Cultural, Social, and Community Psychology

The Horse as a Cultural-Psychological Symbol in the Turkic Worldview: A Linguistic Analysis of Mamluk-Kipchak Written Sources

https://doi.org/10.61838/ijbmc.v13i7.1582
Horse Concept Cultural Psychology Turkic Worldview Ethnolinguistics Cultural Memory

Authors

Vol. 13 No. 7 (2026): July
Qualitative Study(ies)

Downloads

Objective: The horse occupies a central place in the Turkic worldview as a symbol of mobility, courage, freedom, honor, social prestige, and cultural identity. In nomadic Turkic culture, horse-related language reflects not only practical knowledge but also collective memory, embodied experience, and cultural-psychological meanings. This study aimed to examine the horse concept as an ethnolinguistic and cultural-psychological symbol in Mamluk-Kipchak written sources.  

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study used historical-comparative, semantic, ethnolinguistic, and cultural-psychological analysis. The primary materials were the Mamluk-Kipchak written monuments Baitaratu’l-vazih, Munyat al-Ghuzat, Kitab fi Riyazat al-Khayl, and Kitab fi ‘Ilm al-Nushshab. Horse-related lexical units were identified, classified, and interpreted according to their semantic features, historical continuity, cultural meanings, and symbolic functions. Additional lexicographic, ethnographic, and recent scholarly sources were used to contextualize the findings within Turkic and Kazakh cultural traditions.  

Findings: The analysis showed that horse-related vocabulary in Mamluk-Kipchak sources forms a multilayered cultural-cognitive system. Terms related to horse age, sex, color, breed, function, care, riding, and warfare demonstrate lexical continuity with modern Kipchak languages, especially Kazakh. These lexical units also encode cultural values such as honor, loyalty, courage, dignity, bodily mastery, and social belonging. The horse appears not only as an economic or military resource but also as a symbolic mediator between body, mind, and culture.

Conclusion: Horse-related terminology in Mamluk-Kipchak written heritage reflects the cultural memory, psychological meanings, and symbolic consciousness of nomadic Turkic society. The horse concept functions as a cultural-psychological code through which Turkic communities expressed identity, morality, embodiment, and worldview.