Old Turkic language
Encyclopedia
Old Turkic is the earliest attested form of Turkic
, found in Göktürk
and Uyghur inscriptions dating from about the 7th century to the 13th century.
It is the oldest attested member of the Southeastern (Uyghuric) branch of Turkic, which is extant in the modern Chagatai
, Uyghur
and Western Yugur languages.
Old Turkic is attested in a number of scripts, including the Orkhon-Yenisei runiform script, the Old Uyghur alphabet
(a form of the Sogdian alphabet
), the Brāhmī script
, and the Manichean alphabet.
The consonantal system distinguishes between unvoiced, voiced (with fricative variants) and nasal:
", including "almost all of their titles". such as Khatun
, Yabgu
etc.
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
, found in Göktürk
Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
and Uyghur inscriptions dating from about the 7th century to the 13th century.
It is the oldest attested member of the Southeastern (Uyghuric) branch of Turkic, which is extant in the modern Chagatai
Chagatai language
The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...
, Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
and Western Yugur languages.
Old Turkic is attested in a number of scripts, including the Orkhon-Yenisei runiform script, the Old Uyghur alphabet
Old Uyghur alphabet
The Old Uyghur alphabet was used for writing the Old Uyghur language, a variety of Old Turkic spoken in the Tarim basin, which is an ancestor of the modern Uyghur language. It was descendant of the Sogdian alphabet, used for texts with Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian content for 700–800 years in...
(a form of the Sogdian alphabet
Sogdian alphabet
The Sogdian alphabet was originally used for the Sogdian language, a language in the Iranian family used by the people of Sogdiana. The alphabet is derived from Syriac, the descendant script of the Aramaic alphabet. The Sogdian alphabet is one of three scripts used to write the Sogdian language,...
), the Brāhmī script
Brāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
, and the Manichean alphabet.
Sources
Sources of Old Turkic are divided into three corpora:- the 7th to 10th century Orkhon inscriptionsOrkhon inscriptions"Orkhon inscription" may refer to:*two monuments in the Orkhon valley, see Khöshöö Tsaidam Monuments*inscriptions in the Old Turkic "Orkhon alphabet" in general, see Old Turkic epigraphy...
in Mongolia and the Yenisey basin (Orkhon Turkic, or Old Turkic proper) - 9th to 13th century Uyghur manuscripts from XinjiangXinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
(Old Uyghur), in various scripts including BrahmiBrāhmī scriptBrāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
, the Manichaean, SyriacSyriac alphabetThe Syriac alphabet is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC . It is one of the Semitic abjads directly descending from the Aramaic alphabet and shares similarities with the Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic, and the traditional Mongolian alphabets.-...
and UyghurSogdian alphabetThe Sogdian alphabet was originally used for the Sogdian language, a language in the Iranian family used by the people of Sogdiana. The alphabet is derived from Syriac, the descendant script of the Aramaic alphabet. The Sogdian alphabet is one of three scripts used to write the Sogdian language,...
alphabets, treating religious (BuddhistBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, ManichaeanManichaeismManichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
and Nestorian), legal, literary, folkloric and astrologic material as well as personal correspondence. - 11th century Qarakhanid manuscripts, mostly written in Arabic script (Qarakhanid Turkic). The Qarakhanid corpus includes a 6,500 couplet poem, Qutaδγu biligKutadgu BiligThe Kutadgu Bilig, or Qutadğu Bilig , is a Karakhanid work from the 11th century written by an Uyghur author of Balasagun for the prince of Kashgar. Translated, the title means something like "The Wisdom which brings Happiness" or "The Wisdom that Conduces to Royal Glory or Fortune" , but has...
"Wisdom that brings good fortune", an Arabic–Turkic dictionary and Mahmud al-Kashgari's "Compendium of the Turkic dialects". This variety is sometimes referred to as Middle TurkicMiddle TurkicMiddle Turkic refers to a phase in the development of the Turkic language family, covering much of the Middle Ages . In particular the term is used by linguists to refer to a group of Oghuz and related languages spoken during this period in Central Asia, Iran, and parts of the Middle East occupied...
.
Phonology
Old Turkic has nine vowel qualities—a, e, ė, i, ï, o, ö, u, ü—distinct only in the first syllable of a word, collapsed into four classes elsewhere—a, e, ï, i.The consonantal system distinguishes between unvoiced, voiced (with fricative variants) and nasal:
- labial: p, v (β), m;
- dental: t, d (δ), n;
- palatal: č, y, ń;
- velar: k (q, χ), g (γ), ŋ;
- sibilant: s, š, z;
- liquid: r, l.
Language contact
German Turkologist W.-E. Scharlipp writes that "a conspicuously large amount" of early Turkic titles are "in fact borrowings from IranianIranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
", including "almost all of their titles". such as Khatun
Khatun
Khatun is a female title of nobility and alternative to male "khan" prominently used in the First Turkic Empire and in the subsequent Mongol Empire...
, Yabgu
Yabgu
Yabgu was a state office in the early Turkic states, roughly equivalent to viceroy...
etc.
Comparison with modern Turkic languages
| Old Turkic |
|---|
| Üze tengri basmasar, asra yir telinmeser, Türk budun, ilingin törüngün kim artati udaçı erti? |
| Turkish Turkish language Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,... |
| Üstte gök basmasa, altta yer delinmese, Türk budunu, ilini töreni kim bozabilecek idi? |
| Azerbaijani Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran... |
| Üstdə göy basmasa, altda yer dəlinməsə, Türk milləti, elini adətini kim poza biləcək idi? |
| Uzbek Uzbek language Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia... |
| Ustdan ko'k bosmasa, ostda yer tilinmasa, Turk millati, elingni to'rini kim egallardi ? |
| Kazakh Kazakh language Kazakh is a Turkic language which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages, closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak.... |
| Үстінде көк баспаса, астында жер делінбесе, Түрк елі, жеріңді дәстүріңді кім атар? (Üstinde kök baspasa, astında jer delinbese, Türk eli, jeriñdi dästürindi kim atar?) |
| Kyrgyz Kyrgyz language Kyrgyz or Kirgiz, also Kirghiz, Kyrghiz, Qyrghiz is a Turkic language and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan... |
| Үстүндө көк баспаса, астында жер тилинбесе, Түрк эли, жериңди салтыңды ким жогото алар эле? (Üstündö kök baspasa, astında jer tilinbese, Turk eli, jerindi saltındı kim jogoto alar ele?) |
| Qashqai Qashqai language Qashqai is a Turkic language spoken by the Qashqai people, an ethnic group living mainly in the Fars region of Iran. Estimates of the number of Qashqai speakers vary. Ethnologue gives a figure of one and a half million... |
| Üstte kök çökmese, altta yer delinmese, Türk bodunu ilini töreni kim atar? |
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
| Had the sky not stamped from above, had the ground not been pierced from below, Turkic nation, who could have invaded your land and tradition? |
| Turkish | Azerbaijani | Uzbek | Kazakh | Old Turkic | Qashqai | Krymchak | English |
| Bir | Bir | Bir | Bir | Bir | Bir | Bir | One |
| İki | İki | Ikki | Eki | Eki | İki | Eki | Two |
| Üç | Üç | Uch | Üş | Üç | Üç | Üç | Three |
| Dört | Dörd | To'rt | Tört | Tört | Dörd | Dort | Four |
| Beş | Beş | Besh | Bes | Beş | Beş | Beş | Five |
| Altı | Altı | Olti | Altı | Altı | Altı | Altı | Six |
| Yedi | Yeddi | Yetti | Jeti | Yeti | Yeddi | Yedi | Seven |
| Sekiz | Səkkiz | Sakkiz | Segiz | Sekiz | Sakkiz | Sekiz | Eight |
| Dokuz | Doqquz | To'qqiz | Toğız | Tokuz | Doghuz | Tokuz | Nine |
| On | On | O'n | On | On | On | On | Ten |
See also
- Old Turkic script
- Middle TurkicMiddle TurkicMiddle Turkic refers to a phase in the development of the Turkic language family, covering much of the Middle Ages . In particular the term is used by linguists to refer to a group of Oghuz and related languages spoken during this period in Central Asia, Iran, and parts of the Middle East occupied...
- Proto-Turkic
- Pecheneg languagePecheneg languagePecheneg language is the extinct Turkic language spoken by the Pechenegs in Eastern Europe.It is most likely a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic family, but the poor documentation to it and the absence of any descendant languages of Pecheneg has prevented linguists from making a definite...
- Bulgar language
- Hunnic languageHunnic languageThe Huns were a heterogenous, multi-ethnic tribal confederation during the 4th and 5th centuries. A contemporary reports that the Hunnic Empire had a "Hunnic language", or "Hunnish", which was spoken alongside Gothic and the languages of other tribes subjugated by the Huns The literary records for...
- Cuman languageCuman languageCuman was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans and Kipchaks; the language was similar to the today's Crimean Tatar language...
- Turkic Avar language
- Kipchak languageKipchak languageThe Kipchak language is an extinct Turkic language of the Kipchak group.The descendants of the Kipchak language include the majority of Turkic languages spoken in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus today, as Kipchak was used as a lingua franca in Golden Horde–ruled lands.Kazakhs are remnants of...
- Khazar languageKhazar languageKhazar was the language spoken by the Khazars, a semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia. It is also referred to as Khazarian, Khazaric, or Khazari. The language is extinct and written records are almost non-existent....
External links
- Old Turkic (8th century) funerary inscription (W. Schulze)
- VATEC, pre-Islamic Old Turkic electronic corpus at uni-frankfurt.de.
- Old Turkic inscriptions, reading lessons and tutorials
- A Grammar of Old Turkic by Marcel Erdal