THE PERCEPTION OF BEAUTY IN TURKISH LANGUAGE AND PROVERBS

Abstract

Each language has its own vocabulary. Each word and concept has a meaning differs from
other ones, meaning. People give names only to these phenomena which they found important from the
point of view of their culture.
If a fact or behavior with regard to an action or event in the world is more important than
others, it is given a more specific name. In this way, words of close meaning occur, so called nearsynonyms
which highlight the smallest details and emphasize the differences. These words are used
both in daily conversation and in literature. The connotations they bring are of great importance in a
given culture.
However some concepts do not belong to one single culture or community, they belong to all
the people around the world. Although they are universal, they may be perceived differently in
different languages. Consequently, various perceptions of very similar phenomena can be found in
different languages and cultures.
In this study, the perception of the concept of ‘beauty’ in the Turkish language will be
presented. This analysis is based on Turkish vocabulary (single words as well as collocations and
phraseological expressions which include them) and proverbs (representing the cultural essence of the
community using this language) which refer to ‘beauty’.
Beauty can be perceived in many different ways, because every person has their own taste. Firstly,
we should mention physical or spiritual beauty. Secondly, each period, each era has different tastes. This
study will not examine fashion and temporal, time-varying beauty. (It can be done by researching
literary works written in different periods.) In this paper the word ‘beauty’ will be examined in detail
from the point of view of its dictionary definition, through compound words,phraseological expressions,
and the manner in which it is interpreted from the socio-cultural viewpoint. The perception of ‘beauty’ in the
Turkish language and culture will be revealed by examining proverbs as one of the oldest literary
products of language and culture. Proverbs express the views of the world show the value system of the
community which speaks the language. Furthermore, various types of beauty are specific to given
cultures. Moreover, some beliefs are connected with those beauty types.
In Turkish language dictionaries there are 12 meanings of the word ‘beauty’. Moreover, this
word constitutes a few idioms and is part of some proverbs. The purpose of this study is to show the
perception of the concept of beauty according to the context in which it is used.