Abstract:

Many researchers have tried to explain the origin and structure of the word uragut which can be traced back to Karakhanid period but is still used commonly to name woman. Several studies have been conducted which focus on the relationship between the words uragut and urug in terms of their meanings; however they could not come to a precise conclusion about both the origin and the morhological structure of the word. In this study, the word uragut, which attracts attention due to its distinctive feature and thought to be associated with such words like urdır- “to pull off”, urgaçı ~ urkaçı ~ urğaaçı “female, woman”, urık “seed”, urug “1. seed, offspring 2. ancestor, family, generation, race”, urugdaş “agnatic”, urluk “seed, offspring” and urum “offspring” appearing in the historical and modern periods of the Turkish language, will be explained. The word uragut is assumed to have become a word refering to woman by passing through several stages. As a matter of fact, the root of the word must be ur- which is a verb meaning “to pour water etc.” and “to spread sperm, to scatter seed” in figurative language. Derivational affixes -a-, -gu+ and +t, which has lost its function as the plural suffix and appears in words indicating social rank, are attached respectively to the root that results in a noun meaning “someone on whom sperm is spread, someone who continues one’s bloodline”. Another controversial issue about the word uragut, which was last seen throughout Ottoman lands in the XV. century, that whether it has discarded nowadays. Some researchers state that the word avrat “woman, wife” used in today’s literary language is derived from the Arabic word ‘avret “private parts” while some others claim that the word uragut might have been exposed to sound change in time (uragut > uravut > uravat > urvat > arvat ) and turned into ~ avrat. This issue will also be clarified in the study.

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