Kat and Phil (Fir), in 616 (304 AD) according to the calendar of хrčnk in the Khorezmian language means “big” and čnk means Salavki. According to this, Afrig is a ruler who lived in the third “claw” [23.
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