Examples of political and military terminology in old Turkic inscriptions [Eski türk yazitlari{dotless}nda politik ve askerî terimlerden örnekler]

Some words which were used in the political and military fields in the 2 nd Turkic Kaganate period were obtained through the metaphorization of the main lexicological items. Such words, therefore, became a part of the so-called terminology. In the same period, certain terms could also become part of the terminology without losing their basic meanings. Such terms could either consist of a single word or contain more than one word. This paper discusses the way the word kagan, which means an independent ruler of a tribe, constitutes noun phrases (kagan at, kagan sü) with the words at "name; title" and sü "army". In this regard, the paper suggests that the noun phrase kagan at does not mean "the name or title of the kagan", but means "royal title" in the old Turkish political life and argues that the noun phrase kagan at was used as a political and a military term in the old Turkic era. The paper also suggests that the noun phrase kagan sü was a military term meaning "royal army" in the same era. This suggestion is made on the basis of a sentence, registered in the 33 rd line of the Tonyukuk Inscription. In this sentence the noun phrase kagan sü is the object of the verb taşi{dotless}k-. The reference point for these suggestions is the existence in old Turkic of noun phrases which were constructed through the noun in absolute+noun in absolute structure. The main argument of this paper is that the noun phrases kagan at "royal title" and kagan sü "royal army" are elements of the political and military terminology of the 2nd Turkic Kaganate period. This suggestion is important because it shows that noun phrases could be established without possessive suffixes in old Turkic period.