Many words of Arabic origin are found in both standard Turkish and its regional dialects. The Erzurum dialect, in particular, exhibits a high concentration of such words. Among these, some retain meanings similar to those in Arabic, while a significant number have undergone semantic shift and are pronounced according to the dialect’s phonological patterns. Although numerous studies have explored lexical borrowing between Turkish and Arabic, research specifically focusing on Arabic-derived words in regional dialects remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the Arabic-origin words commonly used in the Erzurum dialect, most of which have experienced meaning changes. Employing a lexical analysis approach, the research investigates the grammatical categories of these words and how they are pronounced within the dialect, thereby providing a comprehensive account of their current usage and linguistic adaptation in Erzurum Turkish.
Turkish, Erzurum dialect, Arabic origin words, meaning shift.