Introduction. The article attempts to reconstruct one route of the ‘Great Kalmyk Road’ on the basis of data contained in the late seventeenth-century North and East Tartary by the Dutch researcher Nicolaas Witsen. Goals. The study conducts a source analysis of the mentioned data that prove instrumental in reconstructing the once popular path. Materials and methods. The work focuses on historical and geographical messages from the aforementioned publication and compares them to ones traced in other historical sources, such as documents of Russian embassies that would travel through steppes of present-day Kazakhstan in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, as well as famous Mongolian-language (Qalmaq) sources authored by Saghang Sechen and Ratnabhadra — with due regard of opinions expressed by J. Fischer, G. Lytkin, N. Aristov and others. Special attention is paid to modern studies on the history and toponymy of Kazakhstan. Key methods of historical research — the descriptive, historical comparative ones, and other generally accepted tools and approaches — have been employed. The descriptive method secures a deeper understanding of the route’s historical significance and cultural heritage, while the historical comparative one proves most helpful in reconstructing routes of the ‘Great Kalmyk Road’ via integrations of data from various sources for more complete and reliable historical contexts. Results. N. Witsen’s report narrates about the journey of one Qalmaq (Kalmyk) merchant from Khan Ayuka’s domains through Dzungaria to China, and thus provides a description of the route he was following. The latter comprises a number of toponyms and hydronyms of present-day Kazakhstan. So, this makes N. Witsen’s report of particular interest for the research of seventeenth-century Kazakhstan’s historical geography. Conclusions. The analysis of data from the examined work identifies some of the mentioned toponyms and outlines a branch of the ‘Great Kalmyk Road’ along which the Qalmaq merchant was travelling.

Introduction. The article deals with names of dairy products used by peoples inhabiting the Ural-Volga Region. Goals. The study seeks to identify general (characteristic of the Ural-Volga peoples at large), genetic (characteristic of a specific language family — Turkic or Finno-Ugric), and areal (characteristic of a certain language area) features pertaining to origins, development and functioning of lexemes denoting dairy products. Our efforts involve the use of digital technologies in the study of material culture-related vocabulary, namely the LingvoDoc platform which makes it possible not only to upload, systemize, and store language data but also to conduct automated searches and analyses according to required options, including mapping of lexical materials. The fact names of dairy products in the Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages of the Ural-Volga Region have remained understudied never to enjoy any standardized description makes the work relevant enough. Materials and methods. The paper examines studies on ethnography of the Ural-Volga peoples, etymological, lexicological, lexicographical insights into the Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages. In terms of theory and methodology, the study rests on writings dealing with linguistic contacts across the specified region, as well as works discussing food and dairy vocabularies. The work employs a variety of research methods, including the comparative historical one and those of lexical semantic analysis and linguistic mapping. Results. It has been revealed that there are no original names ascending to common stems for dairy terms across the Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages of the Ural-Volga Region. However, in etymologies of names for milk, butter, cream some genetic features can still be traced: in Turkic languages, such names do stem from a common root that stands for milk and cream, while in Finno-Ugric languages — it is about the lexeme for butter. Terms for butter, ghee, and cottage cheese in all the examined languages tend to meet motivational characteristics. There are also some areal phenomena in designations of yogurt and cottage cheese (for example, these in Mari and Chuvash attest to certain affinities between the languages). Finally, original names for ayran and kumis are available only in Turkic languages, and only loanwords be observed in Finno-Ugric ones.

Introduction. Recent historiographic studies show an increasing interest in the figure of Khan Ayuka and the whole of written heritage pertaining to seventeenth-eighteenth century Russian-Kalmyk relations. The article is the first to publish a complete text of one 1718 letter missive submitted by Tsar Peter Alekseyevich to Khan Ayuka. Goals. So, the paper shall introduce some further evidence of Russian-Kalmyk contacts from Peter the Great’s era. Materials. The study focuses on related documentary material from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. Results. Such and similar publications shall significantly contribute to the study of Russian-Kalmyk relations throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The examined document mentions a variety of noteworthy facts dealing with the then military and political situation across Russia’s southern frontier. Conclusions. The 1718 letter missive of Peter I attests to the Russian government was well aware of the actual agenda along its southern and southeastern domains. The text clearly shows that Russian authorities were keeping a watchful eye on contacts between Kalmyk landlords and Sultan Bahti Giray of Kuban. The intelligence messages would be regularly delivered by Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn offices, Don Cossacks and princes of Kabardia.

Introduction. The fundamental Buddhist treatise rGyud-bZhi is compiled mainly from Indian and Chinese sources, as well as elements of the oral healing tradition. The extensive range of commentary texts rGyud-bZhi gave rise to is dominated by the treatise Vaidurya-Onbo containing a series of unique illustrations — the ‘Atlas of Tibetan Medicine’. Tibetan healers considered embryology a most important part of medical practice and described it as the ‘making of the body’. Goals. The study seeks to consider the phenomenon of the making of the body — covering the pre-conception period, process of conception, fetal development, birth, postnatal growth, and infancy — in the context of the Buddhist healing treatise rGyud-bZhi and related commentaries. The paper examines conditions and causes of conception, processes of embryonic development, sex determination, karma-based birth to a certain family. Materials and methods. The work analyzes the embryology on the basis of rGyud-bZhi and Vaidurya-Onbo with the illustrations referred to as ‘Atlas of Tibetan Medicine’. One of the most impressive illustrations of the Atlas is titled ‘The Making of the Body’, and explains how under the influence of the vijñāna (‘consciousness’), the five primary elements and attachment to samsara, conception occurs and the fetus gets formed. Results. The making of the body is determined by karma and begins long before the embryo’s conception, since Buddhist texts pay much attention to the moral behavior of would-be parents. In Tibetan society, the influence of traditions manifested itself already at the stage of embryonic development, and women would often turn to mystical rites and rituals in the hope of giving birth to a male child. It was believed that prayers and certain rituals could influence the formation of the unborn child’s sex. Childbirth is basically viewed as a positive event for woman, since it is biologically and culturally natural. According to Tibetan sources, human health is rooted in harmony with environments and moral principles. Parents understand that it is necessary to follow internal and external prescriptions for procreation, to increase physical and spiritual strength in order to successfully conceive, maintain pregnancy, give birth to a healthy child and provide him/her with proper care.

Introduction. The article examines a dictionary of Mansi compiled from lexemes recorded along the Chusovaya River in the early-to-mid eighteenth century. The dictionary was discovered in G. F. Müller’s archives. Other available archives (e.g., those of A. J. Sjögren and P. S. Pallas) contain no mention of the dictionary. So, the only source referring to the latter is a 1958 article by Hungarian linguist J. Gulya that analyzes several Mansi words recorded in the eighteenth century across the Lower Tagil, Lower Tura, and Chusovaya river basins to determine a total of three distinct features inherent to the local Mansi dialects. A comparison of lexemes contained in G. F. Müller’s dictionary of Chusovaya Mansi against the ones published in J. Gulya’s work has yielded a number of discrepancies with the scholar’s conclusions. Goals. So, the paper compares Chusovaya Mansi against other Mansi dialects — Berezovo, Solikamsk, Cherdyn, Kungur, Upper Tura, and Karpinsky ones — recorded during the same period and in the same area. The most extensive description and analysis of the latter sources based on L. Honti’s classification are to be found in J. Normanskaya’s article titled ‘How the Classification of Mansi Dialects Was Changed (On the Material of the First Cyrillic Books and Dictionaries of the 18th and 19th Centuries)’ (2022). Materials and methods. The work employs the comparative and comparative historical methods to examine a variety of Mansi-language archival sources. Results. The paper reconsiders the data contained in J. Normanskaya’s publication for a comparative analysis, and shows that the Chusovaya Mansi dictionary does confirm the Russian researcher’s conclusions: Northern and Western Mansi dialect differences developed by L. Honti were non-existent or had only just appeared in the eighteenth century. However, the proto-Mansi *k>χ transition before back vowels identified by J. Normanskaya as the one and only feature exclusively characteristic of Northern Mansi dialects has not been confirmed in the Chusovaya dialect traditionally clustered within Western Mansi: it happens to contain the traditional Northern transition (chot ‘шесть’, chórom ‘три’).

Introduction. The article shows how Bashkir, Uzbek and Tajik proverbs reflect religious ideas of the Islamic peoples. Goals. The study examines a certain thematic group of Bashkir, Tajik and Uzbek proverbs containing religious and theological concepts to illustrate how the Muslim profession of faith yielded somewhat linguistic and cultural transfer. Materials and methods. The paper analyzes patterns contained in the authors’ proverbial database compiled via continuous sampling from a variety of dictionaries (75 publications) and survey results of different aged Bashkir, Tajik and Uzbek native speakers (20 individuals). The employed techniques rest on value criteria when it comes to select value constants, highlight some semantic condensate, and conduct comparative analyses. Results. The contrastive insights into proverbial collections of the three languages that form a sort of a triangle of interconnections (Bashkir and Uzbek — cognate languages, Tajik and Uzbek — contacting ones) are indicative of which religious and theological ideas of Islam did prove most required by the latter’s speakers, stable in relation to external influences, and would receive further axiological comprehension as ‘their own’. Conclusions. The identification of semantic dominants shows a commonality of the languages under consideration. The partial coincidence of the three paremiological clusters is explained by the cultural and linguistic transfer, when Muslim ideas penetrated into the Turkic language environment through Iran and its cultural mediation, while it is through Central Asia that the former arrived in the South Urals. All this attests to a complicated and multi-stage cultural and linguistic transfer ignited by Islam.

Goals. The article attempts an ethnogenetic analysis of the Tuvan clan Mongush and the Kyrgyz clan Mungush, seeks to delineate some features of their intra-clan patronymy, and provides an insight into the clan name etymology with the aid of folk etymologies. Materials. The study focuses on publications dealing with the topic, analyzes field data collected by the authors during dialect and comprehensive research expeditions. Results. The analysis concludes the issue had stirred interest of many researchers of Central Asia and Siberia since the nineteenth century, and remains as relevant to date. Tuvans who identify themselves as Mongush tend to perceive themselves not only as members of the large clan but also as representatives of some certain intra-clan group — one of the eight patronymies recorded in the Tuvan language, just like the Kyrgyz Mungush who have two large branches — zhagalmai tamga and kosh tamga — each to comprise six intra-clan clusters. The Mongush ~ Mungush ethnogenesis is based on Turkic population pool. The Mongush are distributed not only in Tuva but also beyond its borders, namely: those are the Mungush from Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan, the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. However, the academic opinions about kin relations between the Tuvan Mongush and those of Fergana Kara-Kirghizes/Osh Kyrgyzes require further historical and folklore insights.

Introduction. Despite the centuries-long research, ethnic history of Kalmyks (Oirats) and Mongols at large still contains a number of unanswered questions. Recent academic insights into gene pools of Eurasian and, specifically, Mongolian peoples may be instrumental in revising some aspects of history, refuting others, and confirming the remainder. The Kalmyk gene pool investigation has so far been reduced to the level of sub-ethnic groups, while it is that of clans claiming common patrilineal descent which seems most promising when it comes to the study of Turko-Mongolian nomads. Goals. The paper attempts an analysis of Kalmyk R2a-M124 Y-STR haplotypes by clans and articulates a hypothesis as to possible ethnohistorical roots of the lineage. Materials. The study examines a total of forty three STR haplotypes of the mentioned Y-chromosomal subclade identified by Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS) with the aid of AmpFLSTR YfilerTM Plus PCR Reagents. Results. The study shows bearers of the subclade largely represent Kalmyk clans with names containing the lexical unit ‘chonos’, and ones attesting to the clans had been founded by some noblemen, namely: Taichiud (Kalm. тәәҗүд ‘tayijis, princes’), Khashikhanar (Kalm. хашхнр ‘chiefs of appanages, governors’), Saiduud (Kalm. сәәдүд ‘superior ones, noblemen’), Kha(а)nud (Kalm. хаануд ‘Khans, rulers’). The paper articulates a hypothesis suggesting the lineage may descend from rulers of the Khoid Oirats and via the latter — from Quduqa-bäki of the medieval Oyïrad, and even further up to Duwa-soqor and the legendary ancestor of all Mongols — Bӧrtä-Čïno.

Introduction. In contact linguistics, the problem of differentiating between code switches and loanwords is relevant enough, which arises from that there are no unified research approaches thereto, and consequently nor there any precise definitions for the phenomena and classification criteria. The difficulties in distinguishing between the two linguistic processes result from that in intensive language contacts they tend to gain more similarities in terms of phonology, morphology and syntax — rather than differences. Some scholars argue that code-switching is the first stage in the development of a token in a matrix language, i.e. the lexemes had been code switches before they became ‘nuclear’ borrowings. The process of switching codes in speech is associated with the phenomenon of mass bilingualism. Goals. The problem of code-switching is understudied in Bashkir linguistics, and the paper attempts to distinguish the former from borrowings in the context of Bashkir-Russian bilingualism. Materials and methods. The study analyzes transcribed recordings of colloquial Bashkir (from speakers of Karaidel, a dialect of northwestern Bashkir) obtained during the author’s expeditions of 2022 and 2023. When it comes to describe code-switching, the workr employs Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame model. The article deals with intraphrasal switches in the form of inclusions and insular switches within one sentence. Results. The study identifies some difficulties of distinguishing between borrowings and code switches. According to G. Chirsheva, borrowings are divided into cultural and occasional (nuclear) ones. The latter are essentially and functionally close to code switches. K. Myers-Scotton presumes their main differences can be reduced to that code switches are used in individual cases (or no more than three times) and are not included in the mental lexicon of the matrix language. Therefore, barbarisms, such as еще / ищо, уже / ужы, вис, сәпсим, etc., which are often used in the speech of bilingual Bashkirs, must be referred to as occasional / nuclear borrowings (according to G. Chirsheva), while individual foreign-language inclusions be considered code switches.