Abstract
This article examines the historical and linguistic characteristics of Turkic lexical units found in Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi’s Divan-i Hikmet. The aim of the study is to classify the Turkic vocabulary occurring in the hikmet texts according to its origin and usage features and to determine its continuity with modern Turkic languages. For this purpose, the lexical material of the work is divided into four groups: ancient Turkic words, common Turkic words still used by contemporary Turkic peoples, phraseological units, and loanwords that have been assimilated into the Turkic linguistic system. The study employs historical-comparative, descriptive, and lexical-semantic methods of analysis. The findings reveal that the language of Divan-i Hikmet preserves a common Turkic lexical layer shared by many Turkic peoples, as well as numerous words inherited from the Old Turkic period that have survived to varying degrees in modern Kazakh and other Turkic languages. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that loanwords of Arabic and Persian origin were adapted within the Turkic linguistic environment and became an integral part of the Turkic lexical system. The research concludes that Divan-i Hikmet represents a common linguistic heritage of the Turkic peoples, and its lexical composition serves as an important source for understanding the historical development, interrelationships, and linguistic continuity of Turkic languages. The results of the study contribute valuable material to the fields of historical Turkic lexicology, comparative linguistics, and Yasawi studies.