قلای

Chagatai

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Karakhanid قالی (qali). Related to Kyrgyz кандай (kanday) and Kazakh қалай (qalai).

Ultimately from Proto-Turkic *ka- (interrogative stem) +‎ *-lig (adjectival suffix)

Pronoun

قلای (qalay)

  1. how
    • (Can we date this quote?), Yasawi, Ahmad, حِکَم حضرت سلطان العارفین خواجه احمد یسوی [Words of Wisdom of Hazrat Sultan-al-Arifin Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi]‎[1], Kazan, published 1912, page 77:
      اولار وقتده قلایسین دیب حالین سوردوم
      Ular väqtdä ‌qalay‌sin deb halin sordum
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

  • This word is often mistakenly considered an adverb, but actually it is a pronoun.

Synonyms

Descendants

  • Uzbek: qalay, qandoq, qanday (via alternative form قندای (qanday) )

References

  • Straughn, Christopher A. (2023) “how”, in Turkic database at Elegant Lexicon
  • el-Buhari, Süleyman Özbeki (1881) Lugat-ı Çağatay ve Türki-i Osmani [Ottoman Turkish-Chagatai Dictionary]‎[2] (in Ottoman Turkish), volume 1, page 229
  • Abdollahi-Jahani, Hasan (2012) فرهنگ جغتایی - فارسی [Chagatai-Persian Dictionary]‎[3] (in Persian), page 129

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology 1

Noun

قلای • (kalay)

  1. alternative spelling of قالای (kalay, tin)

Etymology 2

Adjective

قلای • (kolay)

  1. alternative spelling of قولای (kolay, easy)