کجا

See also: کچا

Early Old Oghuz

Etymology

From Proto-Oghuz *keče. Oghuz word for Karakhanid كِذِزْ (kiðiz, “felt”).

Noun

كَجا (keçe:)

felt

Descendants

Old Anatolian Turkish:
- Azerbaijani: keçə
- Ottoman Turkish: كيچه (kéçe)
  - Gagauz: keçä
  - Turkish: keçe
  - → Crimean Tatar: keçe
Turkmen: keçe
→ Chagatai: [script needed] (kéçe)
→? Chuvash: кӗҫҫе (kĕśśe)

Further reading

felt in Turkic Database.

References

al-Kashgarî, Mahmud (1072–1074) Besim Atalay, transl., Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk Tercümesi [Translation of the “Compendium of the languages of the Turks”] (Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları; 521) (in Turkish), 1985 edition, volume III, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurmu Basımevi, published 1939–1943, page 219
Clauson, Gerard (1972) “”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 694
XIII. Yüzyılından Beri Türkiye Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Kitaplarından Toplanan Tanıklarıyle Tarama Sözlüğü (Türk Dil Kurumu yayınları; 212)‎^[1] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu, 1963–1977

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [script needed] (AYK gywʾk' /⁠kū gyāg⁠/). By surface analysis, (ku/ko, “where”) +‎ (jā, “place”).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ku.ˈd͡ʒaː/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰʊ.d͡ʒɑ́ː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [kʰʊ.d͡ʒä]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [kʰu.d͡ʒä]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰo.d͡ʒɒ́ː]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰu.d͡ʒɔ́]

Readings
Classical reading^?	kujā
Dari reading^?	kujā
Iranian reading^?	kojâ
Tajik reading^?	kujo

Adverb


Iranian Persian	کجا
Dari	کجا
Tajik	куҷо

کُجا • (kojâ)

(interrogative) where
Synonym: گجا (gijo)

― kojâ-yam? mi-tarsam... ― Where am I? I'm afraid...

― ketâb-e to kojâ-st? ― Where is your book?

(colloquial) ― kojâ mi-ri? ― Where are you going?
(interrogative) how; when; under what conditions
Synonyms: چطور (četowr), چگونه (čegune)
- c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 1”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎^[2]:
  شب تاریک و بیم موج و گردابی چنین هایل
  کجا دانند حال ما سبکباران ساحل‌ها
  šab-i tārīk u bīm-i mawj u girdābē čunīn hāyil
  kujā dānand hāl-i mā sabukbārān-i sāhil-hā
  The dark night, the fear of waves, so terrifying a whirlpool!
  How can the lightly burdened on the coast know our condition?
  (Classical Persian transliteration)

Inflection

Predicative forms of **کجا** (kojâ)
	singular	plural
1^st person (“I am, we are”)	کجایم، کجام^△ (kojâyam, kojâm^△)	کجاییم (kojâyim)
2^nd person (“you are”)	کجایی (kojâyi)	کجایید، کجایین^△ (kojâyid, kojâyin^△)
3^rd person (“he/she/it is, they are”)	کجاست، کجاس، کجائه^△ (kojâst, kojâs, kojâe^△)	کجایند، کجان^△ (kojâyand, kojân^△)

^△ Colloquial.

Conjunction

کُجا • (kojâ)

(obsolete) because [up to 12th century]
Synonyms: زیرا (zirâ), چون (čon)
- c. 1030, Fakhr al-Dīn Asʿad Gurgānī, ويس و رامين [Vīs u Rāmīn]‎^[3]:
  کجا یزدان امیدم را وفا کرد
  بدین پیوند کامم را روا کرد
  kujā yazdān umēd-am rā wafā kard
  bad-ĕn paywand kām-am rā rawā kard
  Because God was loyal to my hope,
  He permitted my desire through this bond.
  (Classical Persian transliteration)

Related terms

آنجا (ânjâ)
اونجا (unjâ)
اینجا (injâ)