The Philosophical Contents of Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk

Year 2020, Volume: 19 Issue: 1, 151 - 172, 30.06.2020

Vefa Taşdelen

https://doi.org/10.14395/hititilahiyat.673391

Abstract

Abstract

Philosophy is a work of mind which is produced in
language. The power of expression regarding being, mankind, society, morality,
and value manifests the philosophical potential of a language as well. The
potential of the language is the potential of philosophy and the potential of
philosophy is the potential of the language.

Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk is
one of the oldest and the most important texts of Turkish culture. This work
that is written to teach Turkish to foreigners, is not a work of dictionary in
a simplistic sense, it has a quality of an “anthology” which presents the
samples from the structure of the language of its own period such as poetry,
proverb, and story according to the requirement of the language teaching that
is embodying and exemplary. It is one of the works that has a quality of
exhibiting the philosophical potential of Turkish, the possibility to conceive
and articulate the being in scope of the riddle of human being, God and
universe; for the first time as in the most advanced level. This article aims
to deal with the philosophical content in the text. In this article words,
idioms, proverbs, poems, stories, and sample sentences will be examined in
terms of their philosophical contents and connotations. This accumulation, will
take place in order to reflect the holistic perspective of philosophy within the
frame of: (1) conception of being, (2) conception of knowledge, (3) conception
of human, (4) ethical and aesthetic values. 

Summary

Great texts are texts
which are alive; they need to be re-read, re-comprehended and reproduced. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk is such a
living text; it embodies the accumulated education, science, thought, and
culture of life in its own period. Language is simultaneously experience,
worldview, conception of the universe, culture of living, and the apprehension
of civilization; language is a common reason with the words, conceptions and
traditional verbal components (epics, proverbs, ballads, tales, myths, elegies,
jokes) it embodies. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk is precisely such a book of common reason. It is
the common accumulation and common treasure of Turkish civilization; its
intention is to present a common language of culture and communication without
respect to the differentiations of accent and dialect that arise from distance
over space (geography) and time. Likewise, Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk opens up the conception
of Turkish into Arabic, in terms of its worldview, apprehension of life, and
cultural riches; it furthermore opens up Arabic, the language of education,
science, philosophy and literature, into Turkish. It does so by the means of
reproducing Turkish in Arabic; it, so to speak, attunes the two languages to
one another via their mutual encounter.

Philosophy is a language study and emerging in
the language. The power of expressing existence, people, society, morality and
value constitutes the philosophical potential of a language. Languages in which great philosophies are produced are languages that allow
for a detailed and inclusive consideration of existence. The "alternating" and "reciprocal" relationship between
philosophy and language is reflected not only from language to thought but also
from thought to language; the meaning given to the being in its broadest sense,
the ability and skill in expressing the being is a contribution to the
development and enrichment of the language. The potential of language determines philosophical effort; the potential
of language is the potential of philosophy; the potential of philosophy is the
potential of language. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk is one of
the works in which the philosophical potential of Turkish is exhibited for the
first time in the context of the concept of human beings, God and the universe.

As a language has its own capacity, so too do
human beings have a capacity of their own. As a language possesses its own
wisdom, so too does each individual human being have a wisdom one of his or her
own. At some point, language transcends being a mere “instrument” and
transforms into a state of mind or consciousness that reflects in its own body
the accumulation of millennia. Therein, people feel as if they were swept along
in a vigorous river that comes flowing through the depths ofthe history,
becoming ever greater and stronger as it flows. Philosophy, as the activity of
deep thinking, emerges at the point where the capacity of humankind converges
with the capacity of language, where the accumulation of language intersects
with the accumulation of human beings. When the capacity of language is met by
the faculties and strivings of mankind, it moves beyond mere potential and
becomes an active force. Every language possesses its own mental structure and
worldview. A language, which reflects a worldview, culture and the philosophy
of a nation, also possesses a philosophical quality with a unique conception of
being, knowledge, and values it encapsulates. This is certainly true of Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk. While the Lughāt
is not a dictionary in a simplistic sense, it occupies the position of a
work of art which reflects with the vocabulary it transmits; in this case, the
apprehension of thought, belief and morality of the Turkish mind, as the latter
exists in the frames of being, knowledge and value, and in its purest and most
concise form. This rich context enables us to read it not only as a dictionary
but also as a book of knowledge, culture and wisdom.

Every text ought to be read and comprehended
from a philosophical perspective. Such a reading enriches the text and enables
it to endure. Looking at a text from a philosophical point of view does not
mean to claim that the text is philosophical. Rather, such a “philosophical”
reading can be defined as: (1) a reading which conceptualizes; (2) a reading
which problematizes; (3) a reading which deals with an issue not in the
framework of singular examples but in a holistic perspective; (4) a critical
reading; (5) a reading which regards language and thought coherently; (6) a reading
which intends to deal with the subject matter comprehensively and strives for
integrity and consistency within that frame; (7) an interdisciplinary reading;
(8) a reading which eventually seeks to ground the subject matter pursuant to
ontological, epistemological, ethical and aesthetic values, to make it
comprehensible; and (9) a reading which considers the historical and
traditional context in its own right.

In the current article, Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk will be
read with the express purpose of laying forth the philosophical contents
encapsulated therein; its subject will be treated within the framework of (1)
being (ontology), (2) knowledge (epistemology), and (3) ethical and
aesthetic values (axiology). This
effort will also mean exploring the philosophical potential of this first
source, in which the Turkish language accumulates in its purest form.

Keywords

Philosophy, Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk, Mahmūd al-Kāšгarī, being, knowledge, Ethics, Aesthetics

Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk’te Felsefî İçerikler

Abstract

Felsefe
dille yapılan ve dilde ortaya çıkan bir çalışmadır. Varlığı, insanı, toplumu,
ahlâk ve değeri ifade edebilme gücü, bir dilin felsefe potansiyelini de ortaya
koyar. Büyük felsefelerin üretildiği diller, varlığı ayrıntılı ve kapsayıcı bir
şekilde düşünmeye izin veren dillerdir. Felsefe ve dil arasındaki “dönüşümlü”
ve “karşılıklı” ilişki, sadece dilden düşünceye değil, düşünceden dile doğru da
yansır; en geniş anlamıyla varlığa verilen anlam, varlığı ifade etmedeki
yetenek ve beceri, dilin gelişmesi ve zenginleşmesi yönünde bir katkıdır. Dilin
potansiyeli felsefenin, felsefenin potansiyeli de dilin imkânıdır. Dil ile zihin
arasındaki yakın ilişki dikkate alındığında, Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk’ün
doğrudan kendi dönemindeki ortak akıl ve zihniyete tanıklık ettiği düşünülebilir.

Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk, Türk
kültürünün en eski ve en önemli metinlerinden biridir. Yabancılara Türkçe
öğretmek amacıyla yazılan bu eser, basit anlamıyla bir sözlük çalışması değil,
dil öğretiminin somutlaştırıcı ve örnekleyici yapısı gereği şiir, atasözü,
hikâye, folklor gibi dönemin dil ve kültür birikiminden örnekler sunan bir
“seçki” niteliğindedir. Bu anlamda
insan, Tanrı ve evren tasavvuru çerçevesinde Türkçenin felsefe potansiyelinin ilk
defa en ileri derecede sergilendiği eserlerden biridir. Bu makale, söz konusu
metindeki felsefî
içeriği ele almayı ve bu içerikten örnekler sunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmada
kelimler, deyimler, atasözleri, şiirler, hikâyeler, örnek cümleler, felsefî içerik ve çağrışımları
açısından ele alınacaktır. Bu birikim, felsefenin bütüncül bakışını yansıtacak
şekilde: (1) varlık anlayışı, (2)  bilgi anlayışı, (3) insan
anlayışı, (4) etik ve estetik değerler çerçevesinde olacaktır.

Keywords

Felsefe, Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk, Kaşgarlı Mahmud, varlık, bilgi, etik, estetik

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