𐰚𐰇𐰤𐱁

künäş is a hapax in Old Turkic, attested in Irık Bitig 57 as küneşkä in a context meaning “in the sunshine”. The attestation therefore points primarily to “sunshine, a sunny place”, rather than to the later ordinary meaning “sun”.

The formation of künäş is disputed:

• Derivation from kün. Clauson classifies it as a denominal noun from kün “sun, day”, but the presumed suffix -äş is not independently established.
• Contamination with *kuñaş. Räsänen and Erdal explain künäş as a remodeling of older *kuñaş under the influence of kün. Old Uyghur otherwise has kuyaş < *kuñaş; since Irık Bitig normally preserves ñ, its künäş is exceptional.
• Compound kün + *(h)āş “heat”. Ünal reconstructs *kuńāş as such a compound and compares the same element in *čōgāş “sun-heat”, continued by Sakha suos. The element *(h)āş is not independently attested as a free word, but is reconstructed from these formations. künäş is then explained by progressive vowel assimilation from an earlier back-vocalic form. This analysis is possible but remains reconstructive.