Alisher Navai’s Mastery on Usage of Polysemantic Words in Literary

Works

Ulugbek Yuldoshev

and Ranokhon Khudjaeva

†

Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature named after Alisher Navai, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Keywords. Word, Lexical Meaning, Polysemantic Meaning, Literary Work, Investigate, Research, Dictionary,

Expansion, Diminution, Statistics.

Abstract. Today, various fields of linguistics, such as lexicology semasiology, phraseology, and stylistics are been

investigating by different researchers and scholars. The problems of linguistics have been important and actual

for many centuries. This article also deals with the lexical features of the Uzbek language and its development

process over various periods. It is dedicated to investigating the lexical richness of the Uzbek language and

elucidating the meanings and senses used in Alisher Navai’s literary works. In order to explain the different

polysemantic meanings of the words we addressed to the Explanatory dictionary of Alisher Navai’s literary

works and Explanatory dictionary of the present Uzbek language. The main aim of this article is to reveal

lexical meanings of words, such as avroq, aziz, band, iztirob and sadaf in the Uzbek language. Therefore, we

decided to analyze the mastery of using words and their meanings by Alisher Navai through investigation of

the usage of polysemantic words in his poems, ghazals and prose works in this article.

1 INTRODUCTION

The issues dedicated to investigation of Alisher

Navai's scientific and literary heritage, which are

important for the global community, involve

analysing his literary works, paying attention to

words, their meanings, defining them, identifying

their spiritual breadth and contextual significance,

and translating them into foreign languages. These

have been among the most significant aims in

philological and lexicographical scientific works for

the 15

century. Alisher Navai paid attention the

word issue in his creative works. When he

contemplated the nature of words, he emphasised the

potency of their meanings. This is because it is clear

that the word, and the meaning it encapsulates, are the

initial and the most significant basis of Navai’s ideas.

Alisher Navai understands and explains a word as the

embodiment of meaning, an expression of concept,

human ideas, and the intellectual world. Therefore, he

considered the word as means which influence others

powerfully. He expressed valuable opinions about

lexical richness of his own mother language and gave

factual materials. He counted a number of linguistic

Corresponding author

units that are superior to Persian language from a

semantic-functional point of view one by one and

analyzed them from the point of view of meaning. He

mentioned distinctive features of words and verbs in

old Turkish and Persian languages from the point of

view of meaning. He justified peculiar features of

word choice in Turkish language and used them in

poems, ghazals.

Alisher Navai analyzed listed verbs from the point of

view of semantics. He stressed the similarities and

distinctive features of the meaning of the verbs on the

basis of differential-semantic method and justified

them with examples. He identified homonyms and

synonyms of the words and mentioned the existence

of polysemantic words [9, 124]. For example, he

mentioned three homonymic meanings of the “ot” in

Uzbek language. First meaning is name of person,

second meaning is animal “horse” and third meaning

is action [2, 92].

Above mentioned opinions mean that Alisher Navai

was great scientist on lexicology, word studies in his

period because of he paid great attention to the word

issue.

Language is the most important structural component

of national culture and the word is the device which

Yuldoshev, U. and Khudjaeva, R.

Alisher Navai’s Mastery on Usage of Polysemantic Words in Literary Works.

DOI: 10.5220/0012484900003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 259-264

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

259

serves to understand nation’s culture, philosophy and

history. It is impossible to know the history of the

nation to which these writers belonged without

investigating writer’s and poet’s language, their

lexicon richness. The history of Russia cannot be

fully understood without the language of A. Pushkin

and M. Gorky; the history of England cannot be

grasped without analysing the language of W

.Shakespeare, G. Byron, and J. Galsworthy.

Similarly, to understand the history of the Uzbek

people, it is essential to know the language of Alisher

Navai.

We can see the uniqueness of Alisher Navai’s

language, the abundance of words in it, and the poet’s

extensive use of synonyms, antonyms, homonyms,

and polysemantic words in his ghazals. Here we talk

about polysemantic words and their meaning.

Polysemy is a linguistic occurrence, which relates to

the existence of several lexical meanings of a word.

Polysemy is a result of the creation of lexical

meanings. Lexical meanings are also generated by

meaning transfer. Some aspects of this transference

formation are similar to some aspects of conversion.

It is usually observed in polysemantic words that

linguistic units have more than one meaning.

According to the Explanatory dictionary of Uzbek

language, polysemy is linguistic unit which a word or

one element has more than one meaning. [8,274]

In general linguistics, M. Breal is considered the first

linguist to use the term polysemy to describe single

word forms with several related meanings. According

to M. Breal, polysemy was primarily a diachronic

phenomenon, arising as a consequence of lexical

semantic change. When words acquire new meanings

through use, their old meanings typically remain in

the language. So, polysemy involves the parallel

existence of new and old meanings, and result in

conventionalizing new senses.. It is the synchronic

outcome of lexical semantic change [Bréal, M.

(1924),33]. M. Breal observed that polysemy is not

really an issue, as the context of discourse determines

the sense of a polysemous word and eliminates its

other possible meanings at the synchronic level. V.V.

Eliseeva considers that the polysemy of a word is the

presence of more than one meaning in a linguistic

unit, subject to a semantic connection between them

or the transfer of common or related features or

functions from one denotation to another [10, 17].

According to V.N. Nemchenko, this phenomenon is

the presence of more than one meaning of the word in

a language unit [11, 281]. D.N. Shmelev states,

“When discussing polysemy, we primarily refer to the

polysemy of words as units of vocabulary”. Lexical

polysemy is the ability of one word to serve to

designate different objects and phenomena of reality”

[11, 382]. So, polysemy has a great importance not

only from a lexical as well as a semantic point of

view.

The frequency of polysemy in different languages is

varies depending on several factors. The progress of

civilization will make it necessary to not only form

new words, but to include fresh meanings to old ones:

in Breal's formula, the more senses a term has

accumulated, the more senses a term has accumulated

the more diverse aspects of intellectual and social

activity it represents. It would be interesting to

explore over a wider field the relation between

polysemy and cultural progress.

Meanwhile, the frequency of polysemy will also

depend on purely linguistic factors. As already noted,

languages where derivation and composition are

sparingly used will tend to fill gaps in vocabulary by

adding new meanings to existing terms. Similarly,

polysemy will arise more often in generic words

whose meaning varies according to context than in

specific terms whose sense is less subject to variation.

The relative frequency of polysemy in various

languages, may eventually provide a further criterion

for semantic typology. Although, it is again difficult

to exactly measure this feature in the present.

According to O, Muminov, “polysemy may be

analysed from two ways: diachronically and

synchronically”.

When we analyze the polysemy diachronically it is

understood as the development of the semantic

structure of the word or we establish how the meaning

of the word has changed whether it has got new

meanings in the course of the development of the

language. From the historical point of view one of the

meanings of the word will be primary meaning; that

is such a meaning of a word which was first

registered. All other meanings are secondary

meanings. The term secondary meaning shows that

the meaning appeared in the language after the

primary meaning was already established.

When we study polysemy synchronically, we analyse

the words with a single meaning called mono-

semantic words. Polysemy is the result of the process

of accumulation of meanings. According to

Vinogradov's theory, the principal cause of polysemy

is the discrepancy between the limited number of

words and the unlimited number of concepts they can

denote.

However, we have chosen to investigate polysemy in

this article from a viewpoint of the diminution and

expansion of meanings in present time and five

centuries ago, by analyzing the mastery of the use of

PAMIR 2023 - The First Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

260

polysemantic words in Alisher Navai’s literary

works.

2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The word “avroq” has been used multiple times in

Alisher Navai’s literary works. Nowadays, we can

observe two meanings of the word “avroq” in present

Explanatory dictionary of Uzbek language.

According to the dictionary, “avramoq” is to make

somebody to do something by cheating and “avroq”

is the complex of seduction sentences and activities

[5, 94]. However, the meanings of the word “avroq”

have changed over many centuries. This word has

undergone semantic diminution in the Uzbek

language. According to the morphological features,

“avroq” is noun. If we analyse the derivation of the

word, the root “avra” is a verb, and “–oq” is a word-

forming suffix.

Upon analysis of various sources, we findsix

meanings of the word “avroq” in the Explanatory

Dictionary of the lexicon of Alisher Navai’s literary

works.

And now we analyse some literary works by

Alisher Navai on his mystery of using polysemy in

different poems:

1) pages:

Kitob avroqidek bo’lg’ay musattax qolmayin

davri,

G’amim toshig’a bo’lsa bir nafar to’qquz falak

homil.

(Hazoyunul-maoniy, Volume B, p.385)

In these lines of Alisher Navai’s work, the

meaning “pages” of the word “avroq” is expressed in

Uzbek “avroqidek”. Accordingly, we can understand

the phrase “pages of the book” is equivalent to “kitob

avroqi” in Uzbek language.

2) leaves:

Yaxshi ochilmish bahorning gullari, eh bog’bon,

G’am xazoni xushtur avroqini barbod etmasa.

(Hazoyunul-maoniy, Volume A, p.386)

In the second lines of ghazal the meaning

“leaves” is expressed with “avroqi” in Uzbek

language.

3) pieces, parts, sections:

Jon pardalaridin anda avroq,

Jondin berib ul varaqin ushshoq.

(Layli va Majnun,

p.76)

Here the meanings pieces, parts, sections of the

word “avroq” are expressed in the first line of the

peom.

4) papers, documents:

Tengizda ravon qilg’an asboqini,

Chekilgan misohatning avroqini.

(Saddi

Iskandariy, p. 312)

Here the meaning “document” of the word

“avroq” is expressed in the second line of the poem.

We can identify the meaning of the word by the “land

surveyor (misohat)” the second line of the poem.

5) script, written words (poem, article and others),

books:

Va ikki murattab bo’lgan devonlardin yangi

aytilg’an abet adadi aksar va … xotirg’a kelur

erdikim, agar bu avroqqa rabt va tartib berilmasa…

(G’aroyibus sig’ar, V.a, p.60)

By this prose work we can observe the meaning

“book” of the word aroq.

6) сomplex, selection, code of something.

Skandarni donoga topshurdi chust,

Ki donishning avroqni etgay durust.

(Saddi Iskandariy, p.9)

As previously mentioned, we can witness that

there are six meanings of the word “avroq” were used

by Alisher Navai in order to expand the meanings of

the word.

Next word “aziz” is also very popular in present

Uzbek lexical layer. The word has also polysemantic

features. Nowadays the word is one of the most

famous anthroponomy in Uzbek language. The name

Aziz is one of the well-known names among Uzbek

people. The following meanings of the word “aziz”

exist in the Explanatory dictionary of the Uzbek

language: 1) unique, rare, scare; 2) the most necessary

and valuable thing for life; 3) dear, honourable, worth

to respect; 4) sacred, sacramental; 5) indicates a

relationship confirming the ownership of the

mentioned characteristic; 6) name of men [5, 32-33].

According to the morphological features, the

word “aziz” is an adjective. It is simple adjective by

derivational peculiarities. And we can observe the

meanings of the word “aziz” in different literary

works by Alisher Navai. According to various

sources, there are five meanings of the word “aziz” in

Alisher Navai’s literary works. And we can conclude

that the word “aziz” came across to the expansion of

the meaning linguistic occurrence during five

centuries. The fourth meaning, though the meanings

“king, office bearer, great person” of this word came

across the diminution of the meaning.

And here we can mention the usage of

polysemantic meanings of the word “aziz” in Alisher

Navai’s poems.

1) rare, scarce:

Erur ozki, firuza bo’lmish aziz,

Alisher Navai’s Mastery on Usage of Polysemantic Words in Literary Works

261

Chu xarmuhra qo’ndur ani bir pashiz.

(Saddi Iskandariy, V., a. p.275)

Chunki fikr etti jon aziz erdi,

Ul maqom asru fitnaxez erdi.

(Sabbai sayyor, p.166)

If we pay attention to usage of the meanings of

the word “aziz” there two words which are synonym

each other. The meaning “rare” of the word “aziz” is

expressed with “aziz” in the line “Erur ozki, firuza

bo’lmish aziz”. And the meaning “scarce” of this

word is expressed with aziz in line “Chunki fikr etti

jon aziz erdi”.

2) great, valuable, dear, sacramental:

Faqir ul aziz farzand marsiyasi bila aziz ota duosi

bobida bu baytni aytib erdim.

(Xamsatu-l-mutahayyirin, p. 698)

If we pay attention to the above-mentioned text

the word “aziz” was used in two places and has two

different meanings. The first “aziz” means “dear”,

and the second “aziz” means “great” in the English

language.

Chun tushurdi aziz mejmonni,

Yuzidin ravshan etti ayvonni.

(Sabbai sayyor, p.87)

In these lines the word “aziz” is used to give the

meaning “sacramental” in the English language.

3) uniqual, desperate, glorious:

Mavlono Lutfiy... aziz va mutabarruk kishi erdi.

(Majolisun-nafois, p.72)

Here we can see the meaning “glorious” of the

word was used in this text.

4) king, office bearer, great person:

Yonib Misr fathig’a qildi sitez,

Sinehr ani Misr uzra etti aziz.

(Saddi Iskandariy, V., 15. p.254)

Through these poem lines, we can clearly

observe that A.Navai used different meanings of the

word “aziz”. Here, he employed the word "aziz" to

denote the meaning of "king.".

5) supreme person, sacred:

Mavlono Mashriqiy... Mir Maxmud ko’p azizlar

xizmatiga yetib erdi.

(Majolisun-nafois, p.59)

Alisher Navai used different meanings for different

words. He used seven meanings for the word “band”

in his own poetic words. According to the

Explanatory dictionary of Uzbek language, there are

four homonymic meanings of the word “band” in

Uzbek language. We can observe the following

meanings of this word in the dictionary: 1) a) a part

of a thing or instrument that is held by the hand,

handle; b) a part of something that is pressed, sealed,

connected to another thing; c) joint, knuckle; d) a thin

part of fruit connected to the tree such as apple, pear,

cherry, grape and vegetables, such as melon,

watermelon, tomato, cucumber; 2) a) a small part of

official documents (decree, protocol, law, contract);

b) poetic passage connected from the point of view of

rhythm, rhyme and content, manzuma (oriental

poetry); c) a certain part of song or musical work; 3)

a) tied, connected place of thread, rope and others; b)

barrier, dam, barrage; c) figurative captivity, prisoner;

4) a) occupied, seized; b) busy with doing something,

busy as a bee [6, 156-157]. As we see, there are four

homonymic and polysemantic sub-meanings of the

word “band” in Explanatory dictionary of present

Uzbek language. The word “band” is a noun

according to the morphological features.

Alisher Navai used seven polysemantic

meanings of the word “band” in his literary works.

Here we analyse the meanings of this word by some

poetic works.

1) nodus:

Ishqdin chun bor erdi ko’nglida band,

Bandini ko’rsa erdi hojatmand.

(Sab’ai sayyor, 137-18)

If we pay attention to the meanings of the word

“band” in above-mentioned poetic passage, we can

witness the meaning tugun of the word “band” is used

in the Uzbek language. However, we have concluded

that the figurative meaning of this word was used

here. This is because the word “band” has

syntagmatic relations with the words “ko’ngil soul”

in these poetic lines. Alisher Navai tried to express

difficulties, hard times, and problems in someone’s

heart by using the word “band” in his poetic works.

2) joint:

Ishq aro pand etmakim ne sud, ey ahbobkim,

Har fig’onda band-bandim bir-biridin ayrilur.

(Xazoyinul-maoniy, 11 a-76;)

3) shackle, yoke:

Telba qulog’iga pand- quyun oyog’iga band.

(Mahbubul-qulub, 157)

4) handcuff, arresting:

Sayid Qutb Lakadang…base zahmat tortildi, to

bandg’a qaror topti. Banddin qochib holo

Samarqandda kim, majolisda Sayid Kuroza bila

majlisoroydur...

(Majolisun-nafois, 94)

5) rope, toils:

Qaysi kamand o’lmadi hargiz kamand,

Ravzai firdavs g’azoliga band.

(Hayratul-abror, 3-6)

6) handle, holder:

...Guldasta bandikim rayohii orasida xoshokni

sug’urg’ay.

PAMIR 2023 - The First Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

262

(Nazmul-javohir, 28)

7) trickery, necromancy (antonymic meaning):

Agarchi sipehr zolining makri beshumordur va

lekin hunari dog’i bordurkim, nechukkim, izzu

ilosinnng madori yo’qtur, bandu balosining ham

e’tibori yo’qtur.

(Munshaot, 151)

Here we can observe that Alisher Navai used

seven lexical meanings of the word “band” in his

literary work. An antonymic meaning is one

interpretation among other possible meanings of the

word. If we compare the meanings exist in

Explanatory dictionary of present Uzbek language

more than four meanings changed into antonymic in

present day lexical system. Only the meaning

“trickery, necromancy” of the word “band” is

antonymic and others are polysemantic meanings of

the word.

And the next word which has several

polysemantic meanings is the word “Iztirob”.

Nowadays this word is used by people in order to

express human being’s mental condition, too.

According to the Explanatory dictionary of present

Uzbek language, “iztirob” is originally related to

Arabic language and it has meanings such as, anxiety,

disorder, impatience, instability, mental depression, a

state of suffering, spiritual pain [7, 183]. According

to the morphological features, the word “iztirob” is

noun. It expresses a person’s emotion.

But Alisher Navai used several meanings of the

word “iztirob” in his literary works. Here we can

observe how the meanings of the word are used in

literary works.

1) excitement, impatience, indecision, suffering:

…alar chun nuzul qildilar, ul faqirda iztirob asari

zohir bo’ldi.

(Nasoyimul-muhabbat, XV-128)

Pahlavonning ushoqlaridin biri bu faqir qoshig’a

iztirob bila yugurub keldi.

(Holoti Paxlavon Muhammad, 536)

Ishq asir etgan jununlar ko’nglum ishi zamon,

O’tqa tushgan telba yanglig’ iztirob o’ldi yana.

(Xazoyinul-maoniy. 1b-551)

2) fidget, tipirchilash:

Ko’ngulga hajr zaxmikim urub o’zdin iroq,

solding.

Bo’g’uzlab tashlagan qushdek to’kub qon,

iztirob, aylar.

(Xazoyinul-maoniy. 11a-107)

3) confusion:

Ko’ngluma tushti iztirob base,

Qildi savdo meni xarob base.

(Sab’ai sayyor, 116-6)

4) extremely impatience:

Suv mavji kibya iztirob ayladi,

Muhit o’rtasiga shitob ayladi.

(Saddi Iskandariy, 255a-15)

5) restlessness, not enduring:

Chun topti bu iztirob taskin,

Chekkach ayoq ul g’aribu miskin.

(Layli va Majnun. 70a 9)

6) dust:

Sinoni qachon ko’rguzub pechu tob,

Sipehr ajdariga tushub iztirob.

(Saddi Iskandariy, 293a 18)

7) urgent, pressing:

Surdilar kemani shitob bila,

Yetti qavgunlar iztirob bila.

(Sab’ai sayyor, 139-16)

8) trouble, suspense:

Bu shah olinda muncha yolg’anim

Anga yuz iztirob solg’anim.

(Sab’ai sayyor. 184-20)

9) anxiety, bother:

Topti hajr iztirobi chun taskin,

Sho’xdin so’rdi xojai miskin.

(Sab’ai sayyor, 95-20)

By analysing the usage of lexical meanings of the

word “iztirob” in several literary works by Alisher

Navai, he was able to create some polysemantic

meanings of this word. However, there are several

meanings of the word that are not used in modern the

Uzbek language such as urgent, pressing, dust

meanings. The interpretations of this word have

diminished in scope over the span of five centuries..

By these analyses of the usage of such kind of words

in Alisher Navai’s literary works, we can observe that

he became a master of the usage of different meanings

and senses of a word in different contexts.

The word “sadaf” is also the word which has

several rich and polysemantic meanings. Alisher

Navai used four polysemantic meanings of this word.

According to the Explanatory dictionary of Uzbek

language, the word “sadaf” has three meanings.

Lexical meanings of the word in the present Uzbek

language are as follows: 1) mother of pearl, pearl-

shell, pearl, nacre; 2) made of pearl, prepared [8,417-

418]. The third interpretation of this word is

perceived as its semantic meaning, although it also

holds connotative significance. The terms “pearly

white” and “shiny” are regarded as connotative

interpretations of the word, according to

morphological characteristics, they are associated

with an adjective.

Here we observe the usage of different

polysemantic meanings of the word “sadaf” in

Alisher Navai’s literary works.

Alisher Navai’s Mastery on Usage of Polysemantic Words in Literary Works

263

1) pearl:

...va sahovat sahobi bog’idin sadafdek og’zi

qurugan sofiy zamirlarga durri nob sochmoq.

(Nazmul-javohir, 27)

2) dish:

Xatdin o’lub andin dag’i bu sharaf,

Xatti bo'lub gavharu xotam sadaf.

(Hayratul-abror 120-26)

Gavhar uldi zimmatu odam-sadaf.

Bu sadafqa ul guhardindur sharaf.

(Lisonut-tayr. 130-11)

3) parents:

Valaddur ul duru volid sadafdur,

Sadaf ya’ni atou dur xalafdur.

(Farhod va Shirin, 32)

4) tears:

To o’qung yomg’ur kibi keldi, ko’zum bo’lmish

sadaf,

Bovujudi ulki durdi yuz sari daryosi bor.

(Xazoyinul-maoniy, 1b-209)

When we compare the lexical meanings of the

word expressed in Alisher Navai’s literary works with

the Explanatory dictionary of present Uzbek

language, we can observe the expansion and

diminution of the meanings of the word “sadaf”. The

broadening of the term's significance is observed in

its secondary interpretations, including phrases like

"made of pearl," as recorded in the current Uzbek

language dictionary. However, certain lexical

meanings, such as "tears," "parents," or "dish," are not

included in this dictionary. This scenario indicates a

reduction in the term's scope of meaning. Upon

analyzing the lexical usage of words like avroq, aziz,

band, iztirob, and sadaf, it became clear that Alisher

Navai could employ these words in more polysemous

manners. Several lexical interpretations of these

terms experienced a reduction in their meaning, while

some lexical meanings have emerged over centuries.

The statistical characteristics of the aforementioned

information are showcased in the subsequent table..

Table 1: Statistical analysis

Words

and their

meanings

Alisher

Navai’s

literary works

Present

Uzbek

language

Avroq 6 2

Aziz 5 6

Band 7 4

Iztirob 9 3

Sadaf 4 3

3 CONCLUSION

In the course of studying Alisher Navai’s expertisein

the utilization lexical meanings, specifically the

polysemantic connotations of words such as “avroq”,

“aziz”, “band”, “iztirob”, “sadaf”, deduced his

profound understanding of the lexical richness of the

old Turkish language. Alisher Navai showed a keen

interest in words, manifesting diverse meanings in his

usage, thus enriching the spiritual breadth and

contextual significance of words in his literary

endeavours. Statistical analyses revealed a reduction

in themeanings of four words scrutinized during this

research, underscoring the importance of continuous

study and exploration of Alisher Navai's literary

work. This sustained inquiry and scholarly research is

crucial in enriching the present-day Uzbek lexical

system, benefiting both present and future

generations of Uzbek language speakers.

REFERENCES

Bréal, M. (1924) Essai de sémantique: science des

significations. Paris: Gérard Monfort..

Fozilov E. (1983) Explanatory dictionary of Alisher Navai's

works lexicon. –Tashkent: “Fan”.. Volume I. – 656 p.

Fozilov E. (1983). Explanatory dictionary of Alisher

Navai's works lexicon. –Tashkent: “Fan”. Volume I. –

624 p.

PAMIR 2023 - The First Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

264