PLAY RELATED CONCEPTS AND TERMS IN KUTADGU BİLİG AND DİVÂNÜ LÜGATİ’T-TÜRK

A play is a reflection of a nation's cultural diversity. Plays are the most natural and independent expression of national lives. Plays are crucial clues on the investigation of societies' customs and on revelaing several factors which are disguised in the oral and written literature. The concept of play has preserved its timely nature from the darkest periods of history to the present time. Especially when we look at the Turkish culture during the former periods before Islam, we can see playing and imitating skills have an important place as a social status in the Shaman. In Turkish culture there are many written sources concerning the terms about plays. Among them the most important ones are Kutadgu Bilig and Divanu Lugati't Turk. This study provides information about the history of the concep of play and the past and present meanings of this concept are explained. The concepts and terms about plays and their relevant meanings have been identified in the Kutadgu Bilig and Divanu Lugati't Turk, the two important works of the Turkish language and culture. This study is designed in the form of literature survey and the two works, Kutadgu Bilig and Divanu Lugatit Turk are studied through document analysis method. As a result the words about play have been investigated and the data have been organised in a lexical system and classified according to the meaning groups. It has been revealed that especially children's plays in Divanu Lugati't Turk have a place in and a connection to Turks' social, cultural and economical lives.