Clauson (1972)
An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish
p. 83-84
oğul
‘offspring, child’, originally of either sex, but with a strong implication of ‘male child’; by itself it can mean ‘son’, but not ‘daughter’; in the Plur. it might mean ‘sons and daughters’, but oğul kız would be the more normal expression. One of the very few Turkish words forming a Plur. in -n. Thus oğla:n was originally the Plur. and understood as such, but this fact was later forgotten and oğul came to mean ‘son’, and oğla:n ‘boy’ and later ‘servant’ or ‘bodyguard’ (the origin of German Uhlan); the timing of these changes has not yet been worked out. Both words s.i.a.m.l. with various phonetic changes. See Doerfer II 498, 502. Türkü viii various suffixed forms oğlım, oğlı:, etc. are common in I, II, T, etc.; oğlanım, clearly Plur., I S 1, II N 1; I N 11; oğlanıŋızda: Plur. I SE; a.o. I E 5, II E 5 (atı:); viii ff. oğlı: IrkB 15, etc.; (a gambler staked) oğlanım kisi:si:n ‘his sons (or children) and his wife’ do. 29; oğlanım ınça: biliŋler ‘my sons, know this’ do. Postscript: Yen. oğlı: Mal. 30, 2 etc.; sü tegi: yeti: biŋ oğlan erti: do. 26, 8 must mean ‘the strength of the army was 7,000 young men’ (sic, not ‘sons’); on ay eltdi: ögüm oğlan tuğdım ‘I was born a boy (not Plur.) whom his mother had carried for ten months’ do. 29, 5: Man. Xormuzta teŋri oğlanı beş teŋri ‘the five gods, the sons (Plur.) of the god Hormuzd’ Chuas. I 8; a.o. do. 33: Uyğ. viii eki: oğlıma: ‘to my two sons’ Şu. E 7: ix oğlanım ‘oh my sons’ Suci 9 (oğlımın in do. 6 is a misreading of bağladım) viii ff. Man.-A kaltı oğul oğlan ergüsinte erürçe ‘just as a child comes to maturity (2 er-) in the womb’ (lit. ‘place for children’) MI 14, 12-14; (and the magicians) oğul kız berü umağaylar ‘will not be able to give him sons and daughters’ do. 15, 10: Man. alku tınlığ oğlanınıŋ ‘of all the children of men’ TT III 19: Chr. amrak oğlanlarım (sic) ‘my dear sons’ U I 5, 4-teŋri oğlı ‘the son of God’ do. 7, 1; oğlan kızlar ‘boys and girls’ (below the age of two) do. 10, 2: Bud. oğul, oğlı, etc. ‘boy, son’ are common TT VII, VIII; PP 11, 6 etc.; tınlığ oğlanıŋa TT VII 40, 142; in TT V 12, 127 (a fairly late text) teŋridem kız azu teŋri oğlanı teg kürkle oğlan ‘a child as beautiful as a divine girl or a son of God’ oğlan is clearly Sing.: Civ. oğlug kisig ülüglüg ol ‘your children and wives are fortunate’ TT I 154-5; kişi oğlı ög(k)e kelmez ‘children do not come to their mother’ do. 216; kiçig oğlan ‘a small boy (Sing.)’ do. TT VII 27, 8; kenç oğlan ‘a young boy’ TT VII 23, 2; H II 12, 87: xiv Uyğ.-Chin. Dict. ‘son, boy’ ogul Ligeti 186: O. Kır. oğlım, oğlı are common; oğlanım Mal. 1, 1 etc. is clearly Plur. but oğlan atım do. 45, 1 seems to mean ‘my name as a boy’: Xak. xi oğul al-ibn ‘son’; and ğayru’l-ibn mina’l-ṣibyān ‘boys who are not (a man’s) sons’ are called oğul; hence one says bu oğul ne: té:r ‘what does this boy (al-ṣabī) say?’; wa yucma‘ ‘ala gayri’l-qiyās and it forms the irregular Plur. oğla:n but oğulla:r is also permissible as Plur.; this is like the word [gap] for al-[gap] wa qad yuwahḥad kilāhumā, and both of them are used in the Sing. Kaş. I 74; about 70 o.o. of oğul and 50 of oğlan: KB oğul normally ‘son’ is common 110, 186, 187, etc.; kiçig oğlanığ ‘a small boy’ 293, 1097, etc.; atın tuttı mindi tur oğlan bile ‘he took his horse and rode off’ 601: xiii(?) At. Mahmūd oğlı 496; Tef. oğul ‘son’, Plur. oğullar; oğlan ‘child, boy’; also ?Collective Plur. 231: xiv Muh. al-nasl wa’l-ḏurriya ‘offspring’ o:ğul Rif. 143; al-ṣabī oğla:n 85: Çağ. xv ff. oğul farzand ‘son’ San. 6; oğlan (spelt) pisar wa farzand ‘boy, son’; and metaph. ‘beardless boy’; and they call the sons of the Mongol Xans oğlan just as Persian princes are called mīrzā and Rūmi princes sultān; oğlan aşı cundbīdastar ‘castoreum’, beaver’s glands, called in Turkish kunduz do. 76v. 24: Arğu xi oğla: (sic) al-fatā ‘youth’ Kaş. I 129: Xwar. xiii(?) oğul ‘son’; Plur. oğullar common in Oğ.: xiv oğlan ‘boy’ Qutb 114; oğul ‘son’ MN 15: Kom. xiv ‘son’ oğul CCI; oğul/ovul Plur. oğlanlar CCG; Gr. 173 (many suffixed forms): Kip. xiii al-ṣabī owla:n also called oğla:n; al-ṭifl ‘child’ kenç oğlan; al-raḍī‘ ‘foster child’ ağuz oğla:n Hou. 24, 20; al-walad ‘son’ oğul do. 32, 2: xiv oğul al-ibn, in Kıpçak (sic) owul İd. 16; oğla:n al-ğulām ‘boy, page’ do. 16; al-ibn oğlan/oğul Bul. 9, 2: xv oğlum ibnī Kav. 15, 20; oğlı: do. 44, 12; 59, 12; walad owul, in Tkm. oğul Tuh. 38a. 8; al-ṣabī olan and (Tkm.) oğlan do. 78b. 6: Osm. xiv ff. oğul ‘son’, mainly in phr. TTS I 536; III 535; IV 601; oğlan ‘son; child (male or female)’ by itself and in phr. II 717 ff.; III 533 ff.; IV 599 ff.; xviii oğul oti in Rūmi, bādrancbūya ‘mountain balm’ San. 6.