𐰆-
u-
Meaning:
to be able to; can
An analytical auxiliary verb expressing the subject’s ability to perform the action of the main verb.
Examples
Translations
German:
können; imstande sein, etwas zu tun
Russian:
мочь; быть в состоянии сделать что-либо
Turkish (Azerbaijan):
bacarmaq; edə bilmək
Turkish (Türkiye):
-ebilmek; bir işi yapabilmek
Bibliography 1
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Gerard Clauson (1972) An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish22
u:- there are a few early occurrences of this verb as an ordinary finite verb meaning ‘to be capable’ and the like, but it is normally used as an Aux. verb following a verb in the Ger. f. -u:/-ü:, or less often -ğalı:/-geli:, meaning ‘to be able’. Even in this sense the word is rare after xi except in the Neg. f. The Pres. Particip. uğa:n, however, used as a N./A. meaning ‘God; Almighty’ survived rather longer. The later history of the Neg. f. is discussed by Mal. in USp., pp. 224-5. Briefly the Ger. suff. -u:/-ü: and u:- coalesced to produce -uma-/-üme- the ‘Impossible’ f. of the verb. This stage was reached in Osm. in the early medieval period, but later, probably as the result of a general tendency to ‘unround’ round vowels, this became -ama-/-eme-, producing such forms as Osm. seveme- ‘to be unable to love’. It has been suggested that in such forms the -a-/-e- is a reduced form of al- which is used as an Aux. verb in the same sense in some modern languages, but this is improbable. It is more plausible that the Osm. Continuous Pres. Suff. -uyor (not subject to phonetic harmony) is a survival of the positive form of u:-. Türkü viii etinu: yaratu:nu: umaduk ‘because they could not organize themselves (Hend.)’ I E 10, II E 9; usar ‘if possible’ T 11: viii ff. kamşayu: uma:tı:n ‘without being able to move’ IrkB 16 (and four o.o. of Neg. f.); edgüsi: uyu:n ‘his good and capable men’ do. 28: otsu:z suvsu:z kaltı: uyı:n ‘how can I (get on) without fodder or water?’ do. 45; (the fat horse’s mouth became hard) idi:si: uma:z ‘its master cannot (control it)’ do. 65; ada:rtu: uma:z ‘cannot endanger him’ Toyok 25, 29 (ETY II 59): Uyğ. viii ff. Man.-A sözleyü umağay ‘will be unable to speak’ M I 15, 2-3: Man. yok kim ol umasar Şımnu küçige kopuğ uğay ‘there is nothing that he cannot do; by the power of Ahriman he will be able to do everything’ M II 5, 10-11: Bud. berü umadı ‘he could not give’ PP 15, 8 (a.o.o. of Neg. f.); kılu usar ‘if he can make’ PP 35, 4; ertini evdigeli uyur ‘he can collect jewels’ TT V 26, 91-2; Sanskrit abhavyatā ‘incapacity’ uma:ta:çı bolma:k TT VIII A.44 (a.o.o.); körgeli udaçı bolğay ‘he will be able to see’ Suv. 444, 4: Civ. tın alu umasar ‘if he cannot draw breath’ H I 141-2 (a.o.o. in H II): Xak. xi uğan ‘having power over all things’ (al-qādir ‘ala’l-aşyā’), hence God is called uğan teŋri: ‘almighty God’ Kaş. I 77; (N.B. no occurrences of u:-) u:ğança: ‘to the best of your ability’ 744, 2: KB uğan bir bayat ‘the one almighty God’ 2 (a.o.o.); usa ‘if possible’ 549, 721; uğança (mis-spelt uğınça) 4256: xiii(?) uğan ‘God’, common in At.: xiv Rbğ. uğan used both as a name and as an epithet of God. R I 1007; Muh. qadara wa aṭāqa ‘to be mighty, to be able’ u:- Rif. 114; al-qādir u:ğa:n Mel. 13, 1; Rif. 88; al-qawī ‘powerful’, one of the names of God u:ğa:n Rif. 137: Çağ. xv ff. ukan (sic) ‘God’ Bad. 100; uğan (also, incorrectly, uğun) ‘a name of God’ Vel. 108 (quotns.); uğan (spelt) ‘a name of God’ San. 76v. 18 (quotn., points out that the word is once entered correctly in Vel. and is also split into o ğan, the latter being entered separately (Vel. 308) with the same meaning and quotns.): Xwar. xiii uğan ‘God’ ‘Ali 46; xiv ditto Qutb 195; MN 378: Kıp. xiii Allah (teŋri:, and in a dialect (luğa) which only a few people know) uğa:n Hou. 3, 12; xiv uğan Allah, İd. 15.
