𐰆𐰍𐰞𐰣
oglan
Meaning:
boy
oglan was originally a collective formation from ogul with the suffix -(A)n, meaning “sons, children”. In Irık Bitig 65, amtı amrak oglanım ança biliŋlär “Now, my dear sons, know this” clearly addresses several children. However, singular use is already attested in Old Turkic: the Yenisei inscription E29 has oglan tuğdum “I was born a boy”, while Old Uyghur texts have kiçig oglan “a small boy”.
Kaşgarlı Mahmud (Dīvānu Lugāti’t-Türk, I, 74) explicitly describes oglan as an irregular plural of ogul, alongside the regular ogullar, and notes that it can also be used in the singular. His example oglan ığladı “the boy cried” (I, 286) confirms this usage. As the collective suffix became unproductive, oglan was reinterpreted as an independent singular noun, which could take the regular plural oglanlar. Its meaning subsequently narrowed in many Turkic varieties towards “boy, male child”.
Word family
Formed from 𐰆𐰍𐰞 [ogıl] “1. child; 2. baby animals and birds; 3. son” using -(a)n² [collective plural].
The rare suffix -(a)n2 forms historical plurals and collective nouns, e.g. ogul → oglan “sons, children” and bodun “people, nation”.
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𐰆𐰍𐰞
ogıl
- 𐰆𐰍𐰞𐰣 oglan -(a)n² [collective plural]
In modern languages (12 / 22)
Select a region to see the cognate.
| Language | Cognate |
|---|---|
| Turkmen | oglan |
| Turkish (Azerbaijan) | oğlan |
| Turkish (Türkiye) | oğlan |
| Salar | oğlan |
| Gagauz | olan |
| Crimean | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Uyghur | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Uzbek | oʻgʻlon |
| Kazakh | ulan |
| Nogai | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Siberian Tatar | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Kyrgyz | ulan |
| Altai | uulan |
| Alan | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Kumyk | ulan |
| Tatar | olan |
| Bashkir | ulan |
| Tıva | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Khakas | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Sakha (Yakut, Dolgan) | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Khalaj | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
| Chuvash | No cognate has been entered for this language yet. |
Examples
Translations
German:
Junge
Russian:
мальчик
Turkish (Azerbaijan):
oğlan
Turkish (Türkiye):
oğlan
Turkmen:
oglan
Uzbek:
oʻgʻlon
Bibliography 1
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Gerard Clauson (1972) An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish83-8483-84
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.
