TD71_Abdullaeva

ABSTRACT. A diachronic analysis of proverbs provides scientifically valuable results that help us to understand not only the message of the proverb, but also the original meanings of the components, such as words for currencies, from the nation’s non-recent and recent history, including that of the Uzbek nation. Currency words are special with different functions in the structures and meanings of several Uzbek proverbs, which are often seen or heard in contemporary communication in Uzbek society. In addition, finding equivalents in English expands the scope of the Uzbek language, mentality, culture and history to a number of other countries.

This paper is devoted to the investigation of Uzbek national proverbs that have the names of ancient (miri, hemir, paqir, kepak, chaqa) and much more contemporary (pul, tiyin, so‘m) currencies in their structures. More specifically, 26 Uzbek proverbs were chosen according to their currency components, and analysed in chronological order taking the approximate usage period of the currency into account.

Furthermore, the aims of the research are to identify currency words, especially ancient ones, that are seen in proverbial structures to learn the history and original meanings of these currency words and to determine the functions of names of currencies as culturemes, i.e. conceptual metaphors and/or kernels of proverbs. Having analysed Uzbek proverbs that include currency words diachronically, a questionnaire was sent to Uzbek teachers and students in order to study the usage frequency of Uzbek proverbs containing currency words. Consequently, the questionnaire was useful to show the essential role of various ancient and contemporary currency names in the linguistic characteristics of the Uzbek national proverbs.

KEYWORDS: proverb, diachronic approach, proverbial structure, cultureme, conceptual metaphor, kernel.

Copyright © Nargiza Abdullaeva, 2026. Published by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Uzbekų patarlės su pinigų pavadinimais: diachroninė analizė

SANTRAUKA. Diachroninė patarlių analizė suteikia moksliškai vertingų rezultatų, padedančių suprasti ne tik patarlės perteikiamą mintį, bet ir originalias jos sudedamųjų dalių, kaip antai pinigų pavadinimai, reikšmes senojoje ir naujesnėje tautos istorijoje – šiuo atveju uzbekų. Pinigų pavadinimai yra ypatingi, nes savitai funkcionuoja tam tikrose uzbekų patarlėse, kurios neretai matomos ar girdimos šiuolaikinės uzbekų visuomenės komunikacijoje, veikdami jų struktūrą ir reikšmę. Be to, angliškų atitikmenų nustatymas išplečia uzbekų kalbos, mentaliteto, kultūros ir istorijos pažinimą kitose šalyse.

Šis straipsnis skirtas uzbekiškų patarlių, kurių struktūrose yra senovinių (miri, hemir, paqir, kepak, chaqa) ir šiuolaikiškesnių (pul, tiyin, so‘m) pinigų pavadinimų, tyrimui. Tiksliau, buvo pasirinktos 26 uzbekų patarlės, kuriose minimi pinigai, ir išanalizuotos chronologine tvarka, atsižvelgiant į apytikslį tų valiutų vartojimo laikotarpį.

Tyrimu taip pat siekiama nustatyti pinigų pavadinimus, ypač senovinius, kurie pasitaiko patarlėse, sužinoti šių žodžių istoriją, pirmines reikšmes bei ištirti, kokiu būdu jie funkcionuoja kaip kultūremos – konceptualiosios metaforos ir (arba) patarlių branduoliai. Diachroniškai išanalizavus uzbekų patarles, kuriose yra pinigų pavadinimų, Uzbekijos mokyklų mokytojams ir mokiniams buvo išsiųsta anketa, skirta šių patarlių vartojimo dažnumui nustatyti. Anketa pasitarnavo atskleidžiant svarbų įvairių senovinių ir šiuolaikinių pinigų pavadinimų vaidmenį uzbekų patarlių kalboje.

RAKTAŽODŽIAI: patarlė, diachroninė analizė, patarlės struktūra, kultūrema, konceptualioji metafora, branduolys.

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the ages of human history people have used a variety of currencies to trade and make purchases from one another. These currencies are sometimes found only in proverbial contexts, as over the years some have gone out of use, for example because of invasions, shifting national boundaries, development or modernisation, and even globalisation. Moreover, several paremiologists, such as Archer Taylor (1931), Kazys Grigas (1976) and Wolfgang Mieder (2004), stated that proverbs are a kind of folklore that takes a long time to form into proper proverb structures in a language; they are usually utilised as historical structures by the current nation. Hence, old proverbs contain more historical notions and phenomena than contemporary ones, and are sometimes even partially unfamiliar to the young generation, who use proverbs for their kernel ideas without comprehending all the words.

During the first half of the 20^th century, Taylor analysed the details and main features of proverbs within the folklore genres of fairy-tales, riddles, ballads and others: “They are linked by similarities, the locutions being broadened either by duplicating analogues or adding contrasting elements or changing obsolete and incomprehensible details” (1931: 20–22). Following his thoughts, Mieder said:

Of the various verbal folklore genres (i.e., fairy tales, legends, tall tales, jokes, and riddles), proverbs are the most concise but not necessarily the simplest form. The vast scholarship on proverbs is ample proof that they are anything but mundane matters in human communication. Proverbs fulfil the human need to summarize experiences and observations into nuggets of wisdom that provide ready-made comments on personal relationships and social affairs (2004: 1).

Later, he clarified that: “As with verbal folklore in general, the original statement might well be varied a bit as it gets picked up and becomes ever more an anonymous proverb whose wording, structure, style, and metaphor are such that it is memorable” (ibid.: 9). This memorable concise structure expressing human wisdom is the main sign of a proverb in any language existing in the world.

Lithuanian paremiologist Grigas is famous for several scientific works such as Lietuvių patarlės. Lyginamasis tyrinėjimas (Lithuanian Proverbs: A Comparative Study, 1976) and Patarlių paralelės. Lietuvių patarlės su latvių, baltarusių, rusų, lenkų, vokiečių, anglų, lotynų, prancūzų, ispanų atitikmenimis (Proverb Parallels: Lithuanian Proverbs with Latvian, Belarusian, Russian, Polish, German, English, Latin, French and Spanish Equivalents, 1987). He explained the interrelations between folkloristics and other sciences, particularly linguistics, by defining folklore as an auxiliary means of these disciplines:

From the beginning of folkloristics, researchers have mostly been interested in traditional plots, personages as products of historical reality and social relations, and which are formed by belief, customs, ethical and aesthetical views oriented to those relations. Folkloristics evolved and developed as a science due to the process of collecting, systematizing and studying of folklore heritage, using historic memories preserved in the traditional, artistic and ritual word. For other sciences, such as semiotics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, folklore is an auxiliary means, a source of illustrative examples. The classification of folklore according to aspects significant to them is very limited. Folkloristics in turn explores the origin and development of folklore units, the problems of their ties to ethnic cultures, and requires methods oriented towards their essence [1].

He continued his words by identifying the notion ‘proverb’ and its role in folklore later in his work:

Though very different from other folklore genres in terms of function and relation to social reality, proverbs are, first of all, phenomena of folklore. They are traditional combinations of artistic words, their history reflects the development of social and aesthetic thought, they are closely related to biographies of various ethnoses and of larger cultural areas. And therefore, the folkloristic aspect proves to be the most important for the systematization of proverbs (ibid.).

Accordingly, Grigas highlighted the folkloristic features of proverbs, hence, the existence of historical words and the names of ancient currencies are common in proverbial structures in a number of languages.

However, a number of paremiologists argued that a proverb is a linguistic unit that should be explored separately from other formulaic units such as idioms, phraseological units and collocations as well as folklore genres such as fairy tales, legends, tall tales, jokes, riddles, ballads. Linguistics proposes that proverbs differ from phraseological units with their complete witty meanings, moreover, proverbs are used in both their literal and figurative meanings while phraseological units reflect only figurative meanings. As Mieder has mentioned:

While phraseologists do and should include proverbs in their linguistic studies, paremiologists usually look at proverbs from a more inclusive point of view as they draw on such fields as anthropology, art, communication, culture, folklore, history, literature, philology, psychology, religion, and sociology (2004: xiii).

Furthermore, Mieder said of folklorist and paremiologist Shirley Arora and her paper “The Perception of Proverbiality” (1984):

She argues that proverbiality depends upon traditionality, currency, repetition, certain grammatical or syntactical features, metaphor, semantic markers (archaic words, etc.), and phonetic markers (rhyme, meter, alliteration, etc.). The more a given statement possesses such markers, the greater are its chances of being perceived as a proverb (Mieder 2023: 252–253).

As both paremiologists focus on the specific proverb markers that differentiate this term from other linguistic and folklore units, these markers are common factors to be considered in the definition of the term ‘proverb’ in any language.

The concept ‘money’ in paremiology is a common issue that has been investigated by several linguists. Elena Kamyshanchenko and Natalya Nerubenko (2012), particularly, conducted a comparative analysis of proverbs and sayings about the concept in English and German. After three years, Alexandra Korbut and Li Huizi (2015) published a paper devoted to the comparative analysis of representations of money in Chinese and Russian as well as proverbs in both languages. In the same year, Elena Osheva (2015) analysed the concept of money in English and American folk proverbs. After several years, Zoltan Kövecses (2018) examined the metaphorical meaning of certain idiomatic expressions, proverbs and sayings containing the notion of money in English. One of the main works in this direction, which reveals the interdisciplinary function of this topic among linguistics, culture studies, sociology and economics, is the monograph The Language of Money: Proverbs and Practices by Annabelle Mooney. She wrote as follows:

In doing this work, I noticed how many English proverbs either directly reference money or are somehow applicable to wealth, poverty and financial interactions. As noted above, money is enmeshed with human culture and behaviour. Proverbs, being stores of cultural values, thus seemed to be an appropriate lever with which to prise open relevant linguistic data (2018: 14).

This aspect is typical of proverbs in a number of languages as well as in Uzbek.

Following the above-mentioned works, Polina Oleneva studied the conceptualisation of money in English and Russian proverbs from a cognitive perspective, highlighting the main conceptual metaphors identified in English and Russian proverbs about money by using target domain and source domain when analysing proverb content:

[...] in the English proverb “Time is money”, it can be noticed that ‘money’ is not a target domain. ‘Money’ in this proverb is a source domain, whereas ‘time’ is the target domain. In this realization of metaphor, ‘time’ is construed as an important entity in life. Money is important; thus, it is being used as a source domain in this proverb (2023: 138).

Additionally, the term ‘kernel’ can substitute for the term ‘target domain’ as both mean a proverb’s main stem idea or notion, which is intended for its interpretation or explanation through this proverbial context. The value of time as life duration is particularly highlighted in this proverb, therefore, time is considered to be the kernel of this paremiological unit. Furthermore, both terms ‘kernel’ and ‘types of domain (target and source)’ are used in this paper in order to explain the role of different currency words in proverbial structures.

Recently, Anna T. Litovkina conducted research devoted to a linguistic analysis of substitution in Anglo-American anti-proverbs about money, mentioning that money is as frequent a theme as women, professions and occupations, marriage and love and children. She substantiated her words as follows:

First, there are numerous proverbs in our corpus which contain words such as ‘dollar’, ‘penny’, ‘pound’, ‘mammon’, ‘free’, etc., for example: A dollar in the bank is worth two in the hand; A penny saved is a penny earned; [...] Second, 13 proverbs in our corpus contain the word “money”, e.g.: Money talks; A fool and his money are soon parted. Last but not least, there are scores of proverbs that might not contain any of the words listed above, but in their transformations, these words still occur (2025: 270–271).

Consequently, it should be noted that currency words are active in proverbs both in the past and now as these words function to reflect not only linguo-cultural values, but also social and economic matters of the nation.

Several Uzbek proverbs containing different currency words are analysed in this research in order to explain the original meanings of the currency words as most of them are not understood or remembered by the new generation; in addition, they function as the sources of national history revealing historical facts and information. It is necessary to mention that the Uzbek nation was formed during the middle ages within the Timurid Khanate, and this nation became independent as the Republic of Uzbekistan only in 1991. Therefore, most of the currency words that are investigated as components of Uzbek proverbs in this research were used as the currencies of different Turkic khanates in the territory of Uzbekistan from the 3^rd and 4^th centuries to the 20^th. Finally, the research can provide valuable results on several linguistic phenomena, such as kernel, conceptual metaphor and cultureme which can be found in proverbial structures in different languages.

METHODOLOGY

Highlighting the role of a kernel in the semantics and structure of a proverb is crucial as it helps to understand the meaning and message, in addition to which the kernel is often considered to be the first word or word combination to help remember a proverb. At the end of the 19^th century, the term kernel was introduced to the field to denote proverb’s main idea or notion [1]. As Grigas mentioned:

Judging the type by the components belonging to higher structural levels, it is inevitable that researchers are lost in the unlimited expanses of common traits characteristic to proverbs. The content of the notion of the type becomes too complicated, the expressions, even of the diverse origin, acquire the status of variants and equivalents. Therefore, the analyser is obliged to refer to the unity of meanings and idea if the data exceed the bounds of the unity of the kernel of the image (ibid.).

However, it is not always easy to identify the kernel of a proverb, as some possess complicated message and/or complex structures.

In order to investigate several Uzbek proverbs containing currencies, conceptual analysis is used to explore the diverse functions of currency words as conceptual metaphors, kernels and culturemes in proverbial constructions. As the main methodology of this research follows a diachronic approach, diachronic analysis is utilised to find the original historical meanings of currency words in proverbs. Additionally, linguo-cultural features of currency words as culturemes are studied through linguo-cultural analysis in order to explain culture-specific aspects, which are identified with the help of currency words in proverbs. Having investigated the concept of cultureme from a lexicographical point of view, Antonio Pamies wrote:

The concept of cultureme, in the narrow sense that we propose (cultural symbols which motivate metaphorical models for figurative language), is the core of a linguo-cultural bundle of values, attested by particular metaphors (lexical or phraseological; 2017: 110).

As the currency words in the Uzbek proverbial structures are considered to be among the main means of expressing the linguo-cultural values of the Uzbek nation, they are crucial to this study.

Last but not least, statistical analysis is used to determine the frequency of Uzbek proverbs that have currency names in their structures on the basis of a questionnaire answered by native Uzbek speakers.

CURRENCY WORDS IN UZBEK PROVERBS

Several currency words in the Uzbek proverbial structures are considerably old (such as miri, hemir); some of them are no longer understood with their original meanings as they went through fewer or more semantic changes (such as kepak, paqir, pul), while some are out of use (such as chaqa, tiyin). Despite this, Uzbek proverbs containing historical currency units are still frequently used in the contemporary language. Folklorist Fionnuala Carson Williams explained such issues in paremiology as follows:

Many of the proverbs that follow, despite having been collected over half a century ago, will nevertheless be familiar to readers, because proverbs can be used to cover new situations. Nowadays as well as in everyday conversation, proverbs turn up in advertisements and are frequently used as newspaper headlines (2000: 8).

There are more than 30 proverbs containing currency words in Uzbek, with some of them having different variants that are used actively in everyday communication. However, to emphasise the conceptual and linguo-cultural functions of ancient and modern currencies as components of Uzbek proverbs, 26 were chosen from the bilingual dictionary of proverbs (Abdullaeva 2020)¹ as the other proverbs are similar variants of these proverbs and not included in written sources, but rather used only in oral speech. They are listed according to the chronological order of currency usage in the history of the Turkic nations, Uzbek being one such nation.

Miri – the least amount of money; means ‘very little thing’ in ancient Turkic, was used approximately until the late 10^th century.

(1) “Bir miri – hayon, uch miri – ziyon” (One miri is good, three miris are bad²).

Here the currency word miri is used as the kernel of the proverb in order to explain that a person tries to spend money wisely when he/she has a little, while a rich person is not very accurate in spending.

Hemir – equal to one tiyin (minor currency such as cent, penny), used between the 5^th and 10^th centuries in the Ancient Turkic Khanate.

(2) “Bu narsaning bahosi bir hemiri ham turmaydi” (It does not cost even a hemir (i.e. it is very cheap, worthless)).

The proverb discusses an invaluable thing; the currency unit hemir is used as not a kernel, but a source domain in this structure.

(3) “Surishtirib kelsang, hemirisi yo‘q, gapiga boqsang, tomda yuradi” (If you ask him, he does not have a hemir, but his words are as high as roofs).

This proverb expresses an arrogant person who does not have any money; the currency word is used as a conceptual metaphor.

Paqir (pahir, baqir) – a coin equal to 2 tiyins (minor currency), baqir means ‘copper’ in ancient Turkic, used between the 10^th and 15^th centuries.

(4) “Bir paqirga bir siqim tuproq” (One handful of soil is given for one pakir (a cheap thing is given for a small amount of money)).

It is the interesting fact that the word paqir means ‘bucket’ today, so most people cannot understand its original meaning. Hence, one can ask whether proverb (4) describes a ‘very little bucket’. Obviously, this proverb says that you can buy the cheapest thing if you have a small amount of money, or metaphorically emphasises something or even someone of low value. In my opinion, the reason for this homonymous word with two meanings being included is that both the coin and the bucket were made of copper.

Kepak – equal to 1 tiyin, the minor currency; the mean is ‘little mould’ in ancient Turkic, used between the 10^th and 15^th centuries.

As the conceptual metaphor of this proverb, the word kepak is used as a source domain. However, it means not currency, but ‘peel’ in contemporary Uzbek. Furthermore, the Russian word kopeyka was formed on the basis of the word kepak.

Chaqa – a coin made of copper or brass having the least value, used between the 15^th and 17^th centuries; came from the word chaqmoq ‘to break’, ‘to bite’ or ‘part of copper or brass’, ‘little part’.

(6) “Cho‘ntagida chaqasi yo‘q, damiga yaqinlashib bo‘lmaydi” (There is no chaka in his pocket, but his breath is unattainable).

This proverb is very similar to proverb (3) in meaning; the currency word is used as a conceptual metaphor here. Moreover, chaqa means ‘wound’ in contemporary Uzbek.

(7) “Cho‘ntagida chaqasi yo‘q, dami olamni yoqadi” (There is no chaka in his pocket, but his breath is so strong).

This is another variant of the previous proverb expressing an arrogant person speaking very highly, but without any money.

(8) “Oyog‘ini osmondan qilib Samarqandgacha silkib borsang, cho‘ntagidan bir chaqa tushmaydi” (If you shake him turning his leg to the sky until Samarkand, not a chaka will fall out of his pocket).

This humorous proverb says it is very difficult to get a coin from a greedy person. Samarkand was the capital for many centuries up to 1930, hence it is still mentioned as a main city in a number of paremiological structures. Furthermore, the currency word chaqa functions here not as a kernel but only a source domain.

(9) “Bola ko‘p, chaqa yo‘q” (Children are many, but there is not one chaka).

This proverb informs us about a person with many children but without money to feed them. The cliché collocation bola-chaqa was formed on the basis of this proverb; it is still used to ask a person whether he/she is doing well or not: Bola-chaqalar yaxshimi? How are your children and money?/How are you doing?. Here the currency word chaqa as a cultureme reflects the Uzbek mentality very strongly.

This proverb advises us to take care of our money in order to be a rich person; the currency word is used as the kernel of the proverb referring to money conceptually.

(11) “Chaqa chaqadan ko‘payadi” (A chaka is followed by another chaka).

This proverb is another variant of proverb (10), which talks about taking care of the money you have. The currency word chaqa is also used as the kernel of this proverbial structure.

(12) “Bir chaqalik qiymati yo‘q, dimog‘i osmonda” (He is not worth even one chaka, but is sky-proud).

Proverb (12) describes an arrogant person who is not worth even one coin. The currency word is used as a source domain to explain the low value of an arrogant person.

Pul – a copper coin used during the 18^th and 19^th centuries; in the Kokan Khanate it was equal to 1/45–1/60 of a gold coin, while in Bukhara khanate it was measured as 1/40 of a gold coin. Furthermore, the meaning of this word changed to ‘money’ in common usage; today pul has only this meaning in Uzbek. The word aqcha was used with the meaning ‘money’ for several centuries before, in the 20^th century, pul replaced it and the former became archaic.

(13) “Gapning bir pullik qiymati yo‘q” (A sentence is not worth one coin).

The currency word functions as a source domain to identify the decreased value of a sentence, when it is compared with an action or deed implicitly.

(14) “Suymaganga suykalma, bahong ketar,/Ming tillolik boshingni bir pul etar” (Do not love the one who does not love you, he diminishes the value of your head from a hundred gold coins to a copper coin).

The proverb contains more poetic characteristics including rhyme, rhythm and meter than previous proverbial structures. It advises us not to love a person who does not love and appreciate you, otherwise he/she will decrease your value. Metaphorically, the currency word expresses the a person’s low value.

(15) “Puli yo‘qning so‘zi yo‘q” (A person cannot speak if he has not got a coin).

This proverb describes a poor person who does not have even a copper coin, a pul, so no one hears his words or follows him (unfortunately, disparaging a poor person is sometimes considered to be one of the unwritten rules of a society). In this proverb, the currency word functions as a cultureme and conceptual metaphor.

(16) “Pul bolsa changalda sho‘rva” (If you have got a coin, you can get soup in your hand).

The currency word pul is used as the kernel of this proverb to refer to money; the proverb says that one can perform magic such as holding soup in one’s hand even without a dish.

(17) “Puli kuygan qalampir chaynar” (A person who has burned his coin chews hot pepper (in order to relax his nerves)).

This proverb says that it is not easy for a person if he/she has lost money, in this case the person cannot feel anything even if he/she chews hot pepper out of nervousness. The word pul functions as the kernel of the proverbial structure here.

Erta-indin kul bo‘ladi” (If you sell a thing, it will be a coin, over time it will be ash).

Proverb (18) advises us not to sell our valuable things, as we may waste the money very easily. Hence, the money is defined here using the smallest coin, pul, in order to express that a thing is valuable if it is utilised, but not if it is sold.

(19) “Bir pul berib yig‘latdim, ming pul berib tindirdim” (I gave one coin and he wept, then I gave a thousand coins to make him calm).

This proverb is often used about children, and advising us not to give them money, otherwise the child will want more money in time. The currency word is set as both the kernel and cultureme.

Proverbs (20) and (21) are more contemporary variants of proverbs (10) and (11). It is assumed that the word pul as the kernel of the proverbs represents not a coin, but money, in these fixed structures, which are used very often in everyday speech in Uzbek society.

Tiyin – a coin equal to one hundredth of a so‘m (soum) used in the form of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50 tiyin coins made of steel in the 20^th century in the territory of Uzbekistan.

This proverb expresses a similar idea to proverbs (2) and (5), however, it was created just a century ago while the latter two were formed approximately ten centuries ago. The currency unit tiyin is used to denote the low value of a thing in this paremiological structure metaphorically.

So‘m – the national currency of Uzbekistan (UZS). In circulation since July 1, 1994, as the single, unrestricted legal means of payment.

(23) “Nasiyaning o‘n so‘midan naqdning bir so‘mi yaxshi” (One so‘m of cash is better than ten so‘ms of debt).

The advice not to borrow money is reflected in this proverb; the word so‘m is used to denote the amount of cash and debt in a symbolic way.

(24) “Ming so‘ming bo‘lguncha, bitta do‘sting bo‘lsin” (Better to have one friend than to have a thousand so‘ms).

This proverb highlights the role of a friend in a person’s life compared with a large sum of money. Therefore, “one friend” is a kernel and “a thousand so‘ms” is a source domain in this structure.

(25) “Tiyin qadrini bilmagan so‘m qadrini bilmas” (A man does not value a so‘m if he does not know the value of a tiyin).

This proverb compares the value of tiyin and so‘m; so‘m functions as the kernel of the proverbial structure. The proverb encourages people not to waste small coins, as he/she may also waste a so‘m that might turn out to be necessary one day.

(26) “Ayol so‘m qilar, erkak – chaqa” (A woman makes so‘m, a man makes chaka).

The sense of this proverb is directly connected with an Uzbek family tradition: the man works and earns money while his wife keeps and spends it for his family household without wastefulness; therefore, this proverb says a man cannot save money as a woman does. The currency word so‘m is used to reflect money metaphorically.

Furthermore, I organised a questionnaire on the usage frequency of these Uzbek proverbs among 28 teachers and 117 students in our department (Table 1).

All of the above-mentioned 26 proverbs were listed in the questionnaire according to the order of them appearing in this paper. The questionnaire required participants to tick the proverbs they heard, read or used in their daily lives. Proverb (1) was chosen by three participants, proverb (2) by four people and proverb (3) by three people. The next proverb, with the currency word paqir, was chosen by only two participants, which shows the lowest frequency according to the results of the questionnaire. Five people ticked proverb (5), which means that this proverb is also not so common today. Although seven proverbs that included the currency word chaqa were put in the questionnaire, four of them were ticked only once each, while proverb (7) gained four votes; proverb (9) was chosen by 11 participants and proverb (12) got five votes.

There were nine proverbs containing the currency word pul in the questionnaire, the highest of the currency words. However, not all of them are used very frequently, for instance proverb (14) was ticked only once, and each of proverbs (15), (18) and (19) got only two votes. Proverb (13) was chosen by five participants, proverbs (17), (20) and (21) were ticked six times each, and proverb (16) was ticked 14 times, the highest frequency among proverbs with the word pul.

Surprisingly, proverb (22) “Bir tiyinga qimmat” (It is not worth even one tiyin) gained 38 votes on its own. Even though there are not so many proverbs including tiyin, this one is very often used in Uzbek. Among the proverbs mentioning Uzbek national currency the so‘m, proverbs (24) and (25) were ticked by four participants each, while proverb (26) got 9 and (23) got 12 votes respectively.

CONCLUSION

Currency words are usually used in proverbs to evaluate something or someone negatively. Some of them encourage people to be hardworking, some teach us to value what we have or whom we have, some compare one thing with another. Firstly, all Uzbek proverbs containing currencies reflect Uzbek mentality, culture, lifestyle and history. Some show national issues implicitly (for instance, proverbs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (10), (24), (25)) while others speak about particular traditions and habits explicitly (for instance, proverbs (9), (15), (17), (19), (23), (26)). Proverbs are reliable sources of historical facts and events relating to the development of the social and aesthetic thoughts of the ethnos. Proverb (8) is a good example as it contains not only the currency word chaqa as a cultureme, but also the name Samarkand, the famous former capital city of Uzbekistan as a second cultureme.

Secondly, each of the currency words define a particular conceptual metaphorical meaning, such as ‘money’, ‘the amount of money’ (‘little money’, ‘much money), ‘rich man’, ‘poor man’, ‘the value of something’, ‘the result of something’, etc.

Thirdly, the words naming currencies are kernels (target domains) in proverbs (1), (4), (9), (10), (11), (15), (16), (17), (19), (20), (21), (25), while the other 14 proverbs contain the names as their source domains, as they are used to identify some features (value, quantity or quality, etc.) of the main notions or kernels (target domains) of the proverbs. Some proverbs have the same image kernel (for example, proverbs (10), (11), (20), (21), in which all currency words mean ‘money in a general sense’), while several proverbs have common synonymous meanings (for example, the proverbs (2), (5), (22), in which all currency words mean ‘the value of something’, but as a source domain). Proverbs (3), (6), (7), (8) explain the same idea, with proverb (3) including hemir and the remainder chaqa as the source domains identifying ‘very poor man, but very arrogant’. Proverb (12) is also similar to these four proverbs in meaning, but the conceptual metaphor of the word chaqa is not the same as it speaks about ‘a person of no value (a bad or dishonourable person), but very arrogant’.

To conclude, the various historical and contemporary currency words are considered culturemes and conceptual metaphors in Uzbek proverbs, while they function as the kernels only in few proverbial structures.

As the result of the questionnaire, I have determined that the proverbs containing pul and tiyin are most often in Uzbek society today. The reason is that these currencies are neither so ancient that they might drop out of the proverbial structure in time, nor so new that they need more time to become a proverb component (it should be mentioned that the formation of a proverb takes much time as it is folklore and a linguistically fixed unit with a complex structure and wide didactic meaning). Comparing with other currency words so‘m has relatively recently become a proverb component, while other are archaic as evidenced by the fact that young people cannot understand their meanings easily. Currency words such as kepak, paqir, pul have undergone semantic changes over time, hence, it is not easy to guess the message of proverbs containing these words. Interestingly, the above-listed currency words might be also used interchangeably in some proverbial structures, for instance, proverbs (10) and (20), (11) and (21), although proverbs (20) and (21) are more common than the others as pul is not as old a word as chaqa according to the chronology of these currencies in the history of the nation and its language. What matters is that young respondents ticked fewer proverbs in the questionnaire because of their lack of experience reading or communicating, and one can think that they are not so eager to use proverbs in their speech.

In general, it is sometimes a complicated task to find equivalents in English as Uzbek is neither genetically related, nor a neighbouring language to English. As currency words play a crucial role in comprehending the gist of proverbs and finding their equivalents in English, this might be an interesting topic for further research in future.

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1 This dictionary includes more than 900 Uzbek proverbs with English explanations and equivalent(s), and more than 500 English proverbs with explanations and equivalent(s) in Uzbek.

2 Literal translations are given in parentheses.

Currencies in proverbs	miri	hemir	paqir	kepak	chaqa	pul	tiyin	so‘m
Numbers of votes	3	7	2	5	24	44	38	29

Uzbek Proverbs Containing Currencies: Diachronic Analysis