and Commentaries
Alina Nakhodkina
Aan Darkhan – spirit of fire.
Abaahy/Adjarai [a’ba:hi], [a’djarai] – evil and ugly creatures; according to I. Pukhov they are one-armed and one-legged Cyclops made of iron with their faces in the back of their heads. The only arm of an Abaahy that grows from the centre of his chest and his only leg are forked at the elbow and knee. They represent all the possible sins (wrath, lust, cruelty, infectious diseases, laziness, bestiality, impurity and cannibalism). The Abaahy (evil) characters attack people, rob and destroy their land, and kidnap women. Their world is a vast dark icy land with low red skies, fiery oceans and infinite swamps. The Sakha were blacksmiths and found iron ore in the ground which is why they believe that underground creatures are made of iron. The most traditional transformation of the Abaahy is a dragon shape. In Olonkho the part of Abaahy is performed in a dull voice, they have their own special interjections like art-tatai, buiaka, etc.
Ap-Charai – enchanted rope.
Arsan Dolai [ar’san] [‘dolai] – the Lord of the Under World. Full name: Arsan Dolai Logayar Luo Khan where ‘luo’ [lu’o] of a Chinese origin means ‘dragon’, and ‘arsan’ derives from the Turkic ‘arslan/aslan’ that means ‘lion’.
Baigal – an ocean. As former steppe nomads the Sakha feel a natural distrust of large water basins and call them ‘бай5ал’ ([bai`gal] – the closest equivalent is ‘ocean’) which has a negative connotation. The spirit of such an ocean is supposed to be only evil (see: Abaahy). There is a hypothesis that the name of Lake Baikal derives from this word.
Botur/batyr [‘botur], [‘batir] – hero, different spellings of the word ‘botur’ came from Turkic and Mongolian languages.
Chabirgah [tchabir’gah] – recitative, a long rhyme or a tongue-twister.
Colours. There are two words in the Yakut language with the meaning ‘white’: Turkic үрүŋ [ju`rjuŋ] and Mongol Ма5ан [ma`gan]. They differ in connotations. Turkic ‘үрүŋ’ derives from milk food but can be decoded as ‘sacred; divine; god’s; light’. It is conditionally used in the names of supreme deities or good spirits, e. g. Urung Uolan – Yakut, literally the White Young Man where ‘үрүŋ /white’ means ‘of a divine origin/good’. Sometimes it can be used in addressing human-beings or descriptions of rich fields, etc., always with a positive meaning, e.g. ‘radiant white sky’, ‘white alaas’. It is seldom connected with the meaning of a colour itself. In such cases the word ‘ма5ан’ of a Mongolian origin is used, e.g. ‘ма5ан хаар’ [ma`gan ha:r] – ‘white snow’. The Sakha as blacksmiths and jewellers value metals: iron, copper, gold and especially silver. They prefer silver probably for its disinfectant quality. They called gold – ‘red gold’ (red because of much copper added) and silver – ‘white gold’ that is why they often mention silver in describing beautiful white teeth; they never call teeth silver-white but just ‘silver teeth’ implying their white colour. Yellow also derives from the colour of the most precious milk product – butter. It can be used in a description of a valley, often in a combination with gold/golden, especially in a human appearance description, e.g. ‘yellow-golden cheeks’. Both white and yellow symbolize beauty, richness, abundance and are used in a description of ‘ilgeh’. In Olonkho ‘black’ has additional meanings ‘strength’, ‘power’, even ‘cattle’, e.g. Eles Botur has a horse Ege Khara, ‘black’ also traditionally symbolizes ‘magic’, ‘mystery’ and ‘evil’.
Illustration: A symbolic eagle on top of a hitching post. See page 14.
Ekhsit and Aiyyhyt [‘ehsit], [a’ji:hit] – goddesses of fertility of both human-beings and cattle.
Eluu Cherkechekh, deadly abyss [e`lju:] [tcherke`tcheh] – a pit, one of the entrances to the Under World. It is among ‘three laughing abysses’ often mentioned in Olonkho. Eluu – deadly, death; Cherkechekh is a proper name.
Esekh [e’seh] – a summer solstice festival, in other words the Kumis Festival, usually celebrated on 21 June; now modern Sakha celebrate it from the second half of June until the beginning of July. The name derives from the Yakut word ‘ыс’ that means ‘sprinkle’. Shamans sprinkle the ground with kumis as a symbol of fertilization and prosperity for good grass growth and healthy cattle.
Ilbis and ohol [il’bis] [o’hol] – flying spirits of war, discord and bloodlust. They sow the seeds of strife and hostility, and fly over the field of a battle screaming and howling. Usually only their children are mentioned in Olonkho: daughter of ilbis and son of ohol. They live at the top of the spearhead, arrowhead or in the blade of another weapon. They drink blood and when they are hungry, flames of blue or sulphur fire appear on the weapon.
Ilgeh – a milk food or drink of a shining white or yellow colour traditionally symbolizes 1) abundance, favour, benevolence, grace; 2) energy, strength. It is often used as a metaphor for food and richness. Usually liquid, sometimes it has an egg shape.
Khaman-Imen land, Tuman-Imen land, Kimen-Imen land – mythological lands where the materials for the various parts of the bow are collected.
Khotun [ho’tun] – a title of an honoured lady; a landlady; a wife. Often it is used together with ‘эбэ’ (ebeh [ä`bä]) – ‘grandmother’. A flattering addition of these words to geographical names either ground (road, mountain, valley, and abyss) or water (river, lake, ocean, swamp) reflects an instinctive fear and respect of the natural forces, e. g. Saidiliki Ebeh Khotun – Saidiliki valley/ lake.
Kun Aiyy (Күн Айыы [кjun aj`i:]) – a human tribe of descendants of the Upper World who inhabited the Middle World by the order of the supreme deity Urung Aar Toyon. ‘Kun’ means ‘sun’, ‘sunny’, ‘solar’; ‘Aiyy’ – ‘god’ – highlights the divine origin of these people. They are usually described as ‘with the reins on their backs/necks’. ‘Reins’ symbolize the sun beams as specific energetic threads.
Kun Jehegei [кjun djehe’gei] – a god of horses, one of the most popular gods for the Sakha, sometimes referred to as ‘the Fiery’ because he is the son of the Sun.
Kuo [ku’o] – a word of Turkic origin meaning ‘beautiful, a beauty’.
Kut [kut] – shadow, usually of a black colour; the closest Christian equivalent is ‘soul’. In the Yakut system of beliefs, each human and supernatural being has three ‘shadows’, i.e. their soul, their physical body and their connection to their ‘mother: according to I. Pukhov, ‘Iye-kut’ [i’je:] [‘kut] - mother-soul, ‘Buor-kut’ [‘bo:r] [‘kut] - earth-soul and ‘Salgyn-kut’ [sal’gin] [‘kut] - air soul. The Sakha believed that at the conception of the foetus the gods take the Buor-kut from the earth, Salgyn-kut from the air and connect it with the major part of the soul ‘Iye-kut’ and then instil it into the woman.
Mother-soul-kut – according to the Sakha belief, Mother-soul-kut consists of three elements: ‘Lye-kut’ (mother-soul), ‘Buor-kut’ (earth-soul) and ‘Salgyn-kut’ (air soul).
