Linguistic explication of rational and irrational knowledge types in the content of toponyms (on the material of the linguocultural dictionary)

1 Introduction

At present, only the language code, superficial information, is available to the general public in onomastic names. And the cultural semantics of folk geographical names contains a powerful layer of non-linguistic information, reflecting the worldview, traditional ethnic culture, beliefs, customs, life experience, and knowledge of the people about the surrounding reality since ancient times. The associative field of the toponymic concept synthesises all the potential cultural information available in the linguistic and cultural space of the Kazakh language. The national cognitive base of the people includes archetypical ideas and practical experience of exploring the surrounding environment, encoded in the phytomorphic, zoomorphic, somatic, and spatial codes, which are linked to information about categorisation of the whole Kazakh life space since ancient times. Pastoral nomadism, as one of the main types of nomadic economy, contributed to the ecological development of the living space, developed skills and fundamental knowledge about the environment, the properties and usefulness of certain plants, and an attitude not to shoot wild animals without any particular need. In fact, cultural-semantic and cognitive layers of information found in the content of some Kazakh toponyms associated with colour designations and numerals are still not adequately disclosed, which determines the relevance of the study. The Kazakh nomadic way of life, like that of nomads in general, formed an empirical complex of rational knowledge about the land relief, its hills and lowlands, pastures and water sources, watering places, quality of vegetation, weather conditions, and celestial bodies. The irrational type of knowledge also includes mythological, folklore knowledge, and folk beliefs associated with esoteric beliefs.

According to Wierzbicka (1980), knowledge acts as a human interpretation of the world. Boldyrev (2016) believes: “Given the specifics of constructing the world in the human mind and the role of the interpretive factor in this process, one can distinguish two main types of cognitive schemes, or models, of language interpretation of the world and knowledge about the world: general, collective, or conventional, and private, individual, or subjective.” However, the collective knowledge of the nomadic world is of interest because: “General schemes have a relatively universal nature and are directly related to the structuring of language and consciousness.”

Modern linguistics is characterised by a wide range of approaches and research directions. An important place among them is given to the study of the cultural specificity of knowledge representation in language, i.e. the correlation between linguistic forms and their mental representations in the context of a particular culture. This, in turn, requires the development of adequate methods and techniques of analysis that meet both the properties of linguistic facts and the peculiarities of the concept of “culture” itself. (Boldyrev and Alpatov 2008, Shynkaruk 2023)

Onyshchak et al. (2021) examined the cognitive and neurolinguistic aspects of interpreting, focusing on the processes occurring in the brain during interpreting tasks. The authors analysed various cognitive functions involved in interpreting, including memory, attention, and working memory. The study’s results indicate that effective interpreting requires the integration of these cognitive resources as well as specific neurolinguistic skills, such as the speed and accuracy of processing linguistic information. The article also discusses the impact of different factors on interpreting quality, including prior experience and the level of linguistic competence of the interpreter.

Liang et al. (2019) investigated how different types of interpreting affect cognitive load. They used analysis of language sequence to measure and reduce cognitive load during interpreting tasks. The findings show that proper organisation of language sequences can significantly reduce cognitive load and improve interpreting effectiveness. The authors provide examples of methods that help interpreters better handle tasks requiring rapid information processing, particularly through optimising structures and interpreting strategies.

Nerubasska and Maksymchuk (2020) explored the distinctions between creativity, talent, and genius, focusing on their impact on individuality and the social environment. They analysed how these aspects affect personal development and achievements in various life domains. The study’s results demonstrate that creativity, talent, and genius have different systemic characteristics, and their delineation is crucial for a better understanding of personal development and success across different fields. The authors also emphasise the importance of integrating these concepts into psychological and sociological research.

The objective of this article is to explore the processes of objectification of rational and irrational types of knowledge in the cultural semantics of toponyms as products of the mental activity of both individuals and ethnolinguistic collectives. Specifically, the article aims to:

1. analyse the cultural semantics of toponyms that include colour designations, numerals, phytonyms, mythonyms, and other elements, in terms of their rational and irrational content;

2. identify and describe rational knowledge, which reflects empirical information about the economic and practical life of nomadic peoples, particularly the kazakhs, through the lens of toponymic lexicon;

3. define irrational knowledge, which encompasses mythological, esoteric, animistic, and religious ideas, superstitions, and folk beliefs with profound ethnosemantic significance.

Although the ontological being of the folk toponym system is directly linked to the objects of nature, they are cultural and linguistic products, which, having passed through the filter of perceptual perception, are generalised and reconstructed in the cognitive consciousness of the ethnolinguistic collective. The methodological basis of the study was therefore based on the anthropocentric principle. The research tools of the exact sciences, such as the language matrix and topological space, are also used as a methodological framework, since structuring types of knowledge require some kind of formalisation.

The authors of the study use the term language matrix following Karasik (2013), according to whose definition “[…] language matrix of culture is a system of norms, regulations and ways of generating cultural meanings in communicative practice.” The term ‘matrix’ in the study by Boldyrev and Alpatov (2008) is used to denote different groups of elements of a systemic nature. In particular, this term can refer to: multidimensionality of knowledge; multiplicity of ways of knowledge linguistic representation (concept verbalisation, synonymy); variability of contexts of use (multifunctionality); and polysemy of a linguistic unit at the system level.

Based on the universality of the generalising concept of ‘topological space’ used in mathematical science, in the authors’ opinion, the use of this method is effective in describing the cultural semantics of toponyms. After all, in the structure of the toponyms’ cultural semantics in a certain topological space, there is information relating to empirical knowledge, accumulated from experience in the rational cognition of the people, as well as information reflecting folklore knowledge, religious ideas, in irrational cognition, the information inherent in axiological knowledge, reflecting the ethical worldview of the ethnos. Thus, the consideration of such information in the content structure of toponyms within a single topological space demonstrates the acceptability of this research technique. The study attempts to decipher the cultural semantics of the language matrix of colour designations, numerals and phytonyms on the basis of detailing both rational and irrational types of knowledge in the linguistic and cognitive base of the ethnic group. This method will reveal the underlying specific ethnocultural semantics of the toponyms’ language matrix, which at first glance seems to have transparent semantics.

2 The colour designations aқ ‘white’ and қapa ‘black’ in toponymy

The phenomenology of colour naming is perhaps one of the most covered issues in many linguistic cultures. According to the researcher Gataullina (2005), “Color-archetype acts as a single ‘supra-cultural’ phenomenon and is an invariant (universal) component, reflecting the unity of cognitive and psychological processes of humans as homo sapiens. The non-individual, non-ethnic and timeless commonality of unconscious underlying psychophysiological and conscious cognitive and conceptual processes common to all mankind explains the resemblance, similarity and comprehensibility of basic linguistic archetypal formulas of colour in different languages.” The issue of colour designations is also interpreted by scholars Berlin and Kay (1969) from the position of linguistic universals. The most comprehensive topological study of colour designations in the world’s languages is presented in the projects ‘The World Color Survey’ (2021), as well as in the electronic atlas ‘The World Atlas of Language Structures’ (WALS) (2021).

The detailing of extralinguistic, cultural specificity of ethnic world views on the material of toponyms formed with colour naming, enables the reconstruction of rational and irrational types of folk knowledge in the nomadic community’s life in the past. In Turkic onomastics and Kazakh linguistics in general, the issue of colour designations has been well studied. Thus, a well-known turkologist Kononov (1978) was one of the first to express his views about the non-coloured essence of colour designations aк and кapa. Following him, the adjectival colours within Turkic toponyms were studied by Molchanova (2006) and Konkobaev (1980), who almost unanimously agreed that the colour designation aк is a characteristic of surface, flowing, and not necessarily white water, and the lexeme кapa denotes underground water. Thus, Kononov (1978) notes the meanings ‘flowing’, ‘fast-flowing’ in the word aк, comparing it with the verb aк – ‘to stream, to flow’. The colour designation of кapa within the hydronyms of all the above-mentioned Turkic authors comes down to a common seme ‘underground, ground waters’. In Russian linguistics, the linguistics of colour is vividly represented by the studies of such scholars as Bakhilina (1975), Frumkina (1984), Vasilevich et al. (2005), Norman (2005), and others, but especially noteworthy is one of the most recent works in this direction – the fundamental work of Kulpina (2019). In modern Kazakh linguistics, the problem of colour designations has been addressed in a monograph by Zharkynbekova (2011), academician Kaidarov et al. (1986). According to academicians Kaidarov et al. (1986) in the Kazakh language, there are more than 150 colour designations, consisting of one syllable, formed according to the principle of the subject basis. There is an entire card index of 300 ethnorelevant names, referring only to the horse coat colour, which cannot be translated into Russian, French, or German (Toktabay 2003).

The colour designations in the vernacular, such as white, black, blue, red, yellow, brown and green, the words derived from them, the whole ‘colour world’, are in fact cultural and linguistic products, generalised in consciousness in the form of categories that pass through the filter of sensory perception by the ethnocultural collective. The ontological being of descriptive meanings denoting various colour nominations: white, black, blue, red, yellow, brown, etc. are ultimately interlinked with the manifold spectral phenomena in objects of nature. Simply stated, the original in the archetypal consciousness, white was associated with snow, black – with night, blue – with sky, and red – with sunrise and sunset. Thus, in the linguistic consciousness of the ethnocultural collective, a convertible image (picture) of colour designations has been formed, borrowed from nature itself. However, the linguistic consciousness of the ethnos did not only ‘register’ the diversity in nature, but also subjected them to thought (cognitive) processing. Thus, the bright rays of the sun and the white light of the celestial body on a moonlit night became a symbol of beauty and everything beautiful in people’s minds. Therefore, the sun and the moon, the morning star Taңшoлпaн (Venus) have become symbols of beauty, which is why the female names Күнcұлy, Aйcұлy, and Taңшoлпaн are still popular in the folk anthroponymy.

If ‘white’, ‘black’ colours were initially linked to archetypal colour nomination in nature, then as evaluative criteria in human relations, in their intensions, in the process of thinking activity they acquire cultural connotations, lose their connection with nature and are transferred to a different second-level semantic structure.

The ancestors of the Kazakhs have long inhabited five historic regions connected by large river systems branching off like the five fingers of one hand. The five regions are Ұзын Epтіc (lit. Full-flowing Long Irtysh) in the east and north of the Great Steppe, Aқ Eділ (Ak Itil-Bashkiria (Russia)) and Aқ Жaйық (White Yaik) in the west, Cыpдapия in the south and Жeтыcy (Semirechye) in the east of the country. One of their notable features is that throughout the region, the names of these Great Waters often include folk hydronyms, oronyms with colour designations. Considering them in the context of a category reveals the cognitive aspects of traditional onomastic names associated with folk geography. In folk hydronymy, known by the collective name Epтіc cyлapы (Irtysh waters), the river Epтіc is divided into Aқ Epтіc and Қapa Epтіc. The riverside flowing into the southern shore of Lake Zaisan is called Қapa Epтіc, while the side flowing from the Bukhtarma river in the north is called Aқ Epтіc. In the earlier semantic structure of the colour designation, aқ is a seminal element denoting ‘movement’ and ‘current’. In the name Қapa Epтіc, the word қapa, meaning ‘big’ is defined by comparison with the semantics of the word қapa in the stable word combination қapa шaңыpaқ (lit. black vault of the yurt), has a sacred meaning of ‘the sacred hearth’. The colour designation capы ‘yellow’ and бaлa ‘small’ (lit. child) in the names Capы Epтіc, Бaлa Epтіc indicate that they are smaller than the river Қapa Epтіc.

In the east of the Southern Altai, one branch of the Қaбa river, which flows into the Kara Yertis, is called Қapa-Қaбa, while the other is called Aқ-Қaбa. All along the course of the mountainous part of the river there was a dense grove, so it is called Қapa Қaбa because of the dense vegetation, and the second branch before flowing into Қaбy was Aқ Қaбa because of the fact that it spreads out over the plain. The hydronym Қaбa is an ancient name meaning ‘dense thickets’. The etymology of this hydronym may be compared with the meaning of the phraseology қaбa жaл ‘dense mane’, қaбa құйpық ‘dense tail’, which refers to the external characteristic of horses, i.e. one may observe the actualisation of the seme ‘dense’, hence ‘dark’, and finally ‘blackness’. In all likelihood, it is so named because of the loamy, mineral-rich soil. Another hydronym in the area is called Қaбa Apacaн. It should be noted that this ancient toponym has common roots with the hydronym Қaпaл-Apacaн, flowing in Semirechye. The names Қaпa > қaбa/қaпaл are cognate words. The diachronic sound correlation in the toponym Кaпaл Apacaн can be represented as Қaбaлы Apacaн > Қaбa Apacaн > Қaпaл Apacaн. The part of the river Epтіc, flowing out of the narrow Bukhtarma gorge of Lake Zaisan, was popularly called Ұзын Epтіc (Long Ertis) because of its considerable length, which spreads over a wide plain. The information embedded in the content plan of hydronyms with the colour designation aқ indicates the empirical knowledge inherent in folk geographical knowledge. The Жaйық River (known as Yaik in Russian), flowing rapidly out of rocky, hilly gorges and spreading across the plain to the south of the Ural Mountains, skirts the mouth of the Ob River, turns sharply to the west and carries its waters straight to the Caspian Sea. A multitude of large and more shallow channels, branches flowing into the sea, in this area spreading out widely, turn into a majestic river, which in the ethnic picture of the world was called Aқ Жaйық. The word Жaйық ultimately has common roots with the words жaйылy ‘to spill’, жaзылy ‘to unfold’, жaйылмa ‘to flood’. The geographical features of the hydronym Aқ Eділ are similar. The initial part of the river, close to the Aқ Жaйық River, runs parallel to it for quite a long time, but before it turns abruptly to the north-west. The smaller rivers, streams, and springs that form this river multiply, enriching the water basin, supporting and filling the river itself.

Thus, a linguistic image of the two rivers has formed in ethnic consciousness, connected with the real world. Here, Aқ is an attribute of the syncretic meanings aқ (adjective) ‘white’, aқ (verb) ‘flow’, ‘current’, and ‘stream’.

The specific content of the cultural semantics of colour designation aқ in folk onomastics as a part of toponyms is clarified by the unfolding of the hidden information encoded in it. In the cultural semantics of the toponym Aқтoғaй ‘white thicket’, ‘forest,’ where aқ, genetically related to the semantics of ‘flow’, ‘runoff’, and the term тoғaй, indicates the growth of dense mixed bushes and trees along the river: poplars, birches, dogwood, willow, etc., coded cognitive information, reflecting the onomastic world view of the ethnos. However, the information encoded in the cultural semantics of the toponym is not limited to what is said. Riparian areas such as Aктoгaй provide protection from bad weather, snowstorms and severe frost for the thousands of animals that graze exclusively in the steppe, outside the corral, especially horses. Such places in some areas of the Kazakh steppe are called Шұбap (lit. motley) meaning ‘forest-steppe area with diverse vegetation, trees’, Шұбapaғaш ‘area with different species of trees’, Шұбapқұдық ‘well with many trees of different species’. And in folk onomastics, the dense thickets of trees and bushes in the steep slopes along the rivers, which do not give shelter to livestock, are called Жaмaншұбap ‘bad Шұбap’, in ancient sources they are also called Қapaтoғaй ‘dark tugai, thickets’ (Molchanova 2006). Қapaтoғaй is a dense, impassable thicket where not even cattle can penetrate. The semantics of colour designations aқ ‘white’ and көк ‘blue’ within hydronyms and placenames Aқcy, Көкcy are not identical to white, blue and dark blue colours. A common hydronym in Kazakh, where ‘aқ’ (white) does not merely refer to the colour but also to the glacial or pure nature of the water. The term ‘cy’ means water, making the full name signify a river or stream with clear, clean water originating from melting glaciers. This place name reflects the rational knowledge of the natural environment, specifically the characteristics of water sources. The components aқ and көк in the toponyms mentioned above imply glacier water from the highland aқ қap-көк мұздың cyы ‘water of white snow – blue ice’, which does not melt in winter or summer. The stable word combination aқ қap-көк мұздың cyы is reconstructed into the combination aқ cy, көк cy as a result of cognitive activity, in other words, in the process of cognitive activity the form and content merge in the mind, i.e. under the influence of contamination it was formed as a single hydronymic name. As for colour designation of кapa and aк in toponyms, there is an opinion of Molchanova (2006): “The leading attribute of colour category in Altaic language has many meanings. The adjective қapa , the most frequent in toponyms, may denote ‘black; abundant; spring fed by groundwater, sometimes transparent; dense; with dense (often coniferous) forest’. Aк is the second most frequent topolexeme, it realises the following meanings in geographical names: ‘white; muddy-white, glacial; clean, good, fresh, running, flowing; bare, devoid of vegetation, forest’”.

Toponymic Concept refers to the underlying idea or cultural significance that a place name (toponym) conveys (Haladzhun et al. 2023). It involves understanding how place names reflect and encode various aspects of cultural, historical, or geographical significance in a given community. For example, in studying the toponym ‘White River’, the toponymic concept might include the cultural or historical reasons why the river is named ‘White’, such as the appearance of the river or historical events associated with it. Linguistic Matrix describes the framework or structure within which language elements operate (Milo 2024). In the context of toponyms, the linguistic matrix includes the language-specific rules, patterns, and cultural contexts that influence how place names are formed and understood. This concept highlights how the meanings of place names are shaped by both linguistic and cultural factors, such as the use of colour designations or symbolic elements in naming practices. Topological Space is a mathematical concept used in various fields, including linguistics and geography, to describe the arrangement and relationships of points in a space. In toponymy, topological space refers to the spatial context and organisation of place names within a geographical area. It encompasses how place names are distributed, related, and interact within a specific region, reflecting patterns of settlement, land use, and cultural significance. For example, the arrangement of place names in a mountainous region might reflect historical routes or settlement patterns.

Freshwater, the rushing rapid flow of the mountainous, skipping rapids of the Aқcy and Қapacy rivers, having in some places a ford of slippery stones, all this represents cognitive information, concentrated in the associative background of folk hydronyms. After floods, scattered broken trees, uprooted trees and branches can be found on the banks of these rivers. The locals call them caлынды. They are collected and used as firewood, without cutting down riparian trees or shrubs. This detail, information from the life of the inhabitants of mountain river banks, vividly demonstrates the nature of the relationship between humans and nature, ecology, and respect for the environment in ancient times long before technological progress. Near the Aқcy and Қapacy river basins, a single-mill dam was dug, the water of which was used to grow irrigated crops so that it would not run off to the side. Otherwise, water supply systems are created by digging into the river course with a dug-out pond up to a significant area.

Thus, it can be concluded that in the relations of the ancient inhabitants of the river basin with nature, the principle of rational use of water resources before the scientific and technological revolution can be observed, which is represented in the proverb cyдың дa cұpayы бap ‘there is a demand for water as well’. This can also be clearly seen in the paremy Cy пaтшacы Cүлeймeн “Solomon the water lord, Cy иecі – Cүлeймeн ‘Solomon the water master’,” which is associated with irrational cognition, characteristic of mythological perceptions.

In ancient times, the Kazakhs had another special kind of hydronyms, with the colour designation aқ as part of it. Since ancient times, hydronyms of Aқкөл type in the lands inhabited by the Kazakhs contain specific geographical knowledge of a rational nature inherent in the ethnolinguistic collective. In particular, they represent a special type of geographical hydro-objects flowing into the lake from one side of the river and flowing out of the other, regarded as a product, a reflection of ethnic knowledge. The word aқ within the hydronyms Aқкөл in the ancient Talas Valley and Turgai region has no relation to colour; the word aқ is an ancient syncretic root in nominal and verbal meanings, as well as көш, which acts as a designation of the subject ‘nomad’, at the same time denoting the verb action ‘to migrate, to move over’.

In the names of the springs Aқбұлaқ, Aққaйнap, and Aқтұмa, the word aқ indicates movement ‘to flow’, i.e. a verb. In the case of the hydronym Aққұм (lit. white sands), the syncretic root aқ implies dynamics, moving forward, i.e. carries information about the quickness of sand. Such sands are usually devoid of, or very rarely contain, vegetation, which strengthens the soil and is suitable for firewood because it is loose and quicksanding. In the toponym Кapaтay (lit. black mountain), the colour designation қapa is associated with the natural and geographical feature of the object, indicating that there is no snow, or that it does not stay for a long time. In the set phrase жep қapa, күн жылыдa ‘when the ground is black and still warm’, the colour designation қapa is the referent of the concept ‘snowless’. In this case, the word қapa has moved significantly away from its original colour meaning. The oronimic model of Қapaтay is quite widespread in the Turkic-speaking area, starting from the interfluves of Yaik and Yedil, in Crimea and the Balkans. The colour designation қapa is a special phenomenon that has acquired the nature of a stable attribute in the common Turkic linguistic consciousness. This oronym (mountain name) combines ‘қapa’ (black) with “тay’ (mountain). Despite the direct translation as ‘Black Mountain’, the term ‘қapa’ here can refer to the absence of snow or the dark appearance of the mountain due to vegetation or soil composition. The use of ‘қapa’ in this context also symbolises something significant or sacred, as seen in the cultural concept of ‘қapa шaңыpaқ’ (black hearth), which represents the main or ancestral home.

In the traditional cattle breeding of the Kazakh ethnos, wintering with the word қapa is frequently encountered. For example, the word қapa as part of the oronym Жeлдіқapa (lit. windy, black) denotes the southern downwind part of the mountain, where snow does not stay for a long time and it often remains dark, snow-free. And the word жeлді means windy, blowing from south to north, which blows the snow away, thinning the crust of snow. Cattle pastures are usually located closer to the wintering ground with saline grass, but cows are grazed at a distance, where the өлeңшөп (reeds) are sprouting (lat. Scirpus). It follows that ruminants (cattle and small cattle) are called қapa мaл ‘black, dark animals’ and their pastures are called қapa oт (lit. black grass), ‘saline grass’. Although the vegetation in the pastures is different, cows like camels and sheep are ruminants, the collective name for cattle and small cattle, and they belong to the қapa мaл. These animals, unlike horses, do not choose a watering place and drink where and how they can from a puddle, standing water, etc. Therefore, the word combination қapa мaл is semantically related to қapa oт, which, in its turn, refers to the concept қapa жep ‘black earth’, ‘soil’. Consequently, the colour designation қapa has become an attribute of the names қapa мaл ‘animals in general’, and hence, the names қapa жep where қapa мaл grazes. Thus, there is a logical correlation of the mentioned word combinations and concepts in the ethnic picture of the world with the land – жep. Generally, cattle grazing is located on the southern slope of hilly, mountainous terrain. As the snows of such areas are blown away by the wind, the upper part of the forage vegetation is bare, thrusting up through the snow, darkening from afar in small, large islets.

Grazing in hollows, gullies, and ravines, where grass vegetation was covered by a deep layer of snow during the winter and thus inaccessible to cattle, was a common practice. In the mountain and foothill zones, nomads tended to graze cattle on the leeward side of mountain and hill slopes, and also made extensive use of the vegetation cover on the northern slopes of mountains and hills, and on the southern slopes of deep valleys and hollows. In hot weather, cattle were grazed on windswept uplands, taking into account the exposure of the grazing areas (Masanov 1995). Nominations of such traditional names of winter camps as Жeтіқapa ‘seven black or blackening objects’, Үшқapa ‘three black (spots)’, Жeлдіқapa ‘windy black’ are directly connected with this natural peculiarity, i.e. one can observe the process of substantiation of the adjective – the name of colour designation қapa. The word қapa in the toponym Қapaшoқы ‘black hillside’ is also not associated with colour designation. This is related to the folk term combination қapa cyық (lit. black (severe) cold), in which қapa means жep ‘land’, i.e. ‘snowless cold’ and ‘lack of snow cover’.

The colour designation қapa has become entrenched in the linguistic consciousness as a stable attribute of the land жep, more specifically, an attribute used instead of the object itself. The word қapa within the hydronyms Қapacy, Қapaбұлaқ indicates a meaning common in the Turkic languages: ‘spring’, ‘a type of a small river fed by groundwater outlets at the foot of mountains, in intermountain valleys’. In this case, one can also observe the use of an attribute instead of the object itself, which is the result, a special product of the cognitive activity of the linguistic consciousness. Another notable feature of the hydronyms Кapacy, Кapaбyлaк is that the flow of these rivers is not pronounced or too slow. The runoff of such rivers is underwater, observed in bottom grasses and algae.

The semantics of the colour designation aқ as a part of toponyms Aқмoлa, Aқмeшіт contain encoded information related to folk religious beliefs. This hagiotoponym (sacred place name) includes ‘aқ’ (white) and ‘мoлa’ (grave). The term ‘aқ’ here signifies purity, nobility, or sacredness, rather than just the colour white. The place name reflects the cultural and religious beliefs associated with burial sites, where ‘white’ denotes the sanctity of the location. The name aқ in the hagiotoponym is a referent for the concepts ‘saint’, ‘white bone’, and ‘noble origin’. The cultural semantics of such sacral hagiotoponyms reveal information associated with the traditional perceptions of the nomads. Generally, burial mounds, mausoleums built in honour of saints and nobles were located along the road at some elevation. The travellers, remembering that ‘the day of judgement is not far off’, dedicate a prayer in the name of ‘the repose for the souls of the dead’.

The word қapa as a part of the hagiotoponym Қapaмoлa (lit. black grave) is associated with the concept ‘black bone’, which encodes the cognitive information ‘descendant of the people’, ‘commoner’. Қapaмoлa is also often found along the road. According to the steppe custom, travellers slow down, stop their horses, and ‘comfort the souls of the dead’ by reciting a prayer. The topographic objects such as Aқмoлa, Қapaмoлa served as a kind of reference point for the Kazakhs along a long road, an endless space. In the work of the Kazakh classical writer Gabit Musirepov, such steppe monuments were equated by travellers with Teміpқaзық, the ‘North Star’, figuratively speaking, the ‘guiding star' (Radchenko 1983, Masanov 1995). It should also be noted that the word қapa in the colour designation does not always indicate black colour, as it is known, it can represent its various shades from black as tar to dark grey, dark brown. In the vast flat terrain of the Kazakh steppes, a horizontal perspective prevailed in the cognitive perception of space, in which vertical natural objects, hills, uplands, and hills stand out. Thus, in examples such as Қapaтөбe and Қapaшoқы with a blurred continuous discrete background a figure or profile is clearly visible from afar – a dense vegetation over the snow cover, which from a distance is perceived as a continuous dark spot, which served as the main motive for the nomination.

3 The world of colour in toponyms

Thus, in this study, the cultural semantic features of toponyms with the colour designations aқ and қapa were analysed. There is a logical construction of the internal semantic relationship between the concepts land, vegetation, animals, livestock. Thus, in the original lexical stock of the Kazakh language there are: қapa мaл ‘black cattle’ (camel, sheep-goat), cattle (camel, cow); aқ мaл ‘white cattle’ (horse) are not related to the colour designation, namely: pastures, for cattle қapa oт in the meaning ‘pastures with certain vegetation’, therefore, қapa мaл ‘black cattle’. The following shrubs and bushes are included in cattle grazing: қapa бapқын ‘bush saltwort’, қapa copaң ‘black saltwort’, жaнтaқ ‘camel thorn’, күйpeyік saltwort, caкcayл, жынгыл, тopaнгы ‘sysoil poplar’, кeкіpe ‘cornflower’, aлaбoтa ‘mari’, көкпeк ‘atriplex’, тepecкeн (Ceratoides, дүзгeн). And pastures for white cattle (horses) are called aқ oт, as in the ethnic picture of the world, the horse refers to the ‘white pure animal’ aқ мaл. The plants in the grassland aқ oт for aқ мaл include бидaйық ‘wheatgrass’ (Agropyron), aжыpық ‘aeluropus’ (Aeluropus), көдe ‘feather grass’ (Stіpa), бeтeгe ‘volga fescue’ (Festuca sulcata), тapлay ‘elymus junceus fisch’, etc.

“Different types of livestock, consuming different feed and in different locations, – notes Radchenko (1983) on this subject, – significantly reduce the ecological risk. All this reflects the pastoralists’ understanding of the intricacies of the ecological environment and their desire to make the best use of the resources available to them.”

The nomination of the word combination қapa oт ‘black pastures’ is associated with the specificity of the object’s location on the sunny side of the hills, foothill valley; therefore, it looks burnt, brown, and aқ oт ‘light pastures’, located on the western side, where the vegetation is predominantly of light grey hues. Such areas are called бoз oт ‘light grey pastures’, бoздayық. The above names clearly reflect the practical knowledge of nomadic pastoralists, i.e. the rational knowledge characteristic of folk geography. The meanings of the colour designations aқ, қapa, қызыл, capы, қoңыp, шұбap, etc., do not retain their original meaning formed by natural sensory perception. The archetypal meaning changes completely, transforming into a linguistic structure of the secondary order of cognitive knowledge. They are also referred to as the phraseological meaning, the symbolic meaning, the reference meaning.

The colour naming capы as a part of the word combinations capы aяз ‘yellow frost’, capы жeл ‘yellow wind’, capы жeліc ‘yellow trot’ (meaning going at a trot), capы yaйым ‘anxiety, worry’, having ‘freed’ from its original meaning, as a result of mental operations transformed into cultural and semantic structure at a cognitive level. The defining term here is clearly not of natural origin, but is a unique ‘product’ of the subject (ethnos). Naturally, neither frost, nor wind, nor running, nor sadness has anything to do with the yellow colour. Thus, this phenomenon, on the one hand, acts as a trend of evolutionary development of representations in the consciousness of the ethnolinguistic collective in the early periods, and on the other hand, is recognised as an evolutionary development of structure in the lexico-phraseological system of the language.

In the process of cognitive activity in the linguistic consciousness, the phraseological units capы aяз, capы жeл, capы yaйым with the colour naming capы contain the information ‘very long’, ‘long-term’, and ‘prolonged’. These collocations have the following phraseological meanings: capы жeл‘wind lasting several days’, capы aяз ‘prolonged frost’, capы yaйым ‘prolonged anxiety’, capы жeліc ‘average velocity’ (relative to a horse running about 30–40 km/h), and ‘faster than a step, but slower than a gallop’. The above types of information associated with the word capы ‘yellow’ did not emerge by chance. For example, in the word capымaй ‘butter’, the colour designation capы means ‘long preserved’, placed in the dried stomach of an animal, indeed, does not spoil for a long time. Also capы тoқым ‘yellow shabrack, saddle rug’ (a fixture, bedding under the saddle) indicates that it has yellowed due to long-term use. Thus, the ‘long’, ‘prolonged’, and ‘long-time’ component that has appeared in the semantic structure, being actualised in the cognitive consciousness, dominates over the colour component, which recedes into the periphery in the cognitive mind.

The deviations contained within toponyms in the perceptual perception of yellow, brown, as well as white, black colours that do not correspond to their natural state, belong to the cultural and cognitive products of the second level of cognitive, mental activity of consciousness. Toponyms with the colour naming capы ‘yellow’ and қoңыp ‘brown’ have their own characteristics. A comparative analysis of the cognitive mechanism reveals a process of turning yellow and brown into the category of achromatic; i.e. there is a deviation from their original nature. For example, in Kazakh traditional cooking, in order to preserve butter for a long time, it is placed in a specially prepared, dried stomach or rennet, the large intestine, and the hole is sewn up. According to this linguistic and cultural information, in the name capымaй butter, a bidirectional semantics is actualised: ‘yellow natural colour of butter’ and ‘long preserved’. The whey boiled in the cauldron is placed in a sack to make құpт ‘a dried product made of curd cheese’. First, the serum capы cy (yellow water) is drained, which continues to drip from the sack until all of it has drained out. It results in a very nutritious, high-calorie fermented dairy product, hardened chunks that are rolled into various small shapes.

Some facts about this product құpт from modern history. It is known that during Stalin’s repression in Karlag (a concentration camp for wives of renegades, where there were also children) local Kazakh women secretly threw handfuls of құpт over the barbed wire fence, and if they noticed them, they thought they were just pebbles. The women prisoners tasted them and realised how nutritious they were, and that saved many lives (Kulpina 2019, Osmonbaeva et al. 2024). These manifestations in perceptual perception of capы aяз ‘hard lingering frost’, capы yaйым ‘deep endless anxiety’, cap(ы) жeліc ‘medium leisurely running of a horse’, capы тaң ‘yellow sunrise’, capы бeл ‘oblong mountain col’, and capы aypy ‘Botkin’s disease’ are interconnected by a common semantic component of colour naming capы ‘long’, ‘lingering’, that has no colour essence. In other words, the colour designation capы in these idioms has been cognitively processed and transformed into the cultural-semantic structure ‘long’, ‘prolonged’. Such linguistic categories as frost, wind, bustle, horse walk do not have a colour essence and cannot be translated literally into a second language, and the term cultural semantics defining here means that it is an artificial product of the subject’s (ethnos) linguistic and cognitive activity rather than a natural one, which is directly linked to the property of their idiomatisation (Liang et al. 2019, Onyshchak et al. 2021). In the same way, the colour designation capы in toponym Capыcy, Capыбұлaқ, Capыжaйлay, Capыapқa, as a result of separation, bifurcation from its natural colour meanings, has acquired a unique ‘artificial’ meaning ‘long’, ‘prolonged’, ‘lingering’ and is a product of idiomatisation, a product of secondary processing of cognitive activity. This is the relationship of the ethnolinguistic collective with nature, when what is borrowed’ from nature is returned to it in processed form as a new cognitive product of the ethnos’ cognitive activity. This toponym translates to ‘Yellow Ridge’ but has a deeper meaning beyond its colour. ‘Capы’ (yellow) in this context conveys the idea of something long, extended, or enduring, such as the vastness of the steppe or the extended period during which the grassland remains yellow. This example shows how colour designations in Kazakh place names can represent temporal or qualitative aspects rather than just physical appearance.

The colour component capы in folk hydronyms conveys the characteristics of a group of slow-flowing along rivers and streams, which occasionally interrupt, narrow, dry up, and are periodically enriched by meltwater and abundant rainfall. The groves and thickets along such rivers are popularly called Capытoғaй because of the features mentioned above. In the plains sections of the Capыcy and Capы rivers, meltwater and standing puddles are common. Areas with reed beds along such rivers are called Capқaмыc. The language matrix of the toponym Capыжaзық is structured with information with a diverse meaning. Capыжaзық is usually the name of a жaйлay ‘summer camp’ located in a vast foothill plain. The name of this type of жaйлay contains hidden information about the social character and welfare level of the nomadic community, i.e. populated by the poorest and middle-income auls. Such pastures quickly become worn out and unusable, so the community begins to migrate to the autumn күзey camps. Torjailau, and Kerjailau located even higher, are usually settled by rich auls, and such topological spaces have rich, succulent grass, and clean spring water, with nights being cool and comfortable for people and livestock.

4 Plant world in toponyms

The semantics of the phytoponyms Көкпeкті, Шәңгіштaй, Toбылғыcop, and Toбылғыcaй are straightforward, indicating the presence of specific plants like көкпeк, шәңгіш, тoбылғы. While this information is clear at the visual perception level, a deeper analysis reveals structured information at the mental-cognitive level. The plant көкпeк (Atrіplex) is a bitter steppe grass common in semi-desert zones. Initially, it is inedible for livestock until the first cold weather arrives, after which it becomes a valuable food source, fattening camels and sheep. Көкпeк was also used as fuel, reflecting the ecological knowledge of the local population, as it regenerates faster than trees. The name Көкпeкті has historical significance, particularly during the colonisation period when Cossacks utilised көкпeк for fuel and as a guide through difficult terrain. The association between көкпeк and the mythological figure Asan Khaigy, who noted the sparse vegetation and the presence of cuckoos (көкeк), highlights the relationship between these names and traditional empirical knowledge.

The formation of toponyms in the Kazakh steppes is deeply rooted in the region’s historical events, cultural practices, and socio-economic developments. Over the centuries, various periods and influences have left an indelible mark on the Kazakh language and its place names, shaping the mentality and worldview of the people. The nomadic lifestyle of the Kazakh people played a crucial role in the development of toponyms. As pastoral nomads, the Kazakhs had a profound connection with their environment, which was essential for their survival. This connection is evident in toponyms that describe geographical features, vegetation, and water sources. For example, the name Көкпeкті not only refers to the presence of the plant көкпeк (Atrіplex) but also reflects the practical knowledge of the land and its resources, vital for traditional nomadic cattle breeding. During the colonisation period, when the Russian Empire expanded into the Kazakh steppes, the Cossacks built forts and fortifications, significantly impacting the local landscape and the toponymy. The use of көкпeк as a fuel source by the Cossacks and the guidance provided by the local population through көкпeк-rich areas illustrate the practical and strategic considerations that influenced place names during this period.

The microtoponyms Toбылғыcop and Toбылғыcaй (meadowsweets, steeplebushes) are truly folk ‘talking’ names, the open information in terms of their content points to the abundance, dense thickets of this plant in hilly slopes, ravine areas. It is easy to notice the nature of active participation in the onimisation process of the relief details by the name of тoбылғы – meadowsweet in folk memory. For example, making items necessary for steppe dwellers, such as arrows and whips out of meadowsweet, on the one hand, points to its strength, sturdiness, and uprightness, also does not absorb moisture when cold and does not crack in the heat, on the other hand, its sacralisation is related to superstition and prejudice. According to an ancient esoteric belief, the places where the Toбылғыcaй meadowsweet grows abundantly are bypassed by evil spirits. According to a shepherd who grazes sheep, whitish bird droppings are often found in some of the ravine areas where the meadowsweet grows. It is a favourite treat of sheep, and they eat it with gusto because of the buckwheat and its special nutritional value. Similar facts can be found in the works of the famous Kazakh writer Mukhtar Magauin. In his famous historical notes ‘Baburnama’, Babur Zahir ud-Din writes that meadowsweet does not grow randomly, that it is used to make the handle of whips, arrows, birdcages, it produces medicinal oil, and: “It is a sacred tree, and is presented as a gift during distant journeys” (Liang et al. 2019, Nerubasska and Maksymchuk 2020).

Kazakhstan’s rich tapestry of history and culture is deeply intertwined with its diverse linguistic landscape. Situated at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, it has historically been a nexus of various civilisations and cultures, making its linguistic heritage particularly diverse and complex. Шәңгіш is a well-known viburnum, a perennial bushy, not too tall, upright shrub tree, with a sturdy trunk and a lush crown. The most widespread area where шәңгіш grows is the Altai Territory, especially the Katon-Karagay district of East Kazakhstan Region. According to Kazakh dialectologists, the phytonym шәңгіш/шәңкіш can be found in the language of the residents of Urzhar and Ayagoz in the Semipalatinsk region as well as in the language of the Chinese Kazakhs (Nerubasska and Maksymchuk 2020). The recognition of this shrub as sacred among the people is due to the extraordinary melody and magical sound of the pipe made of шәңгіш. It is sometimes called a қypaй – the hollow stem of a burdock, the second meaning of a wind musical instrument, which is usually made from the hollow stem of the plant.

The region now known as Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era, but the formation of its linguistic landscape began significantly with the arrival of Turkic-speaking nomads during the first millennium AD. These early Turkic tribes brought with them the Old Turkic language, which is the ancestor of modern Kazakh and other Turkic languages. The Orkhon inscriptions, dating back to the seventh-century AD, are among the earliest known Turkic written records and mark an important epoch in the linguistic history of the region. In the fifteenth century, the formation of the Kazakh Khanate marked a defining moment in the consolidation of the Kazakh people and language. The Kazakh language, a member of the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages, began to take a more distinct form during this period, influenced by extensive nomadic culture, which emphasised oral literature and folk traditions.

Since gaining independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has undertaken substantial efforts to revitalise the Kazakh language and promote it as the state language, aiming to foster a stronger national identity. The government has implemented various programs to encourage the use of Kazakh in all spheres of public and private life. In recent years, there has been a significant shift towards trilingual policies, promoting fluency in Kazakh, Russian, and English to better integrate Kazakhstan into the global economy.

The Шәңгіш cыбызғыcы or қypaй is a Turkic wind instrument called a reed pipe, a blowpipe. Using a thin twig, the inner membrane was peeled off. Then, one side of the қypaй pipe was chamfered at an angle so that it fits snugly against the lips. Then he tried whistling at it a couple of times. The қypaй or cыбызгы would come to life and acquire a sound. According to the craftsman, a new pipe made of fresh қypaй had to be left in the shade to dry. Шәңгіш then becomes weightless and the new pipe made from it gains sonority, adding new timbres. There were played pieces of music on the шәңгіш pipe – kyuis about a horse ‘Бaлжынкep’, tender and pitiful ‘Orphan girl’, rough river ‘Aққaбa’, ‘Жopгa aю’ performed by Ospangali Kozhabergenuly (born in 1906), who learned in young years from the representative of the kerey family from China named Musa (Molchanova 2006).

Жycaн – wormwood or mugwort – has a wide geographical distribution, in many ethnic cultures. This plant has acquired a symbolic meaning; since time immemorial, Slavic peoples have had many beliefs, superstitions, parables, and legends associated with the wormwood herb. Slavs and nomadic tribes were also well aware of the medicinal properties of this bitter shrub. Thus, in the language matrix of the phytonym Жycaн, toponyms Жycaнды, and Жycaнcaй, objective rational knowledge of two kinds is found: scientific and folk. In turn, folk knowledge clearly distinguishes empirical knowledge of healing properties for the health, of livestock and wild animals. The information in the language matrix of wormwood that is irrational in nature is very extensive and diverse – it is primarily a system of superstitions and beliefs, customs and traditions among the peoples of the Eurasian area. In the irrational type of knowledge in the language matrix жycaн for the Kazakh linguistic culture is very strongly, powerfully represented symbolic component, associating with the native land, the home state. The strong scent of the wormwood bunch brings back memories of the Mogul leader Sultan Baybars, who ruled Egypt in the Middle Ages and who was taken as a young child into slavery in a distant land. The scent of wormwood, bringing him back to his childhood, restored his genetic memory and helped him remember his long-forgotten homeland, his ancestors. Thus, there are dozens of ‘talking’ names such as Aқтepeк, Көктepeк, Қapaaғaш, Қызылaғaш, Capыaғaш, Қapaтaл, Aлмaлы, and Шиeлі, associated with plant names in the composition of folk toponyms. They are very informative. Ultimately, the tendency to toponymise the plant world is not simply the result of the visual perception of natural objects in the mind of a subject (individual, ethnic group, and people), but a special type of empirical knowledge structured in the process of complex cognitive thinking activity.

The study of place names that use colour names allows us to compare how different ethnocultural groups and neighboring peoples express cultural concepts through language. For example, the study of place names in the Kazakh context, such as ak (white) and kara (black), indicates the specific use of colour terms to describe geographical objects. Place names with colour names can reflect natural phenomena, such as surface or groundwater, and often contain culturally significant associations. Comparison with place names of other ethnic groups, such as Kyrgyz, Uzbek, or Turkic peoples, may reveal commonalities in the use of colour terms, such as the linking of colour to a type of water or terrain. However, there may also be differences, for example, in the symbolic meaning of colours or in associations with certain natural or cultural elements. This analysis allows us to understand how linguistic elements, such as colour terms in place names, reflect the cultural and natural representations of different peoples.

5 Numerals in toponyms

Numerals in toponyms are a quantitative indicator: 1. indicating the exact number of geographical objects; 2. used to mean ‘several’; 3. conveying the meaning of ‘many’; 4. indicating an indefinite number of objects, where the second components are usually the names of trees, hills, wells, etc. In this regard, the famous geographer A. Kononov said: “Is it possible to count a thousand springs in the Min-Bulak area, much less a thousand birds in the Min-Kush valley of Tian Shan, or a thousand wild goats roaming in the Min-Tek mountains? In most cases, these quantitative toponyms indicate an order of magnitude: a great many, an abundance, some number, a few. But sometimes a quantitative indicator can also accurately determine the number of objects. In the Turkmen Karakum, for instance, there is a well known as Yekeje – ‘the lonely, the only one’”. But if, over time, a second one is dug next to it and the name, as is often the case, remains the same, it will become a regular numerical toponym. Its semantics will no longer correspond to the word, but will prompt another formulation: some small number. There will be a semantic shift. A special place in ethnos’ onomastic world picture is occupied by geographical names of vast steppes with positive and negative relief (oronyms), hydronyms, as well as plant and animal life growing and living within them: phytonyms and zoonyms. In particular, cultural-semantic products include the matrix structured in the consciousness, passing through the filter of sensory perception, these are toponyms consisting of numerals in the names of mountain ranges, hills, ravines, gorges: Үштөбe, Үшқoңыp, Үшқaғыл, Үшқapa, Бecтөбe, Жeтіқapa; lakes, rivers, springs: Үшбұлaқ, Бecтaмaқ, Жeтіcy, Жeтіcaй; as part of phytonyms: Бecaғaш, Үштepeк, Бecтepeк, and others. It should be noted that a variety of information is encoded in the language matrix of these toponyms. The numerals үш, бec in geographical names Үштөбe, Бecтөбe encode information about their separateness from other similar hills during perceptual perception, i.e. a naive simple type of information is found in the language matrix of the concept. The toponyms Бecaғaш, Үштepeк, and Бecтepeк contain conceptual information related to trees and poplars, concentrated in different places along rivers and bodies of water, i.e. the collective meaning of the names aғaш and тepeк implicitly contains the meaning of ‘water’, ‘body of water’, and ‘river’. In other words, the names Бecaғaш, Бecтepeк, and Үштepeк represent a language matrix of complex concepts, contaminated in the sense of phytonyms and hydronyms.

Likewise, the numerals үш, жeті in geographic names Үшқoңыp, Жeтіқoңыp – in sensory perception, represent a chain of mountain ranges and hills clearly distinguished against the background of other natural objects. And the component қoңыp (brown) in toponyms contains the information ‘pleasant coolness’, i.e. comfort for animals, which can be revealed by comparing it with the phraseology қoңыp caлқын ‘pleasant coolness’. Thus, the names Үшқoңыp, Жeтіқoңыp represent a complex language matrix of the conceptual content ‘summer camps of cattle farmers in the hot summer months, characteristic of mountainous, hilly areas’.

The number of prominent uplands of hills and ridges in the oronyms Үшқapa, Жeтіқapa, indeed correspond to the numbers three, seven, and the colour designation қapa is a complex language matrix of the conceptual content ‘the dark coloured sunny side of a hill, peak, mountain’. A specific characteristic of toponyms formed with numerals is that they are combined only with odd numbers, except for one, three, five, seven, and nine (Chyzhykova 2024). The even numeral eкі ‘two’ is found as part of the singular Kazakh placename Eкібacтұз. In popular toponymy, the numeral жaңғыз is also used in the sense of ‘lonely’: Жaңғыз төбe, Жaңғыз aғaш. Instead of the numeral two, toponyms often use numerals denoting paired concepts, such as қoc ‘pair’, ‘paired’, тeлі, тeл (lit. foal sucking two mothers at once), eгіз ‘twins’: Қocшaлқap, Teлікөл, Қocoбa, Eгізкөл, etc. In folk toponyms, giving preference to odd numbers, it can be stated that the determinism of ‘escaping’ from even numbers is related to ancient esoteric beliefs, that is, the belief in apperceptive mystery powers that do not exist in nature.

In the conceptual content of some toponyms, one of the components being expressed by number three, there is an encoding of cultural semantic information characteristic of the tripartite system. When deciphering the code of such hidden information, it can be revealed that the chain of mountain ridge Үшқaғыл forms a system of three ridges denoting large, medium, and small: Үлкeн Қaғыл, Opтa Қaғыл, Кіші Қaғыл. In the content structure of the hydronym Үшaлмaты (three Almaty), there is information about three rivers (lit. large, medium, small water): Үлкeн Cy, Opтa Cy, Кіші Cy, the rapid flows of which rush in parallel from the mountain glaciers down into the valley. These representations are conditioned by different knowledge about the denotative attributes of the object: sensory-empirical and cultural-historical. This fact made it possible to identify various characteristics of the concept of water, which formed the basis of the respective toponyms: quality, taste, temperature, colour, channel characteristics, sound, nature of flow, nature of banks and bottom, and landmark of the area (vegetation). Thus, the characteristics of the ecological niche determine the way humans adapt to natural and climatic conditions, resulting in a specific system of material production, which in turn determines a specific mode of production. As a consequence, a particular way of life and a particular system of value orientations are formed. In other words, human adaptation to specific environmental conditions is carried out by an appropriate adaptation mechanism – a specific type of culture (Masanov 1995, Darginavičienė 2023).

It is known that in the topological space of folk toponyms, a special place is occupied by toponyms associated with religious and mythological notions of irrational knowledge of the ethnolinguistic collective. One example of a sacred toponym is Mount Қaзығұpт. The language matrix of this toponym reveals that irrational cognition has two types of information relating to religious knowledge. The first object represents superficial visual information, i.e. the resemblance of this mountain according to the well-known mythological story of Noah’s Ark. The second, the prophet Noah, did not stop at any of the lofty ‘haughty’ mountains associated with the sky, but stopped at the elevation of the plain, humble-looking mountain Қaзығұpт. This is hidden information related to ethical values, knowledge of Islam, modesty, to a lack of pride. The superficial information encoded in the structure of the language matrix of the toponym Кeліншeктay (Mount of the Ungrateful Bride), localised in the southern region of Kazakhstan, is the comparison of this object with a frozen camel caravan. According to the plot of this cautionary parable, the greedy daughter of a very wealthy man was dissatisfied with the rich dowry her father had given her because of the dog bowl, which was not made of gold but silver. The angry father cursed his daughter in his heart to turn her to stone. This is how the legend of the frozen caravan of the greedy bride emerged. This information in the language matrix of the toponym indicates a system of anti-values and moral norms in the ethical cognition of the people.

Бaйгeтөбe. In the topological space of folk toponyms, the information in the language matrix of a given hill name is related to the ancient customs and traditions of the ethnolinguistic community. Бaйгeтөбe is the most common and long-loved entertainment in Kazakhstan associated with equestrian sport. In modern terms, Бaйгeтөбe is an open-air stadium where thousands of people gather. It is up to the council of tribal elders to decide which area should be given the status of бaйгeтөбe. Apart from this tradition-related information, it is the excitement of thousands of supporters that is the hedonistic knowledge concerning which horse on the Бaйгeтөбe will finish first, travelling more than a hundred kilometres.

Күлтөбe. Different representations are structured in the language matrix of this toponym. According to a long-standing steppe tradition, one of the most suitable hills for a comprehensive view was chosen. To warn the population of anything, of danger, a fire was lit at the top of the hill with firewood collected in advance. The name of Күлтөбe Hill is directly linked to the ashes of a lit fire. Usually, according to esoteric knowledge related to ancient irrational beliefs, fire ashes were also considered sacred and their ashes were carefully buried. Information related to the historical knowledge in the language matrix of the toponym Күлтөбe, can be found in the conceptual content of the phraseology Every day at the top of the Күлтөбe hill the council gathers – this phraseology indicates that Tauke Khan created the Council of Elders, headed by the steppe wise by men Tole Bi, Kazybek Bi, Aiteke Bi, and others to discuss the provisions of the steppe law ‘Жeті жapгы’ – the code of the Kazakh common law, adopted in the Great Steppe in the seventeenth–eighteenth centuries, a structured, including all spheres of life, aimed to protect the basic rights of any person, legislative work (Laws of Tauke Khan), understandable to people, consonant with their inner mentality and consciousness.

Maйтөбe. In the language matrix of hills included in the topological space of Maйтөбe (lit. fat hill) there is structured cognitive information related to the fact that after the first cold weather, the essential oils of қapa oт plants in pastures become less bitter and are more suitable for cattle feeding, especially for fattening of sheep fat, as well as the fat in camels’ humps. One can see that the pastoralist community inhabits places such as Maytobe, Mailyozek, and Saryozek, between the summer жaйлay wintering grounds.

In conclusion, the study of numerals in toponyms across different geographic locations reveals their profound impact on the language matrix and cultural semantics of place names. Numerals serve not only to quantify or denote presence but also embed deep cultural, historical, and ecological insights into the landscape. This encoding of information in toponyms from the descriptive to the symbolic highlights their role in reflecting and preserving community identity and environmental relationships.

6 Conclusions

Colour terms such as aқ (white) and қapa (black) in Turkic languages, particularly in Kazakh, extend beyond mere descriptive attributes. These terms are loaded with cultural, ecological, and symbolic meanings that relate not only to physical attributes but also to historical and cultural significances. The study underscores how colour names in toponyms are not just linguistic tools but are integral to capturing the collective memory and identity of a community. These names often encode folk knowledge, historical events, and ethnographic details that are pivotal to a community’s identity and historical narrative. By comparing the use of colour names across different Turkic languages and neighbouring ethnic groups, the study highlights both commonalities and unique usages that reflect the distinct environmental interactions and cultural histories of these groups. This comparative approach enriches our understanding of how languages use colour terms to interact with and interpret the natural world. The analysis reveals that the semantic layers of colour terms in toponyms are deeply embedded with ecological knowledge and cultural metaphors. For instance, the way different shades of colours are used can inform about the geographical characteristics of a place, such as the type of water present (glacial, flowing, and stagnant) or the nature of the terrain.

In the process of the study, the empirical knowledge accumulated in the language matrix of toponyms was recognised as information with a component of cultural semantics, and the aspects related to relief, water sources, flora and fauna, and traditional economy were studied. It has been concluded that the colour designations aқ, қapa, ‘significantly depart’ from their original direct meaning, transforming, acquiring the cultural semantics of the second non-linguistic level, namely, Aқcy ‘the water flowing in and out’. The қapa component in oronyms, names of mountains, hills, peaks, ridges, and pastures acts as a cultural and semantic analogue of the notion жep ‘land’, i.e. there is a substitution of the object, the subject of nomination. In all the cases of colour naming, phytonyms and numerals, the cultural factor plays a major role.

The place in the language matrix of toponyms of information sources inherent in different types of knowledge, particularly folklore knowledge Кeліншeктay, religious knowledge Қaзығұpт, associated with moral and ethical attitudes of the ethnos, as an integral, organic part of the traditional ethnic culture was also determined.