The lexicon of a language’s standard form, as well as its dialects and regional variants, bears deep traces of the ethnic and cultural identities, histories, ways of life, beliefs, and behaviors of the language’s speakers and users. From this perspective, it would not be wrong to describe a language’s lexicon as the greatest value, treasure, and wealth of its speakers and users. Turkish, along with its dialects and regional variants, is one of the most widely spoken, oldest, and richest languages in the world.
In this context, Turkish and its dialects, including the Kars and surrounding region dialects, hold immense importance for the Turkish language. Indeed, the provinces of Kars, Ardahan, and Iğdır serve as the gateway to the migration route stretching from Turkestan to the Caucasus and from the Caucasus to Anatolia. Over the centuries, members of various Turkic tribes and communities, including the Oghuz, Kipchak, and Karluk groups, settled in these regions; words and phrases from their dialects and vernaculars have made a significant contribution to the formation of the region’s lexicon.
According to the Kars ve Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğü, compiled and published by Cengiz Alyılmaz and Bahadır Güneş, there are 28,132 lexical entries (words and word groups) in the dialects of Kars and the surrounding region; of these, 19,367 are nouns, and 8,765 are verbs.
One of the words used in the dialects of Kars and the surrounding region and also included in the Kars ve Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğü is the verb “dırtıl-.” This verb is still actively used today in the dialects of Kars and the surrounding region to mean “to be sulky,” “to take offense,” or “to show sensitivity.” [The verb “dırtıl-” has not been included in dictionaries (including the Türkiye’de Halk Ağzından Derleme Sözlüğü published by the Turkish Language Association) or in reference works on dialectology].
This article first provides information on the relationship between the verbs “darıl-” and “dırtıl-”; it then presents the etymologies and origins of these verbs.
Dialects of Kars and the surrounding region, dictionary, the verbs “darıl-” and “dırtıl-”
