ÜLKER

Text in Latin: “ÜLÜ KERÜ / ULU KARU”. If the first word is read as “ULU”, it would be directly translated as “the great” (Akalın, Clauson, Gülensoy, Orucov). Accounting for the fact that the author did not differentiate between dieresis and cedillas – since we do not actually know the author’s specific Turkic dialect, the word can also be read as “ÜLÜ”. Nevertheless, “ÜLÜ” is directly translated as “gift” and “to assist”. However, we still looked into the root meanings of the words. The second word “KARU” can be directly translated as “arm”, “power”, “strength”, “force”, “divine strength”, “God’s power”, “capability” and “talent”. (Akalın, Clauson, Gülensoy) However, since many of the “-U” suffixes became “-I” – as explained in the appendix section 1a – the word is most likely the equivalent of the modern Anatolian Turkish word “KARI”. The word “KARI” is translated as “woman”, “wife”, and “old lady”. In Turkish, having two words together as one compound word will never vary the meaning of either. In other words, “ÜLÜ KERÜ / ULU KARU” is identical to having a compound word of “ÜLÜKERÜ / ULUKARU”. The reason this is significant to understand is that these words have a clear relation to the modern day Turkish word “ÜLKER”, which is translated as “Pleiades” (Akalın, Clauson, Gülensoy). We believe that this was a natural evolution of the word across many dialects, as all it does is take out the suffixes “-U/-Ü” and make a compound word out of the roots; hence, “ÜLKERÜ” translates as “The Pleiades”. “ULU KARU (ULU KARU / ULU KARI)” translates as “The Great Woman”. “ÜLÜ KARU” translates as “The Pleiades”, “The Great Force”, and “The Great Hand”. In conclusion, due to the illustration depicting the “woman”, both translations appear relevant. Thus, this leads us to believe that the author had intentionally implied both meanings. In other words, we believe this is “The Pleiades star cluster” which is also being symbolized as “The Great Woman”. Main Resources: 1- [ÜLKƏR sözünün mənası hk bax.: Orucov Əliheydər, "Azerbaycan Dilinin İzahlı Lügatı" - 2006 - Page 424 / ISBN13 978-9952-34-026-6 & ISBN10 9952-34-026-5 / Azərbaycan Milli Elmlər Akademiyası 'Nəsimi Adına Dilçilik İnstitutu' Yayınları.] 2- Clauson, Gerard (Sir). An etymological dictionary of pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish. 1972. Oxford University, Clarendon Press. Print. 3- Eyuboğlu, İsmet Zeki. Türkçe kökler sözlüğü. Remzi Kitabevi, 1989. Print. 4- Guise, John. “Manisa Turkish. – The Turkish Language and its Grammar explained for English Speakers”. Author: John Guise. Web. 2 Feb. 2017 to 2020 <http://www.turkishexplained.com/>, 5- Gülensoy, Tuncer, and Amanoğlu, Ebulfez Kuluyev, and Küçüker, Paki. Nahçıvan ağzı giriş, inceleme, metinler, dizinler, sözlük. Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları, 2009. Print. 6- Akalın, Şükrü Halûk. Türkçe sözlük. Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu, Türk Dil Kurumu 2011. Print. 7- “Sözce” Vagonn. Sözce Sözlük, N.p. Web. 4 Jan. 2017 <https://sozce.com/nedir/324860-ulker>.