𐰉𐰆𐱁

boş

Meaning:
free, empty
Basically means “free, not subject to external control”, close in sense to ärklig, with extended meanings such as “empty” as opposed to “full”, and “soft” as opposed to “hard”. The original vowel length is uncertain: Kāšġarī records both long and short forms, while the vowel is short in Turkmen and in Yakut.
Alternative spellings:
𐰉𐰆𐰽
𐽼𐽳𐽿
Synonyms:
𐰼𐰚𐰠𐰏 [ärklig]

In modern languages

Select a region to see the cognate.
Language Cognate
Turkmen boş
Turkish (Azerbaijan) boş
Turkish (Türkiye) boş
Salar No cognate has been entered for this language yet.
Gagauz boş
Crimean boş
Uyghur boş
Uzbek boʻsh
Kazakh bos
Nogai bos
Siberian Tatar No cognate has been entered for this language yet.
Kyrgyz boş
Altai boş
Alan boş
Kumyk boş
Tatar buş
Bashkir buş
Tıva boş
Khakas No cognate has been entered for this language yet.
Sakha (Yakut, Dolgan) bosxo, bosqo
Khalaj bōş
Chuvash puşă

Examples

Irıq Bitig
1

Translations

German:
frei, leer
Russian:
свободный; пустой
Turkish (Azerbaijan):
azad, boş
Turkish (Türkiye):
özgür; boş

  • Gerard Clauson (1972) An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish p. 376
    boş/?bo:ş basically ‘not subject to external control, free’ (not very different fr. erklig) with extended meanings like ‘empty’ as opposed to ‘full’, and ‘soft’ as opposed to ‘hard’. The original length of the vowel is uncertain; Kaş. lists both forms, but it is short in SW Tkm.; it does not seem to exist in Yakut. S.i.a.m.l.g. with minor phonetic changes. Türkü viii ff. IrkB 29 (ut-): Uyğ. viii ff. Man. M I 17, 2 ff. (işsiz): Bud. (then you must imagine that various cakras) bu burxan etözin boş kılmışın ‘have set free this Buddha-body’ TT V 6, 46; o.o. TT II 6, 33 etc. (irinçü:): Civ. (if a man’s voice fails or) edgüti boş ünmeser ‘will not come out well and freely’ H I 146: Xak. xi boş yılkı: al-dābbatu’l-musayyaba ‘an animal that is allowed to go free’ (cf. ıduk); hence one says ol işle:r boş <kıldı: omitted> ṭallaqa’l-mar’a ka-annahu ahmalahā ‘he divorced the woman, as if he let her go free’; and one says ol kul boş kıldı: ‘he emancipated (a‘taqa) the slave’; and al-ḥurr ‘free’ is called boş, as in the prov. boş ne:gke: içli: bolma:s ‘a thing which is allowed to go free (al-muhmal) has no owner’ Kaş. I 330; bo:ş kisi: ‘a free (ḥurr) man’: bo:ş ura:ğut ‘a divorced (ṭalīq) woman’: bo:ş elig yad fāriğa mina’l-‘amal wa’l-māl ‘a hand without work or property’: bo:ş et ‘soft (raxw) meat’, also used of soft ground: bo:ş at ‘a loose (muṭlaq) horse’: and one says bo:ş ev ‘an empty (fāriğ) house’, and vessels and tools that are not in use (al-fāriğa mina’l-‘amal) are called bo:ş III 124: KB boş âzâd kişi barça edgü kulı ‘a free, independent man is the servant of all good (men?)’ 2307: xiii(?) At. tili boş kişi ‘a man with an unbridled tongue’ 137: xiv Muh. al-xālī ‘empty’ (opposite to ‘full’ do:lu:) (nemesiz; one MS.) bo:ş Mel. 54, 9 (Rif. 151 ata:sız); ḥurr (opposite to ‘slave’ kul) bo:ş Rif. 151 (only): Çağ. xv ff. boş (1) xālī (quotn.); (2) sust ‘soft, idle’, etc. San. 135v. 17: Kom. xiv boş ‘empty’ (space) CCG; Gr.: Kıp. xiii al-fāriğ (opposite to ‘full’ tolu:) bo:ş wa huwa’l-xālī wa’l-ṭalāq (‘divorce’) Hou. 27, 17: xiv boş ṣafr (‘empty’) wa xālī: bo:ş (‘with back vowel’) munṭaliq ‘released, set free’ İd. 32: xv xālī boş Tuh. 14b. 6; xalā, tafarrağa ‘to be unoccupied’ (boşan- and) boş bol- do. 14b. 12; xāba ‘to be disappointed’ boş kayıt- do. 15a. 8; fāriğ boş do. 28a. 2; ‘soft’ (yaş and) boş do. 31b. 7: Osm. xiv ff. boş noted in several phr. TTS I 114; II 161; III 108-9.