Russian-jarkij-jaro-Turkic-yaruk-yaru

 

Brightness - pic: wikipedia

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I am learning Russian (now A2) and see many Russian words in social media. 

One of them was яркий meaning bright. Wiktionary says it is "Inherited from Old East Slavic ꙗръкꙑи (jarŭkyi), from Proto-Slavic *jarъkъ, from *jaro, *jarъ + *-ъkъ.". 

What is "Old East Slavic"?

Wiki tells: "Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century..." 

That means the "Old Russians" knew the Türks well during that period. But why Türks? I will tell.... 

But first let us see what wiki says about the etymology of яркий:

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According to wiktionary:

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/jarъkъ

From *jarъ +‎ *-kъ.

Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/jarъ

Possibly cognate to Ancient Greek ζωρός (zōrós, “pure, sheer (of wine)”), suggesting Proto-Indo-European *yoHro-.

Adjective

*jȃrъ

1. furious

and further: 

Proto-Slavic/jaro

Inherited from Proto-Balto-Slavic *jeˀro-, from Proto-Indo-European *yōro- or *yēro- (“year”).^[1]

Cognate with Lithuanian jė́ras (“lamb”), Latvian ję̃rs (“lamb”), Avestan 𐬫𐬁𐬭- (yār-, “year”), Ancient Greek ὥρᾱ (hṓrā, “any defined period of time, season, year”), Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”), Latinhōrnus (“of this year”).

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Yes. It is a bit complicated. Don't you think?

We have bright, we have lambs, years, seasons, furious, pure, wine, etc.

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I don't know what wiki wants to reach. It is jumping from a point to an other although it could have been easier. 

Now my turn:

First the Russian word яркий, meaning bright.

Old Türkic had the verb: yaru- meaning to shine > yaruq: bright and light. There are Old Türkic names like Yaruk Tigin and scripts like Altun Yaruk (Golden Lights), the translation of a Buddhist text named The Golden Light Sutra or Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra (Sanskrit: सुवर्णप्रभासोत्तमसूत्रेन्द्रराजः; )...

All above mean the verb jaru- and the noun jaruk existed in Old Türkic at the latest in the 6th C AD. These were still existing in the other Türk dialects/Türks who were the neighbors of the Old Russians for a very long time on the Eurasian Steppe. It is good possible/probable that the Russians took this verb/word from the Türks. 

That means:

Russian яркий (yárkiy) and Old East Slavic ꙗръкꙑи (jarŭkyi) are the same like Türkic YARUK, YARU-. 

Aren't they?

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This was the important topic.

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I have found 2 side topics above and these are: 

1) Ancient Greek ζωρός (zōrós, “pure, sheer (of wine)”) could also be Türkic arı- meaning to clean, to purify > arıg/arığ means pure, clean. 

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2) Proto-Slavic/jaro maning spring could also be derived from Bulgar Türkic *nyār meaning spring/summer (like Hungarian nyár, meaning summer).

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Enough?

Enough!

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The last sentence today: The western linguists could look at the Türkish languages to find origins for many Indo-European words. 

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Uzunbacak Adem

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