Clauson (1972)
An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish
p. 447
(D) tavışğa:n
‘hare’; an old animal name ending in -ğa:n. This word has a very long history; it was a pre-viii l.-w. in Kitan as (PU) taoli, see V. S. Starikov and V. M. Nedelyaev, Predvaritel'noe soobshchenie o deshifrovke kidanskogo pis'ma, Moscow, 1964, p. 10, fr. which it passed into Mong. as taolai (Haenisch 145); these words represent, of course, the L/R Turkish form *tavılğa:n. It was one of the animals of the twelve-year cycle in Turkish and Mong. Survives in SE Türki tawşkan, etc. Jarring, p. 297, and in several SC, NW, SW languages, see Shcherbak, p. 136. The SW Az. form is dovşan and in Osm. and Tkm. both t- and d- are noted, the former prevailing; initial d- is therefore improbable. In other languages the word for ‘hare’ is koyan (?koḏan). See Doerfer II 966. Türkü viii keyik yeyü tavışğan yeyü ‘eating wild game and hares’ T 8: viii ff. IrkB 44 (üŋüş-): Uyğ. viii tavışğan yıl ‘in the Hare Year’ Şu. E 8: viii ff. Civ. tavışğan (once spelt tavıçğan in TT VII) ‘Hare (year, day, etc.)’ occurs in USp. 86, 87, 108; TT VIII P.1, 36 and is common in TT VII; hare’s gall-bladders, brains, and hair (for burning) occur in prescriptions in H I 25, 89, 116: xiv Chin.-Uyğ. Dict. ‘hare’ tavışğan Ligeti 261: Xak. xi tavışğa:n al-arnab ‘hare’: tavışğa:n yılı: ‘one of the twelve years in Turkish: tavuşğa:n (sic) ögüz the name of a river which flows past (‘alā) the town of Uç Kaş. I 513; in I 525, 25 tavuşğa:n (sic) is given as an example of a Common Noun in which -ğa:n is not a Dev. Suff.: xiv Muh. al-arnab (ko:-ya:n in text; in margin) ṭawşa:n Mel. 72, 10; tavışka:n (-f-) Rif. 175; sanatu’l-arnab ṭawışğa:n yı:lı: 80, 19; ṭavışğa:n (-f-) yı:lı: 186: Çağ. xv ff. tawuşkan ‘the animal called ṭavşan Vel. 180; tawuşkan xargūş ‘hare’; also the name of one of the Turkish years; abbreviated form tawşan San. 165v. 20: Tkm. xiii al-arnab ṭawşa:n Hou. 11, 5: Kıp.(?) xiv ditto . . . also called dawuşağan (so vocalized) Bul. 10, 6: xv ditto ṭawşa:n Kav. 62, 7; Tuh. 4b. 8 (and see koyan).