What is it about?

This study looks at three Old Turkic words used to refer to different years in relation to the present: bïldïr ~ bïldur ‘last year’, arkun ‘next year’, and izi ‘the year after next’. It argues that each of these words has a different historical origin. The word for ‘last year’ is explained as an older compound made up of a borrowed Tocharian element and the word that later became Turkic yïl ‘year’. The word arkun is traced back to an earlier verb meaning something like ‘to send through’, and related forms are used to support this explanation. The word izi is linked to Yakut and Dolgan ähīl, and the latter is interpreted as a shortened combination of *äzi yïl.

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Why is it important?

This study is important because it offers new explanations for three obscure Old Turkic words referring to past and future years: bïldïr ‘last year’, arkun ‘next year’, and izi ‘year after next’. By combining evidence from historical Turkic languages with data from Mongolic, Tungusic, Tocharian, Khotanese Saka, Yakut, and Dolgan, it clarifies the origins and development of words that have long resisted convincing etymological analysis. The study also sheds light on how early Turkic speakers conceptualised time and how contact with neighbouring languages influenced the Turkic vocabulary.

Perspectives

I began this study with the aim of finding more convincing explanations for several obscure Old Turkic temporal expressions. What interested me most was that words which initially appear isolated or irregular can become intelligible when evidence from different historical periods and neighbouring languages is considered together. The resulting etymologies are necessarily open to further discussion, but I hope that they demonstrate the value of combining detailed philological analysis with broader comparative linguistic evidence. For me, the study also illustrates how even a small group of words can reveal important aspects of Turkic linguistic prehistory, semantic change, and language contact.

Dr. Orçun Ünal
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen

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This page is a summary of: Last Year, Next Year and the Year after That: on the Etymology of Three Turkic Temporal Adverbs, International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, March 2026, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/25898833-20260085.
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