The Perceptual Etymology and the Origin of the Old Turki̇c ‘Ïmga’ and ‘Il Ïmga’ via the New Thoughts

Abstract

When it comes to etymology, two methods come to mind: 1. Scientific or linguistic etymology and 2. Folk etymology. However, the Polish linguist Marek Stachowski introduced a new etymology term to the literature: 3.”Perceptual etymology”. Stachowski explains the term, which he coined for the first time in his article titled “Perceptual etymology, or three Turkish culinary terms in Croatian and Slovene, and a Polish social term inteligencja ‘intelligentsia’” published in Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis 138 (4) in 2021, in his article titled “Perceptual etymology. A social aspect of etymological research” published in issue 139 (1) of the same journal in 2022. In this study; unaware of this new term, the origin information of which is explained, 'اِمْغا', 'اَلِمْغا' in the Diwanu Lugati’t-Turk of Kashgari (Barskani) Mahmud and the titles ‘amγa’, ‘il ïmγa’ in Old Uighur letter documents, which mean “guard of the military governor, secretary of state”, which have meanings such as “state treasurer, treasurer, tax collector”, are reconsidered in the context of the concept of “perceptual etymology”. Based on the previous sources, it is accepted that the word was borrowed from a Chinese title, yaya (押牙 / 押衙), from a Middle Chinese pronunciation of *im go dar to Turkish during the Chinese Tang Dynasty. This title is represented by Sir G. Clauson ‘ımğa’, T. Takata ‘ąmäga’, N. Sims-Williams and J. Hamilton ’’mγ’ (amγa) and T. Moriyasu as amγa / ïmγa. Here, the origin information of the title in question will be tried to be explained again through their spellings, historical developments and meanings in old Uighur documents and to be shown that the title is not borrowed into Turkish from Chinese, but from Khotanese Sakan.