HOCA AHMET YESEVİ'NİN TOPONİMİK MİRASI KHWAJA AHMAD YASAWI’S TOPONYMIC HERITAGE

This paper represents the results of the pioneering research work that studied the toponymic heritage of real historical personality like Ahmad Yasawi. It proposed that the name-giver of the city of Turkestan is Ahmad Yasawi by means of conducting intensive toponymic research and by considering Ahmad Yasawi’s ‘Diwan-i Hikmat’ and Suleyman Baqirgani’s ‘Aqirzaman’ as historical documents. Also the research paper analyzes the legends and stories related to the life of Ahmad Yasawi by Bolatbek Qorganbekov and Mashkhur Zhusup as the toponymic legends, which can be considered as etymological foundations of some place names. The author of the current research work made the classification of Ahmad Yasawi’s toponymic heritage, which can be regarded as the first classification of historical personality’s toponymic heritage suggested by scholars. Moreover, the research work discovers Ahmad Yasawi’s deed from a new angle. All place names, which are regarded as the toponymic heritage of Ahmad Yasawi, were divided into three main groups. They are as following: 1. The place names whose author was Ahmad Yasawi himself; 2. Ahmad Yasawi’s, his relatives’, and followers’ graveyards, which are considered here as sacral places of Kazakhstan, and also they are nekronyms that can be accepted as toponymic heritage of Yasawi; 3. The place names which appeared under the influence of Yasawi’s relatives and followers. The total number of toponyms that are classified as Yasawi’s toponymic heritage is 33. They are 13 econyms, 2 hydronyms, one oronym, and 17 nekronyms.
Keywords: Toponym, Toponymic Heritage, Nekronym, Hydronym, Econym, Intensive Toponymy, Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi, Turkestan.