مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - AN EVALUATION ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD “GERİ”

Abstract :

The word “geri”, which has the following meanings according to Turkish Dictionary: 1. Back, part of a thing that comes after it, behind, opposite of forward; 2. End, result; 3. The last part of a thing; 4. Past; exterior of excretory organ of an animal; 6. Slow clock; 7. Stupid, dull; 8. undeveloped; 9. backward (adverb); 10. interjection (TD, 2011, s. 934), has had widespread use through the historical dialects of Turkish with the variants of “kirü, kerü, kėrü, kiri, gerü, geri, gēri, girü, kirü etc.”. By Jean Deny, the root of the word “geri” is explained as ge+ri (back, behind) associeted with the words taş+garu (outside), il+gerü (forward) which has dative suffix –gArU. N.K. Dimitrev asserts that the word “geri” derived from the word “ked” having dative suffix +ge and directive +rü: ked+ge+rü geri (back, behind). K. Grönbech explains it with the verb “kir- (as to get in the house)” having the gerindium –ü: kir- + ü kirü (west). Clauson thinks that “geri” is derived from *ke (back, backward) with the directive suffix +rü. Duran, underlining the possibility of the word to have both noun and verb root, suggests that the word “geri” can be originated from *ki: ki-r-ü and ki-rü. Tekin gives the root *kē (back, behind) and the dative suffix +rü as the component of the word. In this study, we will try to find an answer to the root of the word “geri” by taking into considerdiration the words “kendi” (self) and “beri” (onward) which is thought to be semantically related to “geri”.