Images of the Pleiades of the Turkic and Mongolic Peoples

Introduction. The Pleiades star cluster (hereinafter referred to as a constellation) was of extreme importance in the lives of the nomads of Inner and Central Asia of all the astral objects visible in the night sky. The purpose of this article is to solve two problems, one of which is to study the distribution of the main names of the Pleiades in the Turkic and Mongolic languages, to identify the most complete set of their versions in different dialects, to clarify and supplement the etymology of the names. The other task is to identify and analyze the mythological images of the Pleiades known in the territory of settlement of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples. Materials and methods. The sources of the study were historical and ethnographic data published in the works of researchers — ethnographers, historians, linguists, folklore materials, as well as materials of the author’s field research. The work uses both general scientific research methods (analysis, analogy, etc.) and specific scientific (historical-comparative method) research. Results. Two names of the Pleiades are recorded, the Turkic ürker / ülker and the Mongolic mičid, the most relevant etymological hypotheses reflecting the origin of the Turkic and Mongolic names of the Pleiades are presented, a number of mythological images of the Pleiades revealed in the course of the study are proposed. Conclusions. Unique images of the Pleiades in the ideas of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples arose in the process of interaction of different languages ​​and cultures, understanding and interpretation of different versions of the names of the Pleiades, integration of disparate plot-forming elements in myths, fairy tales, legends.