Turki
Encyclopedia
The Turki language is a Türkic literary language active from the 13th to the 19th centuries, used by different (predominantly but not exclusively) Türkic peoples. The Turki language developed on the Karluk
(Karluk-Khorezm languages) basis, which was a result of interaction of the Uigur Karakhanid language with the local Türkic languages (gradual replacement of d-type language with a j-type language). The Karakhanid Uigur language was adapted for a cycle of works in Khorezm, where it was enriched by Oguz
and Kipchak
elements and turned into one of the medieval Türkic languages. With the Turki were created Qutba's poem "Khosrow and Shirin" (1338), Khwarizmi "Muhabbat-name" (1353), Sutro Sarai "Gulistan bi-t-Türki" (1391), Mahmoud al-Bulgari theological and didactic work "Nahj al faradis"(1358).
While there were several regional variations of the Turki, they were united by their commonality, predicated by
Regional variations of the Turki and Turkic linguistic areals under its influence:
A number of Turkic languages did not partake in the development of the Turki literary tradition, and were either unaffected by the common trends carried by the Turki, or affected only indirectly through the neighboring languages that were impacted by the Turki. The languages not affected directly were culturally separated from the Islamic influence by religious affiliations or geographical isolation. Among such nations were Chuvashes, Gagauzes, Hungarian Kipchaks
, Bulgars
, Seklers, and other Hungarian Türkic subdivisions, western Tatars
in Poland
, Baltic states
, Belorussia, Russia
and Ukraine
, Siberian Türkic nations, Eastern Uigurs, nations that later formed Southern and Northern Altaians
, and the Sakha people. The isolation of these people from the influence and innovations of the Turki facilitated preservation in their languages of the original forms and lexicons, now used for phililogical studied and comparative linguistics. The western European nations in the Christian sphere of influence were separated by religious and cultural barriers, and within the Christian sphere by different and frequently conflicting denominations and local linguistic barriers. The Siberian Türks from the beginning retained their independence from the Islamic influence, and largely preserved their Tengrian
religion. The eatern Türkic nations fell under the influence of the Mongol Empire
, and remained culturally affiliated with the Chingizid states after the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire.
or Persian
adjective formed from the noun "Turk", used by Europe
an writers in two rather different senses. Firstly, it is applied to tribes or languages which are Turkic
as opposed to being Iranian
or Semitic
. Secondly, it is used as the special designation of the tribes and languages of Eastern Turkestan
.
"Turki" as a word is also in common usage for variety of subjects related to Turks and in a widespread area. It could be used for the language spoken by Turks, could imply culture of Turks, Turkic descent and even dynasties. Its usage is also widespread from South Asia
(Turki in Urdu
language is exactly the same as Turki in Persian
) to Central Asia
to Turkey
. Lastly, the Turks being referred in the context of Turki are not necessarliy from Turkey.
In Kashmir
, people originally hailing from village Turkipora of Baramulla
district have Turki as their surname.
In addition, "Turki" was used as an adjective by Bedouin
s in the Najd
region of Saudi Arabia meaning "handsome", as the Turkic peoples (fom Central Asia), commonly designated Turks in medieval Persian and Arabic sources, were considered handsome. Thus, they named their children "Turki" because they look handsome as children. Turki is a popular name now in the Gulf States
, especially Saudi Arabia
and Kuwait
.
Karluk
Karluk can refer to many different things:* HMCS Karluk, a ship crushed and sunk by Arctic ice in January 1914* Karluk, Alaska, a town in the USA* Karluk River, a river on Kodiak Island in Alaska...
(Karluk-Khorezm languages) basis, which was a result of interaction of the Uigur Karakhanid language with the local Türkic languages (gradual replacement of d-type language with a j-type language). The Karakhanid Uigur language was adapted for a cycle of works in Khorezm, where it was enriched by Oguz
Oguz
Oghuz is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The population of the region consisted of Azerbaijanis....
and Kipchak
Kipchak language
The 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...
elements and turned into one of the medieval Türkic languages. With the Turki were created Qutba's poem "Khosrow and Shirin" (1338), Khwarizmi "Muhabbat-name" (1353), Sutro Sarai "Gulistan bi-t-Türki" (1391), Mahmoud al-Bulgari theological and didactic work "Nahj al faradis"(1358).
While there were several regional variations of the Turki, they were united by their commonality, predicated by
- a relative proximity of Turkic languages and active cultural and linguistic contacts between different Turkic areals which all professed IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
; - a use of Arabic alphabet, where the graphics does not fully reflect vowels, and therefore the same word in different regions could be read differently;
- an abundance of Arab and Persian loanwords
Regional variations of the Turki and Turkic linguistic areals under its influence:
- Middle AsiaMiddle AsiaMiddle Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west, to Mongolia in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north. The geographical term has appeared sometime prior to the 20th century in the Russian Empire and was closely associated with the Russian Turkestan and the...
(Karluk-Khwarezmian) – Karluk-Khwarezmian (Uzbek, Uigur); - Kipchak (Aral-Caspian) – Kipchak NogaiNogaiThe term Nogai can refer to more than one thing:* Nogai Khan was a de facto ruler of the Golden Horde.* Nogai Horde was a Turkic state which split from the Golden Horde in late 15th century.* The Nogais are a Turkic people....
(Karakalpak, KazakhKazakh languageKazakh is a Turkic language which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages, closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak....
, UzbekUzbek languageUzbek 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...
Kypchak), Kyrgyz-Kipchak (KyrgyzKyrgyz languageKyrgyz or Kirgiz, also Kirghiz, Kyrghiz, Qyrghiz is a Turkic language and, together with Russian, an official language of Kyrgyzstan...
); - Eastern OguzOguzOghuz is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The population of the region consisted of Azerbaijanis....
– Eastern Oguz (TurkmenTurkmen languageTurkmen is the national language of Turkmenistan...
, Turkmen-Uzbek, KhorasaniKhorasaniKhorasani * Abu Muslim Khorasani* Mohammad-Kazem Khorasani* Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani* Mohammad Va'ez Abaee-Khorasani* Sultan Ali Khorasani- See also :* Khorasani Turkic language* Greater Khorasan* Khorasan Province...
Turkic); - VolgaVolga RiverThe Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
– Urals (Tatar, BashkirBashkirBashkir may refer to:*Bashkirs, an ethnic group in Russia*Bashkir language, a Turkic language spoken by the Bashkirs*Bashkir Curly, a horse*Stefan Bashkir, a character in Eoin Colfer's novel The Supernaturalist...
); - North CaucasusNorth CaucasusThe North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
– Kypchak (Kumyk, Karachay-Balkar), Kypchak Oguz (Northern SeljukGreat Seljuq EmpireThe Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...
) – Northern Azeri, Kypchak Nogai (NogaiNogaiThe term Nogai can refer to more than one thing:* Nogai Khan was a de facto ruler of the Golden Horde.* Nogai Horde was a Turkic state which split from the Golden Horde in late 15th century.* The Nogais are a Turkic people....
); - Asia MinorAsia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
– South Oguz-Seljuk (TurkishTurkish languageTurkish 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,...
); - Crimean – Crimean Tatar areals Oguz-SeljukGreat Seljuq EmpireThe Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...
, Kypchak-BulgarBulgarsThe Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
, Kypchak NogaiNogaiThe term Nogai can refer to more than one thing:* Nogai Khan was a de facto ruler of the Golden Horde.* Nogai Horde was a Turkic state which split from the Golden Horde in late 15th century.* The Nogais are a Turkic people....
depending on the dialect.
A number of Turkic languages did not partake in the development of the Turki literary tradition, and were either unaffected by the common trends carried by the Turki, or affected only indirectly through the neighboring languages that were impacted by the Turki. The languages not affected directly were culturally separated from the Islamic influence by religious affiliations or geographical isolation. Among such nations were Chuvashes, Gagauzes, Hungarian Kipchaks
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...
, Bulgars
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
, Seklers, and other Hungarian Türkic subdivisions, western Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, Belorussia, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Siberian Türkic nations, Eastern Uigurs, nations that later formed Southern and Northern Altaians
Altay people
The Altay or Altai are an ethnic group of Turkic people living in the Siberian Altai Republic and Altai Krai and surrounding areas of Tuva and Mongolia. For alternative ethnonyms see also Teleut, Tele, Telengit, Mountain Kalmuck, White Kalmuck, Black Tatar, Oirat/Oirot.The Uriankhai people were...
, and the Sakha people. The isolation of these people from the influence and innovations of the Turki facilitated preservation in their languages of the original forms and lexicons, now used for phililogical studied and comparative linguistics. The western European nations in the Christian sphere of influence were separated by religious and cultural barriers, and within the Christian sphere by different and frequently conflicting denominations and local linguistic barriers. The Siberian Türks from the beginning retained their independence from the Islamic influence, and largely preserved their Tengrian
Tengriism
Tengriism is a Central Asian religion that incorporates elements of shamanism, animism, totemism and ancestor worship. Despite still being active in some minorities, it was, in old times, the major belief of Turkic peoples , Bulgars, Hungarians and Mongols...
religion. The eatern Türkic nations fell under the influence of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
, and remained culturally affiliated with the Chingizid states after the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire.
Colloquial usage
In the international arena, Turki was an ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
or Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
adjective formed from the noun "Turk", used by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an writers in two rather different senses. Firstly, it is applied to tribes or languages which are Turkic
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...
as opposed to being Iranian
Iranian 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....
or Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
. Secondly, it is used as the special designation of the tribes and languages of Eastern Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
.
"Turki" as a word is also in common usage for variety of subjects related to Turks and in a widespread area. It could be used for the language spoken by Turks, could imply culture of Turks, Turkic descent and even dynasties. Its usage is also widespread from South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
(Turki in Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
language is exactly the same as Turki in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
) to Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. Lastly, the Turks being referred in the context of Turki are not necessarliy from Turkey.
In Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, people originally hailing from village Turkipora of Baramulla
Baramulla
Baramulla , known as Varahamula in antiquity, is a city in the Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir state in northern India...
district have Turki as their surname.
In addition, "Turki" was used as an adjective by Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
s in the Najd
Najd
Najd or Nejd , literally Highland, is the central region of the Arabian Peninsula.-Boundaries :The Arabic word nejd literally means "upland" and was once applied to a variety of regions within the Arabian Peninsula...
region of Saudi Arabia meaning "handsome", as the Turkic peoples (fom Central Asia), commonly designated Turks in medieval Persian and Arabic sources, were considered handsome. Thus, they named their children "Turki" because they look handsome as children. Turki is a popular name now in the Gulf States
Arab states of the Persian Gulf
"Arab states of the Persian Gulf" or "Arab Persian Gulf states" or "Persian Gulf Arab states" or "Arabic Persian Gulf states" or "Arab States of The Gulf", are terms that refer to the six Arab states of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, bordering the Persian Gulf....
, especially Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
.