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<nowiki>*</nowiki>suk, stand for ''čak''.<ref>Final ''k'' in transcriptions never answers to a final ''r'', but only to ''k'', ''g'', or ''x'' (cf. also Pelliot, ''T'oung Pao'', 1912, p. 476).</ref> The entire speculation is deplorable, and we are even expected "to allow for a change the word may have undergone from the original meaning within the last two thousand years"; but there is no trace of evidence that the Osmanli word has existed that length of time, neither can it be reasonably admitted that the significance of a word can change from "pea" to "alfalfa." The universal term in Central Asia for alfalfa is ''bidā''<ref>A. Stein, Khotan, Vol. I, p. 130.</ref> or ''bēdä'',<ref>Le Coq, Sprichwörter und Lieder aus Turfan, p. 85.</ref> Djagatai ''bidä''. This word means simply "fodder, clover, hay."<ref>I. Kunos, Sulejman Efendi's Čagataj-Osman. Wörterbuch, p. 26.</ref> According to Tomaschek,<ref>Pamir-Dialekte, p. 792.</ref> this word is of Iranian origin (Persian ''beda''). It is found also in Sariqolī, a Pamir dialect.<ref>R. B. Shaw, ''Journal As. Soc. Bengal'', 1876, p. 231.</ref> This would indicate very well that the Persians (and it could hardly be expected otherwise) disseminated the alfalfa to Turkistan.
According to Vámbery,<ref>Primitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen Volkes, p. 220.</ref> alfalfa appears to have been indigenous among the Turks from all times; this opinion, however, is only based on linguistic evidence, which is not convincing: a genuine Turkish name exists in Djagatai ''jonuška'' (read ''yonučka'') and Osmanli ''yondza''<ref>The etymology given of this word by Vámbéry is fantastic and unacceptable.</ref> (add Kasak-Kirgiz ''yonurčka''), which simply means "green fodder, clover." Now, these dialects represent such recent forms of Turkish speech, that so far-reaching a conclusion cannot be based on them. As far as I know, in the older Turkish languages no word for alfalfa has as yet been found.
