When talking about synonyms of the word ‘to look’ in English, Uzbek and Russian we should first look at how differ definitions of this verb in these languages, because in English and Russian the meaning of the verb is wider and in Uzbek — narrower.
If the basic meaning ‘to direct your eyes in order to see’ coincide in all three languages «qaramoq (biror kimga yoki biror nimaga), «направлять взгляд, чтобы увидеть кого-либо, что-нибудь, глядеть», then derivative meanings do not. They coincide only in two languages or do not coincide at all. And again structure of dictionaries differs — in Uzbek dictionary meanings are very generalised — there are mentioned 4 to 5, but in English dictionaries are from 6 to 12 meanings.
For example, in English one of derivative meanings of this verb in English is «to hope for, want or actively plan a course of action, or to hope someone will act in the way mentioned» which it does not have at all in Uzbek or Russian. ‘To look’ meaning ‘to show in appearance, to seem or appear to be from facts or information’ coincides with Russian «смотреть» meaning «иметь какой-нибудь вид», but in Russian it is used more in colloquial language. Compare English to look well and Russian смотреть молодцом. In Russian «to look» meaning «иметь попечение, заботиться» — смотреть за детьми — does not have equivalent meaning in English «to look» and Uzbek «qaramoq».
There is a difference of structure of languages. Important is the fact that English is analytical language, Uzbek and Russian is syntactical.
In Russian, as in syntactical language, meaning of the word is often altered by using prefixes and suffixes:
Смотреть- посмотреть, высмотреть, присмотреть, просмотреть, досмотреть, подсмотреть, etc.
In English, as in analytical language, — by using postpositions:
To look- to look after, to look at, to look down on, to look for, to look into, to look out, to look up to, etc.
Should we consider these combinations as independent word combination or just derivative? In some dictionaries they are included in definition of ‘to look’ and in some they are examined separately.
In Russian dictionary as one of the meaning is mentioned parenthesis (вводное слово)- Ты, смотрю, совсем ослабел.
In our opinion, the differences of the meanings are reflected also in synonyms of this verb in different languages. However, synonym lines basically consist of the verbs expressing different ways of looking in the first meaning of this verb. But if we take synonyms of the verb 'to look' in English and translate them into Uzbek and Russian we will see that not all those translated words will be from the synonym line of this verb in that language (partially due to difference of meanings).
Mainly synonyms are expressing the ways of looking- very attentively- to eye, to scrutinise,boqmoq, всматриваться; firmly- to stare, to gaze, tikilmoq, смотреть в упор, не отрывать глаз; furtively- to peek to peep, mo’ralamoq (mo’ralab qaramoq), взглядывать, поглядывать; with anger- сверлить глазами; with love- to ogle etc.
Synonyms are expressed not only in one word but also in word-combinations. In English dictionary there are to have a look, to pay attention, to skim through, to take note of view and informal to cast your eye and even slang to take a dekko. In Uzbek, there are butun vujudi bilan tikilmoq,ko’zini ola-kula qilib qaramoq, ko’zini uzmasdan qaramoq. In Russian there are too a lot of word-combinations with the word ‘eyes’, «глаза», especially in colloquial language and slang. Не спускать глаз, не отводить глаз, смотреть во все глаза, сверлить глазами, таращить глаза, брать глаза в руки, разувать глаза.
The synonym line of 'to look' in Uzbek synonym language mainly consist of colloquial, common language and dialectal words. Several of them or their forms could be considered as obsolete.
Russian synonym dictionaries also provide colloquial and common language word in line with literary as synonyms. I would regard some of them obsolete too, as воззриться, низатьглазами, вызариться, запускатьглаза. But one of them though, unlike in the Latvian dictionary, is already specified as obsolete — взирать. Regional words are not mentioned. Basically synonyms express the way of looking- attentively (всматриваться), with curiosity (таращиться), firmly (не сводить глаз), angrily (сверлить глазами), time after time (посматривать). Some dictionaries provide synonyms also for derivative meanings, for example if meaning ‘to face or be turned in a specified direction' it has synonyms глядеть, выходить.
English synonym dictionary provides only some informal words and one slang. There are also many different ways of looking, but these are different from those in Russian synonym dictionary. For example, to look with continued attention- to contemplate, to watch carefully-to eye, to stare with open mouth — to gape, to look steadily and intently- to gaze, to look quickly-to glance, to look with eyes partially closed- to squint, to look lovingly- to ogle, to stare with wide-open eyes- to goggle, etc. in synonym line are included synonyms of 'to look' meaning 'to search' and 'to examine'-consider, examine, inspect, read, scan, scrutinize, study. Also are mentioned synonyms of 'to look' meaning 'to appear to be'- seem, appear, 'to be turned in particular direction'- face, overlook.
References:
1. Арбекова Т. И. Лексикология английского языка. М., 1977.
2. Александрова, З.Е. 1998 «Словарь синонимов русского языка». Русский язык.
3. Потапова И. А. Краткий словарь синонимов английского языка. Пособие для учителя. Л, 1957.
4. Cambridge International Dictionary of English. Cambridge University press. 1995.
5. Rahmatullayev Sh., Hozirgi adabiy o’zbek tili.T., 2006.
6. Spooner, Alan. The Oxford Colour Thesaurus. Oxford University Press.1995.
