Words of Wisdom and Advice: Drop by Drop, a Lake is Formed
Among the very interesting proverbs passed down through the centuries, and across geographic, political and ethnic boundaries is this profound proverb about unity.
The earliest Turkic-Arabic dictionary, al-Kashgari’s late-11th-century CE Dîwânu Lughâti l-Turk (Compendium of the Turkic Languages), represented by this map therein, contains hundreds of proverbs collected throughout the Turkic world, including the proverb that is the focus of this article. Photo Credit: Daniyar Nietullaev / Millet Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi Ali Emiri Arapça Koleksiyona
Bi:rin bi:rin miñ bolu:r, tama tama köl bolu:r.
Unit by unit a thousand is formed, drop by drop a lake is formed.
The proverb was first recorded by Mahmud al-Kashghari Barsqani in his famous linguistic and ethnographic work written in Arabic, The Compendium [of the Words] of the Turkic Languages (Dîwânu Lughâti l-Turk; 1072 CE–1077 CE) (with translations of numerous terminological and folklore examples in Qarakhanid Turkic, as well as other Turkic languages and dialects).
Here, the first part of the proverb, “unit by unit a thousand is formed,” might be interpreted in many different ways.
For one, it relates to a concept of the mathematical chiliad (the figure of 1,000), but it also means “a lot,” “a huge amount.” In military terms, it represents a sizeable unit of an army, a military strength of the united forces of a state or a coalition.
In the heroic epic Manas, the titular hero and khan, according to epic recitations, galvanized Qazaq, Özbek and other historical neighbors when he started a military campaign against the Eastern invaders.
In relation to the economics of nomadism, the term “thousand” connects with the idea of wealth (a lot of horses, a lot of sheep, etc.).
It is interesting to mention the modern Kyrgyz proverb: “Qoy aqsağï menen miñ” (The sheep would reach a thousand if you count their lame ones.).
It may be that the second part of the Middle-Turkic proverb, “Drop by drop a lake is formed,” is preserved more widely across regions and in more extensive variants.
French scholar Rémy Dor, a linguist and ethnologist of the Turkic world, mentions the proverb has been preserved in different modern Turkic languages, with little modifications.
For instance, regarding the second part of the proverb, the modern Kyrgyz say, “Tama tama köl bolot” (another version: “tama tama köl boloor”), while the Qaraqalpaq and Qazaq peoples remember the phrase as, “Tama tama köl bolar.”
The Uzbek and Uighur also use a slight different version, and the Turks of Anatolia express it as “Damla damla göl olur.” The Azerbaijanis and Turkmens also use similar version to the Turkish one.
It is understandable that the proverb was developed in the folklore of the different Turkic peoples of Central and Inner Asia in different ways.
For instance, the modern Kazan Tatars say “Küp tökürse kül bulïr,” comparable with the Kyrgyz version, “Köp tükürsö köl boloor.”
The translation of both versions is the same, “If you spit a lot, there would form a lake.”
We assume that even though the proverb was recorded in the 11th century, i.e., during the time when the Turkic peoples had some Muslim states with multiethnic backgrounds (including the Qarakhanid Khaganate and Seljuq Sultanate), but its earlier version could be dispersed in different areas of the previous pre-Islamic Turkic khaganates which occupied vast parts of Central and Inner Asia between the sixth and 10th centuries.
The word köl/kül with the meaning of “lake” had been used as a hydro-formant to form not only the names of different lakes (for instance, Ïsïq-Köl, nowadays Issyk-Kul, and Sïzïñ-Köl, nowadays Song-Kul in Kyrgyzstan) but also used as the part of an epithet for a ruler or hero (for instance, prince Köl-tegin, or Kül-tegin, etc.).
This word also has meanings such as “deep as a lake,” “wide as a lake” and “a man of open minds.”
Overall, the proverb (Bi:rin bi:rin miñ bolu:r, tama tama köl bolu:r / Unit by unit a thousand is formed, drop by drop a lake is formed.) was intended to educate family members, audiences and entire peoples to strive both for unity and to be patient until the necessary results are achieved.
Tyntchtykbek Tchoroev (Chorotegin) was born in Kyrgyzstan, where he serves as Professor of Chair of Regional and Kyrgyz Studies at the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn. He defended his Doctor of Historical Sciences’ thesis at the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan and defended his postgraduate thesis at the Institute of Oriental Studies of Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, in 1998.