The Turkic lexem yapaku (and similar forms) “plucked wool” is documented in the Divanu Lugat-it Türk of the eleventh century and in several recent Turkic idioms, including Republican Turkish. The lexeme has not yet been found in the Old Uighur sources, but a word previously interpreted as vapxau in an Old Uighur text should, in the author’s opinion, be read as yapaku. This is palaeographically very possible and also fits the context, in which an interesting metaphorical picture now emerges.

This article is written in German.