Clauson (1972)
An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish
p. 542-543
türk
originally a N. meaning ‘the culminating point of maturity’ (of a fruit, human being, etc.), but more often used as an Adj. meaning (of a fruit) ‘just fully ripe’; (of a human being) ‘in the prime of life, young, and vigorous’. It has been suggested that this word is identical with the ethnonym Türk and really means ‘strong’ in a general sense. The latest exposition of this theory is in Doerfer II 888, an article of over 11 pages giving a history of the ethnonym and unfortunately containing several errors. The case against the theory, which is based on the facts that the original form of the ethnonym was Türkü and that türk is never used in the generalized sense of ‘strong’, is in Studies, pp. 84 ff.; see also Clauson, ‘The concept of “strength” in Turkish’, Nemeth Armağanı, pp. 93 ff., Ankara, 1962. Survives only(?) in NC Kır. türk ‘(of a sheep) fat, in prime condition’, Yud. 783. Uyğ. viii ff. (Man. TT III 65-6 has been restored to read türk burxanlarta ken entigiz ‘you have descended (to earth) after the strong Prophets’, but the only certain letter in türk is the ü, and the reading is very improbable; some other word like tört ‘four’ is likelier): Bud. (that man Sena’s wife, named Rāgagāyinī) türk yiğit erdi ‘was a young woman in the prime of life’ U III 81, 3; (she said to her brother-in-law) sen yeme türk yiğit sen ‘you too are in the prime of life’ do. 82, 15; o.o. of türk yiğit applied to young women U IV 48, 89; TT X 475—erk türk ‘independence and the prime of life’ is one of the good things of life associated with other good things like ağı: barım ‘treasures and property’, and ed tavar ‘movables and livestock’ in several passages U II 10, 15; TT IV 4, 4 (damaged) and esp. Tiş. 19a. 4; 20a. 5; 21a. 1 etc.: Xak. xi türk a Particle (ḥarf) relating to time (al-waqt); it is the culminating point of maturity of any sort of fruit (wasṭ idrāk kull şay’ mina’l-ṯimār); hence one says türk üzüm ö:di: ‘the time when grapes become fully ripe’ (waqt tawassuṭi’l-‘inab fī yan‘ihi); and one says türk kuya:ş ö:di: waqt tawassuṭ ‘the time (when the sun is) at the zenith’; and one says türk yiğit şābb tawassaṭa şabābahu ‘a young man in the prime of his youth’ Kaş. I 353 (this para. follows a long para. on Türk as an ethnonym; there is no cross-reference between the two): xiii(?) Tef. (Warika said) türk bolsam erdüm seniŋ birle ğāzīlık kılğam erdi ‘if I was in the prime of life, I would have gone with you to fight for Islam’ 319.