𐰀𐰖

āy

Meaning:
moon; month

The meaning “month” developed from “moon” and is already attested in the earliest Old Turkic sources. Old Turkic calendrical usage counted days from the new moon; Erdal therefore notes that the months were moon-months, though they were not all purely lunar because they did not drift through the seasons.

The first vowel was long: Clauson writes a:y, Räsänen āj, and the inherited length is independently supported by modern Turkmen and Khalaj.

Alternative spellings:
𐰖

In modern languages

Select a region to see the cognate.
Language Cognate
Turkmen aý
Turkish (Azerbaijan) ay
Turkish (Türkiye) ay
Salar ay
Gagauz ay
Crimean ay
Uyghur ay
Uzbek oy
Kazakh aiy
Nogai ay
Siberian Tatar ay
Kyrgyz aiy
Altai ay
Alan ay
Kumyk ay
Tatar ay
Bashkir ay
Tıva ay
Khakas ay
Sakha (Yakut, Dolgan) ıy
Khalaj hây
Chuvash uyăh

Examples

No corpus links yet.

Translations

German:
Mond; Monat
Russian:
луна; месяц
Turkish (Azerbaijan):
ay
Turkish (Türkiye):
ay

  • Hendrik Boeschoten (2022) A dictionary of early middle Turkic p. p. 45
    ay1 1. ‘moon’ (g.) | ayman 1. ‘eye full of light’ (AH). ayman 2. ‘walnut’ (AH). ay1 2. ‘month’ (g.); ay bašï ‘first of the month’ (CCa) | aylïġ ‘pregnant’ / aylï (CCb) / aylu (IMb, KT) | aylïq 1. ‘month’s’ (QT1, MA); bir aylïq yol ‘one month’s travel’ (QT1); on aylïq yüklüg ingän ‘a ten-month pregnant camel’ (MAn). aylïq 2. ‘monthly wage’ (NF). ay1 3. ‘crowbar’ (MAn ar. تَلْعَةَ). ay1 4. ‘cooper’s adze’ (KT-tkm ar. مِنْقَار [tt. aydemir])
  • Dr. Jens Wilkens (2021) Handwörterbuch des Altuigurischen: Altuigurisch – Deutsch – Türkisch | Eski Uygurcanın El Sözlüğü: Eski Uygurca – Almanca – Türkçe p. p. 84
    ay ~ (a)y Mond || ay, kamer; Monat || ay (otuz günlük süre)
    ay ay sayu jeden Monat || her ay
    ay ayıŋa Monat für Monat || ayı ayına
    ay ayka Monat für Monat || ayı ayına
    ay ärkligi Mond-Mächtiger (Name eines Zwischenwesens) || ay kuvvetlisi (bir ara varlığın adı)
    ay ärkligin yorıglı Der mit der Macht des Mondes voranschreitet (Name eines Zwischenwesens) || ayın gücüyle ilerleyen (bir ara varlığın adı)
    ay kün Mond und Sonne || Ay ve Güneş
    ay ölütči Mond-Mörder (Name eines Zwischenwesens) || ay öldürücüsü (bir ara varlığın adı)
    ay ölütči(si) ärklig Mond-Mörder Machtvoller (Name eines Zwischenwesens) || ay öldürücüsü güçlü (bir ara varlığın adı)
    ay sayu jeden Monat || her ay
    ay t(ä)ŋri Mond || ay, kamer; (m) Mondgott || Ay Tanrı
    ay t(ä)ŋri ätözlüg mit Mondkörper || ay bedenli, kamer vücutlu
    ay t(ä)ŋri b(ä)lgülüg Der mit dem Merkmal des Mondes (Skt. Śaśiketu = Buddhaname) || ay işaretli (Skt. Śaśiketu = bir Buda’nın adı)
    ay t(ä)ŋri küni (m) Montag || pazartesi
    ay t(ä)ŋri künin sayu (m) jeden Montag || her pazartesi
    ay t(ä)ŋri ordosı Palast des Mondes, (m) Palast des Mondgottes || ay sarayı, (m) Ay Tanrının sarayı
    ay t(ä)ŋri tilgäni Mondscheibe || ay tekeri
    ay t(ä)ŋri urı Sohn (des) Mondes || ay(ın) oğlu
    ay t(ä)ŋri y(a)rukı Mondglanz (auch Äquivalent von Skt. candrikā) || ay parlaklığı (Skt. candrikā’nın da eş değeri)
    ay t(ä)ŋri yulası Mondlampe (Skt. Candrapradīpa = Buddhaname) || ay lambası (Skt. Candrapradīpa = bir Buda’nın adı)
    ay t(ä)ŋri yüzlüg Der mit dem Mondgesicht (Skt. Candrānana = Buddhaname) || ay yüzlü (Skt. Candrānana = bir Buda’nın adı)
    ay t(ä)ŋrili aydıŋlı Mond und Mondlicht || ay ve ay ışığı
    ay t(ä)ŋriniŋ körki Gestalt des Mondes || ay biçimi, ayın şekli
    ay tilgän Mondscheibe || ay tekeri
    ay tilgänilig Mondscheiben- || ay tekeri …
    ay tolunı Vollmond || bedir, dolunay
    ay yaŋısı Neumond || yeni ay, muhak
    ay yultuz Mond und Sterne || ay ve yıldız
  • Marcel Erdal (2004) A Grammar of Old Turkic p. p. 227
    For dates, the twelve animal cycle of years is used from the inscriptions of the Uygur Steppe Empire on, and till the latest texts. Months are numbered (ikinti ay etc.), but čaxšapat ay is used for the last, aram ay for the first month. Days are numbered starting from the new moon (yaŋï ‘new’) as, e.g. üč yaŋïka ‘on the 3rd day of the month’. This reckoning proves that the months were indeed moon months, as warranted also by their name (ay ‘moon’); yet not all of them can have been pure moon months, as they did not wander through the seasons (as Islamic months do). Cf. in general Bazin 1991 for Old Turkic dating.
  • Sergei Starostin, Anna Dybo, Oleg Mudrak (2003) Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages p. p. 303
    *ńu moon; (moon cycle), year: Tung. *ańŋa; Mong. *oj; Turk. *āń.
    PTung. *ańŋa year (год): Evk. anŋanī; Evn. anŋn; Neg. ańŋan; Man. ańa; SMan. ani (2723); Jurch. ania (79); Ul. ańa(n); Ork. anańị; Nan. ajŋańa, ajŋanị; Orch. anŋańi; Ud. aŋa(n); Sol. ań, aŋa.
    ◊ ТМС 1, 43-44. TM > Dag. ańē (sar) ‘January’ (Тод. Даг. 121).
    PMong. *oj 1 anniversary 2 year (1 годовщина 2 год): MMong. oin ‘time’ (IM = MA 443); WMong. oi 1 (L 603); Kh. oj 1; Bur. oj 1; Kalm. ȫ 2; Ord. oön 1, 2.
    ◊ KW 303.
    PTurk. *āń(k) moon, month (луна, месяц): OTurk. aj (Orkh., OUygh.); Karakh. aj (MK, KB); Tur. aj; Gag. aj; Az. aj; Turkm. āj; Sal. aj; Khal. hāj; MTurk. aj; ań (CCum.); Uzb. ɔj; Uygh. aj; Krm. aj; Tat. aj; Bashk. aj; Kirgh. aj; Kaz. aj; KBalk. aj; KKalp. aj; Kum. aj; Nogh. aj; SUygh. aj; Khak. aj; Shr. aj; Oyr. aj; Tv. aj; Tof. a; Chuv. ojъx; Yak. ɨj; Dolg. ɨj ‘month’.
    ◊ VEWT 10, TMN 2, 169, EDT 265, ЭСТЯ 1, 98-99 (see there on the reasons of reconstructing *-ń), Мудрак Дисс. 178, Федотов 2, 271, Лексика 55, 76-77, Stachowski 258.
    ‖ АПиПЯЯ 283, Дыбо 11, Мудрак Дисс. 70, Лексика 77. A Western isogloss.
  • Gerard Clauson (1972) An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish p. p. 265
    1 a:y originally ‘the moon’; hence from the earliest period ‘a (lunar) month’; as an Adj. ‘crescent shaped’. S.i.a.m.l.g. See Doerfer II 627. Türkü viii ay ‘month’ I NE; II N 10; II NW; Ongin 12: viii ff. ay ‘month’ IrkB, Postscript; a.o. do. 59 (yıdı:t-); yaru:k ay teŋri:ke: ‘to the bright moon god’ Toy. Ir. 2 (ETY II 176): Man. bir ay ‘for one month’ Chuas. 274; a.o. do. 338: Yen. on ay eltḏi: ögüm oğlan ‘the son of my mother who carried me (in her womb) for ten months’ Mal. 29, 5; a.o. do. 28, 7: Uyğ. viii ay ‘month’ Şu. N 9; a.o.o.: viii ff. Man. ay belgülüg bolur ‘the moon becomes visible’ Wind. 15; ol aylarka ‘in those months’ do. 19: Bud. yılın ayın ‘for years and months’ TT VI 62; VIII O.6 (a:yın); ay ‘moon’ and ‘month’ is common: Civ. ay (a:y in TT VIII L.) ‘moon’ and ‘month’ is common: xiv Chin.-Uyğ. Dict. ‘month’ ay and phr. Ligeti 126; R I 3: O. Kır. ix ff. kö:k teŋri:de: kün ay a:zdım ‘I strayed from the sun and moon in the blue sky’ Mal. 10, 3 (a standard phr. for ‘to die’ in these texts); o.o. do. 11, 1; (44, 4); 45, 5: Xak. xi a:y al-qamar ‘the moon’; and ‘the full moon’ (al-badr) is called to:lun a:y; a:y is also ‘month’ (şahr) (verse); the month is called by the name of the moon because its course is known by it (prov.) Kaş. I 82; ay bitiği: the name for ‘the register’ (tümār) in which the soldiers’ names and rations are entered’ I 40 (lit. ‘the book of the month’); a.o. in this sense III 77, 7; and about a dozen o.o.: KB ay ‘month’ is common; ‘moon’ in the name Aytoldı (and see yalçık): xiii(?) Tef. ay ‘moon; month’ 43: xiv Muh. al-şahr ay Mel. 79, 15; Rif. 184: Çağ. xv ff. ay: (1) māh ba-ma'nā qamar; (2) māh ba-ma'nā şahr; also used as a P.N. San. 56v. 26 (quotn.): Xwar. xiii ay ‘moon’ 'Ali 36: xiii(?) ay ‘moon’ Oğ. 53; also a P.N.: xiv ay ‘moon, month’ Qutb 5; MN 5, etc.: Kom. xiv, ‘moon, month’ ay/a:y CCI, CCG; Gr. 30 (quotns.): Kip. xiii al-qamar ay wa huwa'l-şahr Hou. 5, 3; al-şahr ay do. 28, 8: xiv ay (‘with back vowel’) al-qamar, wa yuṭlaq ay ayḍa(n) 'alā'l-şahr İd. 26; al-qamar ay Bul. 2, 11; al-şahr ay do. 13, 10; xv al-qamar ay Kav. 15, 17; şahr ay Tuh. 21a. 6; Kav. 22, 2; ditto, wa huwa ism li'l-hilāl (‘a crescent’) wa'l-qamar do. 36, 11.
  • M Räsänen, I Kecskeméti (1969) Versuch eines etymologischen Wörterbuchs der Türksprachen p. p. 10
    mtü. āj, kom. aj, āj ‘Mond’, ‘Monat’, trkm. āj, Radl. »alle Dialekte« aj, s-uig. aj, ej, jak. yj ‘луна, месяц’; čuv. oj-əχ, uj-əχ; oir. tel. aj-malta ‘mondförmiges Beil, Hellebarde’, kzk. aj-balta (> kalm. KWb. 25 ā-baltə); mtü. kkir. aj-dyŋ ‘Mondschein’ (< *āj-taŋ), osm. ajdyn ‘hell’, jak. yj-daŋ, yj-dam ‘лунное просвещение’; mtü. (čigil) aj-baŋ ‘kahlköpfig’, tar. aj-paŋ, otü. (Le Coq) āj-paŋ, (Kat. 2) ajpaŋ ‘vollkommen glatter Kopf’; kkir. aj-čyk ‘bunte Arabesken’; srt. aj-bäkil ‘schwarzes Rindsleder’; tel. aj-bystan ‘schönes Zobelfell’