Reconstruction:Proto-Turkic/badram

Several etymologies are proposed, no consensus on the origin;

• Clauson states that this term is 'no doubt an Iranian [loanword]' and gives Persian پدرام (padrâm, “delightsome place”) as an example. He also mentions how Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk claims this word to be a genuine word ('not a loanword'), where it meant yawma'l-ˁīd among Oghuz and Kipchaks.[1] Compare Karakhanid بَذْرَمْ یار (baδram yḗr, “pleasant ground”), a Karakhanid form with Persian meaning preserved, also given by Clauson. Sevortyan argues against Clauson on a Middle Persian loan into Proto-Turkic.[2]

• Nişanyan proposes a borrowing from Middle Persian [script needed] (paδrām, “merriment, peace”) or Sogdian 𐼾𐽂𐽀𐼰𐼺 (ptrʾm /⁠patrām⁠/, “calm, peace”),[3] which in turn would come from Proto-Iranic Proto-Iranian *pati-rāma-, ulltimately a compound of Proto-Indo-European *per- + *h₁rem- and would be a cognate with Sanskrit रमते (ramate); but he does not discard a potential Mongolic origin, from Proto-Mongolic *bayar (“joy”),[4] which would make this term cognate with Mongolian баяр (bajar) instead.

• EDAL puts forth that the Proto-Turkic form is *bayram instead and that it comes from a hypothetical Proto-Turkic *bay-ra- ("to celebrate"), which is not related to *badrak (“flag”). Authors of EDAL denounce a possibility of Iranian borrowing, stating "the only acceptable etymology of [Persian] bajram is [from] Turkic". This hypothetical *bay-ra- is then compared to Proto-Mongolic *bayar (“joy”), Manchu ᠪᠠᠶᠯᡳ (bayli, “favor, mercy”) and Proto-Japonic *bái-m- (“to smile”), whence Japanese 笑​む (emu, “to smile”). Altaic Hypothesis is widely rejected however, and comparisons like these are deemed unreliable.

• Eren (1999) rejects a relation with *badrak (“flag”) or Tuvan байыр (bayır, “feast”).

Lack of Oghur and Arghu reflexes and sparse atttestation in Siberian languages suggest a borrowing from an external source.

*badram

1. (Common Turkic) feast, merriment
2. (Common Turkic) holiday

• Clauson, Gerard (1972) “badram”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 308
• Eren, Hasan (1999) “bayram”, in Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language] (in Turkish), Ankara: Bizim Büro Basım Evi, page 45
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “bayram”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Räsänen, Martti (1969) Versuch eines etymologischen Wörterbuchs der Türksprachen (in German), Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, page 54
• Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*bajram/k”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8)‎, Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill