The Use of Phytonyms in Figurative Meaning in Karakalpak Folklore

Abstract

This article investigates the figurative (non-literal) use of phytonyms — plant-name lexemes — in Karakalpak oral folklore, drawing on the hundred-volume academic edition of Karakalpak Folklore (Qaraqalpaq fol'klorı) published by the “Ilim” Publishing House in Nukus. Four folklore genres are examined comparatively: proverbs and sayings (naqıl-maqallar), heroic epics (dastans), riddles (jumbaqlar), and tongue-twisters (jańıltpashlar). The analysis shows that phytonyms are not distributed evenly across genres, nor do they perform the same function in each. In proverbs, phytonyms function as auxiliary semantic carriers of metaphorical judgment about human character and social life rather than as autonomous images. In epic poetry, the lexeme “gúl” (“flower”) accumulates a wide emotional register — beauty, youth, transience, sorrow — frequently activated through contrastive juxtaposition. In riddles, phytonyms are shown to perform two distinct and previously under-differentiated functions: as descriptive vehicles that characterize a hidden referent, and as the hidden referents themselves. In tongue-twisters, the selection of phytonyms is governed primarily by phonetic rather than semantic criteria, serving alliteration and assonance. Comparative attention is also given to the role of cultivated-plant phytonyms (cotton, pumpkin, melon, wheat) as evidence of the historical centrality of agriculture and horticulture in Karakalpak material culture. The findings extend and corroborate the broader Turkic-area scholarship on plant-name lexis (Nematova 1998; Otemisov 2020) by grounding it in a systematic, genre-differentiated folklore corpus, and they offer a model for comparable studies of phytonyms in other folklore traditions of the region.