Dictionaries of Chuvash

Abstract

The first records of the Chuvash language emerged after the arrival of the Russian into the region. Among these records there were list that were regarded as the first steps of the dictionary studies. The first period works of Chuvash dictionaries are mostly in the form of word lists and they were prepared by people who were not specialized in language studies. After those first period works, especially parallel to missionary activities in Russia, new vocabulary emerged as a result of language and translation studies. The grammar and dictionary studies that were fulfilled in order for the religious studies to be effective are utmostly important for the history of the Chuvash language researches. Especially in Russia, a new and serious tradition of lexicography started when academical institutions started studying in this field. We see the reflection of this development in Chuvash lexicography. A wide range of dictionary corpus emerged after the studies that became effective after academical institutionalization and missionary efforts that were launched by world lists. The article analyses the works published from the beginning to the end as dictionaries published in Russia and out of Russia. The studies conducted in Russia has been given in a hierarchical order. And they have been put in a periodical order as the dictionary studies in Czarist Russia, Soviet Russia, and the federation period post- Soviet Russia. The important words are defined in general. All the dictionaries found are classified and listed with their tags. The system of Doğan Aksan were used for the classification of the dictionaries and the tags of the studies have taken place in this classification. Many of the published dictionaries are naturally in Russia where Chuvashes live. Many dictionaries were published during Tzardom, Soviet and post-Soviet period. They are mostly classified as from Russian to Chuvash language and from Chuvash language to Russian. And there are also many conceptional dictionaries in many fields. In addition, In countries such as Finland, Germany and Turkey Chuvash dictionaries were also published. There are not many Chuvash language dictionaries published out of Russia.