Religious Terminological Concepts – Reflection of Islamic and Traditional Kazakh Worldview in Language

Abstract

The article examines the spread of Islam into the Kazakh steppe (8th–13th centuries) and its historical and cultural interaction with the Turkic worldview (Tengrism, animism, totemism), reflected in linguistic material – phraseological units. In particular, religious terms such as Allah, Qudai (God), iman (faith), obal (sin), sawap (merit), taube (repentance), o dunie (the other world), uzhmak (paradise), tozaq (hell), and perishte (angel) are analyzed in comparison with the Islamic and traditional Kazakh worldview, demonstrating that they became the basis for the formation of hundreds of phraseological expressions in the language.

The study reveals that these religious terms expanded the scope of Kazakh phraseological units, while theonyms and Islamic concepts linked the phraseological system with ethical norms, prohibitions, rituals, and value principles. They are interpreted as a syncretic linguistic reflection of Islamic dogmas and the traditional Kazakh worldview. Furthermore, four conceptual cores were identified (theonyms, ethical-value concepts, eschatological terms, sacred characters), and their role in the semantic and conceptual systematization of phraseological units was demonstrated.

The scientific and theoretical significance of the study lies in proving the cognitive-semantic convergence within the model “Islamic content + traditional understanding”. Its practical value is determined by the possibility of systematizing phraseological material on a thematic-categorical basis and incorporating it into textbooks and dictionaries.

The research materials include phraseological dictionaries, proverbs, works on rituals and traditions, as well as open sources. The methodology combines structural-linguistic, historical-etymological, comparative-typological, linguocultural, and cognitive approaches, guided by fundamental scientific and theoretical concepts.

Keywords: religious terminological units, Islam, Tengrianism, Kazakh worldview, phraseological system.