Cultural linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between language and culture, its interaction, and the relationship between language and cultural conceptualizations. Culture is preserved and transferred to the next generations through language, which is one of the basic components of this field. Cultural linguistics investigates the formation, development, interaction and change of these cultural elements transmitted through language. These interactions and changes in cultural elements are also reflected in linguistic materials. The word “well” in Turkish means “a pit dug in depth until it reaches the water layer, usually in a cylindrical shape, around which a wall is built, and the water is used.” The fact that this word gains various metaphorical meanings besides its referential meaning reveals that this word is perceived as a cultural element by the society. Many elements related to the well, which enable people to reach water more easily, have found their place in language, culture, literature and cinema. According to this, in addition to its real meaning, the well appears in various forms such as taboo, symbol, motif and metaphor in Turkish language and culture. The presence of proverbs and idioms such as digging a well with a needle, falling into the pit oneself dug, digging a well, digging a well, digging one’s own well, created on the basis of the word well, provides important data about how this word is reflected and recorded in the mentality of Turkish society and how it is perceived in its culture. In this study, the meaning of the word “kuyu”, its origin, its appearance in Anatolian dialects, historical and contemporary Turkish accents, its use in idioms and proverbs will be determined and its place in Turkish vocabulary will be determined. The perception of the word “well” in Turkish society and the way this perception is reflected in the language will be examined in terms of cultural linguistics. In the study, it will be revealed how the socio-cultural meanings of the word “well” are presented in linguistic units. In the light of these linguistic data, it will be determined that the well contains many cultural, social, religious and mythological aspects.

Well, culturallinguistics, lexicon, language and culture.