Wiktionary:Old Uyghur entry guidelines

1=Language considerations (Old Uyghur)

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Old Uyghur

Wikipedia

Old Uyghur was a Turkic language spoken in eastern regions of Central Asia and the Tarim Basin from the 9th to 14th centuries, although as a written language reportedly survived until the 19th century in the Gansu region of China. This page aims to standardize the layout of Old Uyghur entries and explain the rationale behind that standardization, as well as add some general remarks on the treatment of Old Uyghur on Wiktionary.

Wiktionary is a descriptive dictionary. This means only the terms that were attested are allowed within. If a term is not found in the available corpus, we do not add that term in the Wiktionary. See below for some examples:

• Words such as 𐽲𐽶𐽴𐽰𐽹𐽳𐽷 (qyzʾmwk /⁠kïzamuk⁠/, “measles, rubella”), 𐽲𐽶𐽴𐽲𐽰𐽺 (qyzqʾn /⁠kïzgan⁠/, “rose (color), pink”) and 𐽲𐽶𐽴𐽷𐽳𐾀 (qyzkwt /⁠kïzgut⁠/, “punishment”) imply the existence of a common verb like *𐽲𐽶𐽴𐽹𐽰𐽷 (qyzmʾk /⁠kïzmak/), attested also in other Turkic languages (like Turkish kızmak), but since it is not attested, we do not add this term.
• 𐽰𐽰𐽺𐽷𐽶𐽾𐽸𐽶𐽹 (ʾʾnkyrdym /⁠aŋïrdïm⁠/, “crimson”) is attested, instead of the expected *𐽰𐽶𐽺𐽷𐽶𐽾𐽸𐽶𐽹 (ʾynkyrdym /⁠ïŋïrdïm⁠/), so we would add the former entry.
• Although both of the languages we know as Old Uyghur and Orkhon Turkic are considered "Old Turkic", some words are only attested for one of them. For example, Orkhon Turkic uses 𐰚𐰇 (kü /⁠kü⁠/, “fame, news”), not found in Old Uyghur manuscripts. We would not include a hypothetical *𐽷𐽳𐽶 (kwy /⁠kü⁠/) in Wiktionary just because of that.

...et cetera.

This general layout is recommended for entries, where ellipses show parts that must be filled in separately per entry:

==Old Uyghur==
{{oui-variant|}}

===Etymology===
{{...|oui|...|...}}.

======
{{head|oui|...|tr=...|ts=...}}

====Declension====
{{oui-decl|...|...|...}}

====Compound terms====
{{col|oui
|...<ts:...><t:...>
|(...)
}}

====Derived terms====
{{col|oui
|...<ts:...><t:...>
|(...)
}}

====Descendants====
* {{desc|...|...|tr=...}}

===References===
* (Reference 1...)
* (Reference 2...)
* (Reference 3...)
* (...)

Wiktionary has adopted this set of letters transcribing Old Uyghur, following Gerard Clauson's and Jens Wilkens' orthography with slight tweaks for uniformity. Space between letters separates different forms.

• Do not create entries using the diacritics in the mainspace. These include 𐽰𐾂 𐽰𐾃 𐽰𐾄 and 𐽰𐾅 (dummy letter 𐽰 is used to demonstrate the diacritics.)
• All links and entries should have both a transliteration and a transcription. For example, 𐽶𐽷𐽾𐽹𐽶 (ykrmy /⁠yégirmi⁠/) has both a transliteration (ykrmy) and a rough phonemic transcription (/yégirmi/). This is important, because as you can see, written and spoken Old Turkic can be vastly different (and as a free dictionary, we should help the learners as much as possible with giving transliterations that are usually omitted in commercial dictionaries.) For some scripts, the system automatically fills the |tr= (transliteration) part by itself, and you only need to add in the |ts= part. For others, add in both.
• When creating a new page, use the script that is used to write that word you're adding the most. For example:
  • The page 𐾀𐽺𐽷𐽾𐽶 (tnkry /⁠teŋri⁠/) is in Uyghur script, not because there weren't other scripts used to write down this word (in fact, this word is attested in all the scripts that were used to write Old Uyghur,) but because the bulk of the attestations are in Uyghur script. This will be the case for most entries.
  • The page 𐫖𐫀𐫗𐫏 (mʾny /⁠Mani⁠/) is in Manichaean script, because most mentions to Mani were written using that script.
  • The page 𐼰𐼰𐼵𐽆𐼴𐼻 (ʾʾẓwn /⁠ažun, ajun, aǯun⁠/) is in (Neo-)Sogdian script, because this word is associated more with the Sogdian circles.
  • The page ܩܕܘܫ (qdwš /⁠ḳadoš⁠/) is in Syriac script, because of it's almost-exclusive usage in Christian texts.
  • ...et cetera. If you have found a word written in any other script, you can add it to the page using the {{oui-variant}} template, and you can also create a separate page with that, but make sure it links to the main page it branches off from.
• To add the Han Script variant of a word, use the Middle Chinese pronunciation (usually given at the 'pronunciations' header of the Chinese entries) for the |tr= parameter.

Use these templates for entries:

• {{oui-decl}} for nouns:

This module uses three parameters, frontness, roundedness and coda value.

1. Frontness: Whether the lemma is a front-voweled or a back-voweled word. Use |f if the last vowel of a word is either ä, e, i, ö or ü. Use |b if the last vowel is a, ï, o or u.
2. Roundedness: Whether the lemma is a rounded or unrounded. Use |a if the last vowel of a word is either a, e, é, ï or i. Use |u if the last vowel is o, ö, u or ü.
3. Coda value: Whether the lemma ends with a consonant or a vowel. Use |c if the word ends with a consonant, use |v if it ends with a vowel.

• Consider these examples if you are confused:
  • 𐾀𐽰𐽾 (tʾr /⁠⁠tär⁠⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|f|a|C}}.
  • 𐾀𐽰𐽾𐽶 (tʾry /⁠⁠täri⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|f|a|V}}.
  • 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾 (twyr /⁠⁠tör⁠⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|f|u|C}}.
  • 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾𐽳 (twyrw /⁠⁠törö⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|f|u|V}}.
  • 𐾀𐽰𐽲 (tʾq /⁠⁠taġ⁠⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|b|a|C}}.
  • 𐾀𐽰𐽲𐽰 (tʾqʾ /⁠⁠taḳa⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|b|a|V}}.
  • 𐾀𐽳𐽲 (twq /⁠⁠toḳ⁠⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|b|u|C}}.
  • 𐾀𐽳𐽲𐽳 (twqw /⁠toḳo⁠/) would use {{oui-decl|b|u|V}}.

• {{Not available yet.}} for verbs

• {{Not available yet.}} for adjectives

Every page should at least use both:

• {{R:oui:Caferoğlu:1968}} and
• {{R:oui:Wilkens}}

where applicable.

For etymologically obscure (or interesting) terms, it is advised to copy the etymology from the Proto-Turkic page if it satisfies the need. If not, {{R:trk:Clauson}}, {{R:otk:DTS}} and {{R:trk:ESTJa}} can be consulted. Wilkens' dictionary will also list foreign words and their origins, plus their Sanskrit and Mongolian equivalents.

Use {{R:ybe:Roos:2000}} and {{R:ybe:Lei:1998}} for Western Yugur in "Descendants" section. Use Lei's dictionary's orthographic scheme for entries and Roos' dictionary index for transcription, as per WT:AYBE.

Due to the sheer size of the Old Uyghur corpus, dictionaries often do not bother listing the source of the words. However there are some sources that can help you find genuine attestations, if you are unsure how a word was spelled or whether or not the attestation is genuine or not:

• Vorislamische Alttürkische Texte: Elektronisches Corpus (VATEC)
  • Indispensable for searching through select works (but not some crucial ones.) Features genuine transliterations, gloss translations, translations in modern languages (only German and English, mostly German) and archival signatures (museum catalog numbers) that you may use in conjunction with...
• Digitalisierung der Berliner Turfantexte Projeckt (DTA)
  • ...where you can find scans of the archival signatures listed at VATEC and elsewhere, per folio. For example, first line of first link at the Index (Altun Yarok B01) has this line:
    • Archivsignatur: U 632
    • Originalsignatur: T III 56-19a
  • You can scroll down the DTA website and find the Signaturengruppe U, which leads you to the collection of scans of fragments retrieved from the Turfan and Tarim regions of China pertaining to this time period. Simply continue through the links and find the referenced folio (for this example, you'd need to look at this subsite U 0616 Seite 1 bis U 0639 Seite 2, and find u0632seite1.jpg and u0632seite2.jpg where 'seite1' refers to recto and 'seite2' refers to the verso of the said folio.)
    • For different Signaturengruppe, just follow the same steps but for that specific group.
• International Dunhuang Programme (IDP) is also a good lead, featuring fragments from a variety of museums and institutions for free.
  • However, coverage of Old Turkic/Uyghur fragments in IDP is scanty, at best, compared to their Chinese or Indian catalogue. You can still find obscure items, like this or this or the original manuscript for the Ïrk Bitig or the London copy of the Xᵘāstvānīft, to name a few.
• Other than these on-line sources, many books on specific works feature the archival signature, feature scans of the pages in question, or at least write down the genuine transliteration of the passages, as per scholarly tradition. These can also be consulted, but the source taken and the page number must be given in these cases.

• About Proto-Turkic
• About Old Turkic
• About Karakhanid Language
• About Western Yugur
• Old Uyghur Number List
• Old Uyghur Color Table