The Toponymic Model of the Eleventh-Century Turkic World: Based on the Materials of Volume I of Dīwān Lughāt Al-Turk

Abstract. This article presents a systematic historical-linguistic and historical-geographical study of the corpus of toponyms related to Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan (modern Xinjiang) recorded in Volume I of the work Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk by the eminent 11th-century Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari. The object of the study comprises various types of geographical names, including oikonyms (names of towns and settlements), hydronyms (names of rivers and lakes), oronyms (names of mountains, passes, and deserts), and ethnopolitical toponyms (names of countries, states, and tribes). For each name, its semantic motivation, morphemic structure, toponym-forming elements, variants in historical sources, and correspondence with modern geographical locations are determined through historical-comparative, etymological, and onomastic analysis. The study demonstrates that the toponyms recorded by Kashgari reflect not only geographical objects but also the settlement system of Turkic peoples in the 11th century, migration routes, political boundaries, economic and cultural features, and the spatial worldview of the nomadic civilisation. Particular attention is given to the cartographic materials attached to the dictionary, which make it possible to reconstruct the medieval model of Turkic space. A comparison with Chinese, Arabic-Persian written sources and modern scholarly research has enabled the clarification of the historical identification of a number of toponyms and the proposal of new conclusions regarding their etymology and geographical distribution. The findings are of considerable significance for Turkic studies, historical geography, onomastics, and ethnolinguistics, and contribute to the reconstruction of the medieval historical landscape of Central Asia and Xinjiang.