A Comparative Evaluation of Gerundial and Their Usage in Behcetu’l-Hadaik

The works that contain the language features belonging to Eastern Turkish and Western Turkish are called mixed language works. Behcetü’l-Hadâik is one of the works that is described as mixed-language together with Kıssa-yı Yusuf and Feraiz Book. Behcetü’l-Hadâik is a book of counsel. This copy was found by Sadettin Buluç. Mustafa Canpolat published the work. Comparative studies showing the language features of Eastern Turkish and Western Turkish related to Behcetü’l-Hadâik and other mixed language works and researches based on statistical data were not conducted. Behcetü’l-Hadâik is a book oftensively in Turkish since Old Turkish. After the detection of the gerundial in Behcetü’l-Hadâik, it is aimed to examine the use of these gerundials in Karahan, Khwarezm, Kipchak and Old Anatolian Turkish. In this context, the Bursa copy of the work written by an unknown author, which was copied by Abu Bakr bin Sheikh Ali bin Muhammad in H 703 / M 1303 and published by Mustafa Canpolat, was evaluated and it was observed that many gerundial works used in the historical periods of Turkish were also used in Bursa copy. Although the work was retained at the beginning of the 14th century, more data specific to Karahan, Khwarezm and Kipchak Turkish were found. This suggests that the work was translated from Eastern Turkish to Western Turkish or written by someone who later migrated to Anatolia.

Keywords

Philology, Gerundial, Behcetü’l-Hadâik, Karahan Turkish, Kipchak Turkish, Old Anatolian Turkish.