Abstract
The article examines the linguistic motivations of polysemy in Kazakh by tracing continuity between historical texts and present‐day usage․ The study is relevant because polysemous lexemes attested in medieval Turkic written monuments are often perceived by contemporary readers as having a single meaning‚ which leaves the motivation and developmental trajectory of their senses insufficiently explained․ The aim of the research is to identify the semantic structure of polysemous units on the basis of two monuments from the Golden Horde period and to demonstrate their links to modern dictionary descriptions and functional activity in contemporary Kazakh․ The objectives include selecting polysemous lexemes from historical texts‚ clarifying sense branches through contextual analysis‚ characterizing the cognitive and functional grounds of semantic extension‚ and comparing the results with modern explanatory lexicography․ The empirical basis comprises the dictionary‚ transcription‚ and translation of Sayf Sarai’s “Gulistan bit‐turki” and Qutb’s “Khusrau wa Shirin”․ To align historical meanings with current usage‚ the study draws on a one‐volume comprehensive explanatory dictionary of Kazakh and the Universal Electronic Dictionary of the Kazakh language․ Methodologically‚ the research integrates historical‐comparative and contextual‐semantic analysis‚ classification of sense branches as lexico‐semantic variants‚ and a combined motivation‐based and lexicographic comparative approach․ As a result, the main motivational models of polysemy were systematized, while the preservation and extension of meanings, as well as changes in their usage, were substantiated through historical sources and the contemporary lexical system. The study’s scholarly contribution lies in substantiating a diachronic‐synchronic framework for explaining polysemy‚ while its practical value concerns teaching historical texts‚ improving lexicographic work‚ and enriching semantic resources for national language models․