ON THE OLD RUSSIAN ASTRONOMICAL NAMES OF ARABIC ORIGIN AND THE PERIPETIES OF THEIR ETYMOLOGICAL STUDY

In this work we review the history of the etymological study of the names of Arabic origin of a group of celestial bodies as found in Оld

Russian texts from the 15th to the 17th century, which started from the mid-19th century. This history is riddled with controversy. We build on our earlier work on the topic by giving new data and considerations which refine, complement and support our proposition that the borrowing ofthe names involved Turkic mediation which was conditioned by specific Turkic-Russian bilingualism.