The onomastics place name (eponymy) research has a long tradition in Kazakhstan (Slovtsov 1844, Groznyi 1940, Medoyev 1948, Bayandin 1949, Tatischev 1950, Konkashpayev 1959, Margulan et al. 1966, Popova 1966) in respect to the historical imprint to landscape left by ancient populations (Plit and Myga-Piątek 2014). A linguistic study focus in relation to the country’s geography has been on understanding a regional toponymy of the present Kazakh parkland-steppes and some particular places associated with a sequenced culture-historical occupation of these lands by prehistoric and early historical nomadic ethnics. This paper examines the etymology of the principal geographical entities – the specific landscape forms – of the present North and East Kazakhstan – the historical area with a poetical name Sary-Arka/Saryarka. This term is known since the ancient times, meaning in the old Turkish language
Rich prehistoric and early historical cultural monuments and archaeological localities are found in diverse topographic settings across Sary-Arka bearing witness of a chronologically long and ethnically divergent inhabitation of this part of Central Asia by hunter-gatherer and subsequent pastoral and early agricultural communities (Khazanov 1984, Frachetti 2006. Outram et al. 2009). A close linkage of these sites with the most prominent and strategic topographic settings since the Palaeolithic times is evident, pointing to adaptation to the mountain and steppe environments (e.g., Levine and Kislenko 1997, Vishnyatsky 1999, Zakh et al. 2010, Chlachula 2010, 2017, Kotov 2016). The mountain regions of Central Asia are believed to facilitate spread of early agriculture since the Bronze Age (Motuzaite Matuzeviciute et al. 2015). The most famous archaeological sites of the Sary-Arka and the adjacent Southern Altai are associated with the Iron-Age Scythian civilization with traces of settlement in the steppes, river valleys as well as on the alpine Altai plateaus with the World-famous burial mounds (kurgan) sealed in permafrost grounds (Bourgeois et al. 2000, Polosmak 2001, Samashev 2001, 2011, Gorbunov et al. 2005, Chlachula 2018).
This study discusses toponymy of the main regional hydronyms and oronymes (place names of the principal rivers and mountains, respectively) found on the territory of northern and eastern Kazakhstan that still do not have a uniform and generally accepted interpretation. Linguistic, historical and geographical studies and their conclusions are taken into account summarizing the current knowledge and scientific hypotheses based on the historical and geographical literature analysis. This also concerns the etymology of the regionally principal place names of the main rivers and lakes such as Yertys and Zaysan, and the mountains ranges of the Altai, Tarbagatai, Bayanaul and some other (Yegorina 2002). According to the present evidence, there is no common and scientifically grounded lexical clarification of these geomorphic entities. This may be explained by the 150-year presence of the Mongolian Oyrats in the NE Kazakhstan during the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries, and the previous Tatar and Mongol invasions to the territory of Sary-Arka during the 13th century that modified or completely obliterated the former place names and their original meanings used by the indigenous tribes. There are some exceptions, such as the hydronym of Irtysh, referring to the main river flowing through the Eastern and NE Kazakhstan that clearly derives from the river
The north-central and eastern Kazakhstan – Sary-Arka – is naturally a very diverse area with a high degree of geo-diversity characterized by deep ravines, erosional tectonic platforms and rocky hills surrounded by open parkland-steppes. It is rich of natural, especially metallic minerals that were explored and exploited for since the prehistoric times (Samashev 2001, Kungurov 2006, Baumer 2016a–c). The dominant semi-arid steppe area is covered by feather grasses (Poaceae –
Geographic location of the study area with the oronyms and hydronyms of northern and eastern Kazakhstan (the territory of Sary-Arka) discussed in the text.
Biogeographically, the study area encompasses the present parklands, steppes and semi-deserts of East Kazakhstan (Fig. 2). These are aligned by the chain of mountains from the North-West (the Southern Urals), the North-East (the Altai) and the South-East (the Tarbagatay Range). The central part is shaped by low-elevation hills (the Central Kazakh Highlands) adjoining the Zaisan Depression in the East filled by lakes – the Zaisan and the Bukhtarma Basins (300–400 m a.s.l.) amid of a dry xerotheric landscape. The Southern Altai is the principal mountain system of East Kazakhstan with elevations >4,000 m a.s.l., bordering in the East the Mongolian Altai through the Tabon-Bogdo-Ula massive (Nairamdal Mt., 4,356 m a.s.l.) (Chupakhin 1968). The East Kazakshtan orogenic massive is divided into several E–W oriented montane formations (Southern Altai, Sarymsakty, Narym and Kurchum) connecting through the Tarbagatai Range (2,992 m a.s.l.) and the Dzhundarskiy Alatau (4,464 m a.s.l.) to the Tian-Shan Mountains (Schultz 1948, Mikhailov 1961). Geomorphologically, the alpine relief is characterized by steep erosional northern slopes representing uplifted relics of old plateaus (>3,000 m a.s.l.) with a westwards-decreasing topographic gradient (3,900–2,300 m a.s.l.). The enclosing inter-basin generated by rifting during the Hercynian orogenesis is largely filled by Paleozoic, Devonian and Carboniferous sea deposits (Deviatkin 1965, 1981, Erofeev 1969, Mikhailova 2002). The central steppe area is built by weathered Proterozoic granites in places interspersed by gneiss units exposed to the present surface in the form of rounded hills and up-to 100 m-elevated flat denudation platforms. These stretch across the land as parallel-running fold erosional relics adjoining the rocky
A bio-geographic map of Kazakhstan with the specific vegetation-cover zones, including, from North to South: parklands (forest-steppes), steppes, semi-deserts/deserts and the mountain zone in the NW and eastern part of the territory. Displayed are some specific geo-sites (legend).
The present-day relief of East Kazakhstan provides evidence of a complex landscape development triggered by past climate change and the regional tectonic activity (Nekhoroshev 1958, 1967, Dodonov 2002, Akhmetyev et al. 2005, Dyachkov et al. 2014). Three biogeographic provinces reach the present territory – the central Kazakhstan (Aral Sea-West Siberian) province, the southern Siberian (Yenisei) province and the Central Asian (Tian-Shan – Mongolian Altai) mountain province, with the latter having experienced the most intensive Quaternary physiography evolution accompanied by intensive erosion processes (Velikovskaya 1946, Grigoriev 1950, Chupakhin 1968). The pre-Cenozoic landscape history of the continental areas of Central Asia is characterized by a low topographic gradient of old planation surfaces and former sedimentary sea basins subsequently broken by the late Miocene Earth crust movement (Nekhoroshev 1967). Neotectonic activity in conjunction with past global climate changes shaped the former relief particularly during at the Pliocene/Pleistocene and early Middle Pleistocene. The territorial Cenozoic (Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene) orogeny constructed a system of mountain ranges separated by deep depressions periodically filled by lacustrine water bodies (Dodin 1961). Intensive erosion of the uplifted geological formations led to several denudation cycles flattening the former relief (Aubekerov 1993). The topographic elevations are distorted by long-term weathering processes and sculptured into exposed vegetation-free rocky granitic hills of an average 700–750 m a.s.l. elevation (Obruchev 1951).
The progressive cooling during the late Middle and Late Pleistocene generated permafrost expansion on the northern and central plains merging with the insular mountain permafrost (Aubekerov and Gorbunov 1999). The glaciations in the mountain areas affected the adjacent ice-free foothills with prevailing continental cold and arid climate and intensified denudations processes (Kozhamkulova and Kostenko 1984). The regional geomorphology is largely defined by the Quaternary (palaeo-)landscape evolution with the warmer Early-Middle Pleistocene interglacials witnessed by strongly weathered palaeosols followed by increased continentality and a progressing relief gradient during the Late Pleistocene (Galakhov and Mukhametov 1999). A pronounced Last Glacial natural dynamics of the Altai Mountains is documented by spectacular glaciofluvial terraces in the principal mountain valleys associated with a release of deep ice-dammed glacial lakes subjected to cataclysmic drainages during the final stages of the regional alpine-zone deglaciation (Butvilovskiy 1985, Rudoy and Baker 1993, Rudoy and Kirianova 1994, Herget 2005). The Last Glacial (MIS 4 and 2) loess up to 20 m thick, interstratified by palaeosol, blankets the western mountain foothills and adjoining slopes in the main sedimentary (river) valleys (Chlachula 2010).
The present hydrology network belongs to the Irtysh drainage system with the Black Irtysh and Bukhtarma Rivers being the main tributaries. The modern climate is strongly continental, with warm semi-humid summers and very cold winters with an increasingly uneven precipitation distribution ranging from 1,500–2,000 mm/year on the NW Altai slopes to 200 mm/year in the Zaisan Lake basin with semi-desert vegetation transgressing into an open Kazakh steppe along the margins.
In consistency with the above geographic and geomorphic characteristics, the toponymy of Sary-Arka with its typical relief features and some unique geo-sites indicates a rather ancient origin. From a geo-environmental point of view, this may mirror presence of a variety of local ecosystems (Fig. 4) and culture-historical adaptation strategies of the past hunters’ populations and later semi-sedentary nomadic communities settling this vast territory. The traditional understanding of the Sar-Arka is believed to mean
During the Iron Age (1st Millennium BC), northern Kazakhstan was occupied by pastoralist tribes known under the name of Sakas (Saks) mentioned in the old Greek and Assyrian written records as Scythians or Turans. The Arabic and Persian sources refer to the present Central Asia as to the
A –
A – A local pastoralist yurt (kibitka) dwelling of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) nomads (late 19th century); B – illustration of a Kyrgyz horsemen; C – the traditional Kyrgyz (Kazakh) people of the Sary-Arka steppe (19th century); D – fire in the Kyrgyz steppe (a painting by T. Shevchenko, 1848).
Methodology of the present summarizing study is based on an in-depth analysis of the Sary-Arka eponymy and toponymy of some principal hydronyms and oronyms providing a culture-historical mosaic of this vast and literally enigmatic steppe-land. Archives of the Gumilov National University, the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Archaeological Museum in Astana were used. The place-names’ interpretations is based on a multi/proxy approach combining, apart of the linguistic records also ethnological and archaeological evidence and data.
Mountains have played a very important role in the life of the ancient inhabitant of Sary-Arka throughout millennia. The mountain habitats use to provide lush pastures in protected valleys, rich biotopes for hunting-gathering activities as a supplement to the traditional nomadic pastoralism (Chlachula 2011), as well as places of metallic raw material distribution and refuge in times of enemy tribe invasions. Low-to high-elevation mountain systems characterize the topographically broken relief of the present north-eastern and central Kazakhstan, providing witness of intense past regional orogenic processes. Neotectonics is particularly active in the eastern part of the territory with the uplifting Rudno Altai, Southern Altai, Narym, Tarbagatay and Dzungarskiy Alatau ranges (Velikovskaya 1946, Mikhailov 1961, Veselova 1970). Contrary to the orogenically active eastern part of the territory, the geologically mature northern and central part of Sary-Arka constitutes chains of the Pre-Cambrian bedrock structured into systems of separate mountain ranges such as Bayanaul, Ulytau, Shyngystau, Kokshetau, Termirtau, Chingistau, Zhaksy, Karkaly, Kyzylarai, Mugodzhary and some other (Fig. 1) predominantly bearing the old-Turkic or Mongolian names.
The Baitau Mountains toponymy suggests a combination of the Mongolian words
Present landscape physiography associated with the discussed oronyms in north-central and eastern Kazakhstan (Sary-Arka). A. Bayanaul Mountains (700–1,000 m a.s.l.) shaped by Palaeozoic orogenesis with Lake Zhasybay (Pavlodar Region); B. Bayanaul – the Akbet Mt. (1,022 m) near Lake Toraigyr; C. Ulytau Mountains (1,133 m a.s.l.) structured of granitic massifs with canyon-shaped planation relief of colorful stratified Mesozoic sedimentary rocks (Ulytau Region); D. Kokshetau Mountains (947 m a.s.l.) with Borovoye/Buragay (Pine Forest) Lake (Akmola Region); E. Kyzylarai Mountains – Aksoran Mt. (1,565 m), the highest peak of central Kazakhstan (Karaganda Region); F. Mugodzhary Hills (average elevation 400–500 m a.s.l.) formed by the Pre-Cambrian Earth crust uplift and situated in open steppe connecting to the Southern Urals (Aktobe Region).
Other mountain ranges of a generally high geological (pre-Cambrian) age are found on the territory of Sary-Arka with a generally Turkic-Kazakh toponymy provenance. The Shyngystau or Chingis-Tau Mountains (Kazakh: Шынгыстау or Чингис-Тау) in the Abay Region of northern Kazakhstan run in a north-west direction at the eastern edge of the vast Central Kazakhstan Uplands –
The Kokshetau Mountains in the Akmola Region in northern Kazakhstan are located in the present Burabay National Park. This area is known for natural beauty with lakes surrounded by pine forest, with the principal Lake Borovoye (Fig. 5D). Its name originates from the Russian word
The Mugodzhary Mountains (Мугоджарские горы) are considered as the southernmost extension of the Urals massive (Fig. 1) latitudinally running for ca. 200 km in the form of two parallel ranges – the Western and Eastern Mugodzhary with the highest peak Large Boktybay (657 m a.s.l.) (Svarichevskaya 1965). The hilly region amid of undulating steppes (Fig. 5F) is drained by several larger rivers, such as Emba and Irgiz, and includes a number of lakes. The broader area of the Southern Urals provided a vital geo-habitat for peopling since the earliest times (Kotov 2016). According to the present understanding, the oronym Mugodzhary or
The highest and most extensive Altai/Altay Mountains include several separate mountain chains adjoining the Southern Altai of East Kazakhstan – the Gorno Altai of southern Siberia, and the Mongolian and Chinese Altai, all with elevations over 4,000 m a.s.l. (Belukha 4503 m) (Fig. 6A). Its name comes from the Mongolian
Present landscape physiography associated with the discussed oronyms and hydronyms in Eastern Kazakhstan. A. Southern Altai massif (4,082 m a.s.l.) (Katon-Karagai District); B. Narym Mountains (3,816 m a.s.l.); C. Tarbagatai Mountains (2,992 m a.s.l.); D Dzungarskyi Alatau Mountains (4,622 m a.s.l.); E. Black Irtysh River (Kurchum District) draining from the Chinese Altai; F. Lake Zaisan filling a tectonic depression (water lever at 420 m a.s.l.) connecting to the Bukhtarma Basin.
The identical eponymy root as of the Altai can be seen in the Alatau Mountains (Fig. 6D). located further south of the Altai Massive connecting to the Tian-Shan (Fig. 1). Its etymology is evidently associated with the Turkic
In sum, the Sary-Arka landscape and the adjoining mountains of East Kazakhstan are linguistically closely bound to the nomadic ethnics occupying this area for centuries and millennia. A partial ethnic influence and transmission of the place names from one to another is well apparent.
The etymology of the north-central and east Kazakhstan hydronyms still does not have an uniform linguistic interpretation in terms of combined linguistic, culture-historical and geographic studies. The main hydronyms of Sary-Arka, i.e., the NE territory of the present Kazakhstan, refer to the principal rivers and their major tributaries. The best example of this is Irtysh–the largest river of Kazakhstan and the area of Sary-Arka.
The Irtysh/
In the ancient Turkic written records in honor of the sultans Kul-Tegin and Tonykok the name of the river
The argumentation for a chronologically relatively recent Mongolian medieval (13th century) origin of the Irtysh name and its dissemination into other eastern languages has support in its linguistic root encountered analogously in the components of other hydronyms of Central Asia–Irsu, Irkol and Irghiz among other (Djanuzakov 1982). The first part of this hydronym –
A geomorphically very diverse semi-arid open steppe landscape of the Sary-Arka (the eastern part of the Central Kazakhstan Highlands –
By explaining the Irtysh River eponymy, attention should also be paid to spelling of the word Yertis with the second part meaning
In conclusion, the historical eponymy of the Irtysh River seems to be rather complex. It is likely formed of two linguistic parts of fundamentally different periods – the Celtic
Another principal hydronymy entity of the Sary-Arka concerns the Zaisan Lake (Zaisan Nor, Nor-Zaisan in Kazakh) which is, after Lake Balkhash, the second largest lake of Kazakhstan located in the East Kazakhstan region (Figs 1,
6F). Positioned in the Zaisan tectonic depression, the lake with length of 100 km and width of 26–39 km occupies an area of close to 3,000 km2 (Yegorina 2002). According to the present interpretation, the lake‘s name origin relates to the Mongolian
As presented above, certain toponyms across the Sary-Arka area have common onomastics background even for the geographically rather distant places. This similarity clearly implies close cultural and economic links, and past political tights also reflected in the ethnological affinities and archaeological records (Gryaznov 1969, Anthony 2002). A certain geographic culture-historical amalgamation over the c. 2,000 km steppe regions from the Altai in the East to the Urals in the West is corroborated by the etymology. A very good example is the name
On the other hand, the linguistic complexity suggests a diversity of the culture-historical origin of the particular ethnics inhabiting the ancient Sary-Arka. Besides of the Irtysh/Yertysh River, no uniform common and scientifically grounded lexical interpretation of other hydronyms is generally accepted. Most of the present place names of the area indicate the Mongolian cultural milieu because of their 150-year presence and reign in the North-Eastern Kazakhstan during the 17th and the early 18th centuries, and previously during the 12–13th centuries. At that time, most of Central Asia was incorporated in the Mongolian Khanate and experienced the allied Tatar invasions (Kundakbayeva 2016). The origin of some place names may go back to the earlier times (the 9th century AD) in association with the Kumak (Kumyk) and Kipchak ethnic substrate (Menges 1995).
A complexity of the ethnic interactions between the north Central Asian groups (Mongolian, Turkic and indigenous, such as Altaic) is also indicated by genetic evidence of the present Kazakh and other Turkic nations’ people from the north Kazakhstan–southern Siberia region (Gogkumen et al. 2008). The same pattern of the East-West demographic exchanges and mixing facilitated by the absence of any major physiographic barriers and concretized in the present place names of Sary-Arka can be visualized since the ancient times and represented by the proto-Uralic, proto-Altaic and Palaeo-Siberian ethnics (Dolukhanov 2003). The historical toponymy imprint to the Sary-Arka’s relief is over-whelmingly Turkic adding to the Mongol place names in the eastern part of the land. The old Turkic influence is linguistically documented across wide areas of Asia from western China and Iran to the Balkans (Sevortyan 1974, Menges 1995, Johanson 2001, Alymov et al. 2010).
Knowledge of the culture-historical evolution, the relief physiognomy formation and anthropogenic-natural interactions to specific geomorphic settings in a particular area contributes to the local landscape management, geoheritage promotion and geotourism development (e.g., Coratza et al. 2012, Migon and Goudie 2012, Thomas 2012, Zwoliński, Stachowiak 2012, Ilieş et al. 2017). The Sary-Arka region of NE Kazakhstan has a major potential in this respect (Zhensikbayeva et al. 2017, 2018).
The north-central and eastern Kazakhstan (the ancient Sary-Arka) shows a complex and timely long culture-historical evolution reflected in the local place names best-recorded for the major rivers and mountains. Yet, not all the regional eponymy entities can be securely determined using geo-forms’ linguistics. In view to the present evidence of the oronyms and hydronyms found on this territory it can be summarized:
the Turkic affix the Irtysh River hydronym suggests formation of the river’s name by two culturally different linguistic components: the old Turkic the Mongolian affix an identical cultural (Mongolian) origin can be seen in the East Kazakhstan mountain ranges by adding the affix
The toponymy characteristics provide insights into population exchanges in northern Central Asia throughout the millennia since the Eneolithic of the ancient Indo-European inhabitants through the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd and 1st Mill. BC) of the Turanian, Scythian and Saks ethnics until the historical period (2nd Mill. AD) represented by nomadic, territorially mobile in part semi-sedentary peoples. The major culture-geographic imprint relates to the Mongolian invasion into the parkland-steppes of the present northern Kazakhstan during the 13th century, and the following Turkic-Tatar tribes politically integrated into the military hordes and representing a substratum of the modern Kazakh nation. Spatial distribution mapping and onomastics understanding of the main geographic entities has a major relevance to the currently expanding (eco-)tourism taking into account all the relief and the associated geo-ecosystem peculiarities and unique nature of the Sary-Arka’s territory.