Old Turkic script
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| Old Turkic script | |
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| Type | Alphabet |
| Spoken languages | Old Turkic |
| Time period | 8th to 13th centuries |
| Child systems | Old Hungarian script |
| ISO 15924 | Orkh |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | |
The Old Turkic script (also Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script; Turkish: Orhun Yazıtları, traditional Chinese: 鄂爾渾文字; pinyin: È'ěrhún Wénzì) is the alphabet used by the Göktürk and other early Turkic Khanates from at least the 8th century to record the Old Turkic language[1]. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire. Additionally, a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and the Old Hungarian script of the 10th century. The alphabet was usually written from right to left.
The script is named after the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia, where early 8th century inscriptions were discovered in an 1889 expedition by Nikolay Yadrintsev.[2] These Orkhon inscriptions were published by Vasily Radlov and deciphered by the Danish philologist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893. These inscriptions are the earliest known texts in any Altaic language.[2]
Because of similarities to the angular shapes of the runic alphabet, the letters of the Orkhon script have been referred to as "Turkic runes" or described as "runiform".
Examples of the Orhon-Yenisei alphabet are depicted on the reverse of the Azerbaijani 5 manat banknote issued since 2006.[3]
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[edit] Origins
Alternative possibilities include derivation from tamgas, suggested by W. Thomsen in 1893, from the Chinese script. Turkish inscriptions dated earlier than the Orkhon inscriptions used about 150 symbols, tamgas at first and then gradually refined into an alphabet.
At Noin-Ula and other Hun burial sites in Mongolia and region north of Lake Baikal, the artifacts displayed over twenty carved characters. Most of these characters are either identical or very similar to the letters of the Turkic Orkhon script.[4]
[edit] Corpus
The inscription corpus consists of two monuments which were erected in the Orkhon Valley between 732 and 735 in honour of the two Kokturk prince Kul Tigin and his brother the emperor Bilge Kağan, as well as inscriptions on slabs scattered in the wider area.
The Orkhon monuments are the oldest known examples of Turkic writings; they are inscribed on obelisks and have been dated to 720 (for the obelisk relating to Tonyukuk), to 732 (for that relating to Kültigin), and to 735 (for that relating to Bilge Kağan). They are carved in a script used also for inscriptions found in Mongolia, Siberia, and Eastern Turkistan and called by Thomsen "Turkish runes".[5] They relate in epic language the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese, and their liberation by Bilge.[5] The polished style of the writings suggests considerable earlier development of the Turkish language.[5]
[edit] Table of characters
| Using | Symbols | Transliteration and transcription | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vowels |  |
A | /a/, /e/ | |||||
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I | /ɯ/, /i/, /j/ | ||||||
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O | /u/, /o/, /w/ | ||||||
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U | /ø/, /y/, /w/ | ||||||
| consonants | harmonized | with: (¹) — back, (²) — front vowels |
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B¹ | /b/ | B² | /b/ |
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D¹ | /d/ | D² | /d/ | |||
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G¹ | /g/ | G² | /g/ | |||
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L¹ | /l/ | L² | /l/ | |||
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N¹ | /n/ | N² | /n/ | |||
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R¹ | /r/ | R² | /r/ | |||
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S¹ | /s/ | S² | /s/ | |||
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T¹ | /t/ | T² | /t/ | |||
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Y¹ | /j/ | Y² | /j/ | |||
| only (¹) — Q only (²) — K |
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Q | /q/ | K | /k/ | ||
| with all vowels |
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-Ç | /tʃ/ | |||||
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-M | /m/ | ||||||
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-P | /p/ | ||||||
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-Ş | /ʃ/ | ||||||
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-Z | /z/ | ||||||
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-NG | /ŋ/ | ||||||
| clusters | + vowel |  |
IÇ, ÇI, Ç | /itʃ/, /tʃi/, /tʃ/ | ||||
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IQ, QI, Q | /ɯq/, /qɯ/, /q/ | ||||||
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OQ, UQ, QO, QU, Q |
/oq/, /uq/, /qo/, /qu/, /q/ |
ÖK, ÜK, KÖ, KÜ, K |
/øk/, /yk/, /kø/, /ky/, /k/ |
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| + consonant |  |
-NÇ | /ntʃ/ | |||||
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-NY | /ɲ/ | ||||||
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-LT | /lt/, /ld/ | ||||||
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-NT | /nt/, /nd/ | ||||||
| word-divide symbol |  |
none | ||||||
| (-) — word endings only | ||||||||
A reading example: — inscription (RTL)
- T²NGR²I — transliteration
- /teŋri/ — transcription
- teñri / tanrı — record with modern Turkic alphabet
- the skygod or the eternal blue sky indicating the highest god — ancient meaning
- The God — modern meaning
[edit] Variants
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This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (November 2008) |
Variants of the script were found from Mongolia and Uyghurstan/Eastern Turkestan in the east to Balkans in the west. The preserved inscriptions were dated to between 7th and 13th centuries AD.
These alphabets are divided into four groups by Kyzlasov (1994)[6]
- Asiatic group (includes Orkhon proper)
- Eurasiatic group
- Southern Europe group
The Asiatic group is further divided into three related alphabets:
The Eurasiatic group is further divided into five related alphabets:
- Achiktash, used in Sogdiana 7-10th centuries AD
- South-Yenisei, used by the Göktürk 8-10th centuries AD
- two especially similar alphabets: the Don alphabet, used by the Khazar Khaganate, 8-10th centuries AD; and the Kuban alphabet, used by the Bulgars, 8th-13th centuries AD. Inscriptions in both alphabets are found in the Pontic steppe and on the banks of the Kama river
- Tisza, used by the Badjanaks (Pechenegs) 8-10th centuries AD
A number of alphabets are incompletely collected due to the limitations of the extant inscriptions. Evidence in the study of the Turkic scripts includes Turkic-Chinese bilingual inscriptions, contemporaneous Turkic inscriptions in the Greek alphabet, literal translations into Slavic language, and paper fragments with Türkic cursive writing from religion, Manichaeism, Buddhist, and legal subjects of the 8-10th centuries AD found in Uyghurstan/Eastern Turkestan.
 Oldest known Turkic alphabet listings, Rjukoku and Toyok manuscripts. Toyok manuscript transliterates Turkic alphabet into Uyghur alphabet. Per I.L.Kyzlasov, "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5. |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Scharlipp, Wolfgang (2000). An Introduction to the Old Turkish Runic Inscriptions. Verlag auf dem Ruffel., Engelschoff. ISBN 393384700X.
- ^ a b Sinor, Denis (2002). "Old Turkic". History of Civilizations of Central Asia. 4. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. pp. 331–333.
- ^ National Bank of Azerbaijan. National currency: 5 manat. – Retrieved on 25 March 2009.
- ^ N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 6, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, p.165
- ^ a b c Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ Kyzlasov I.L.; “Writings Of Eurasian Steppes”, Eastern Literature", Moscow, 1994, 327 pp. 321-323
- ^ Kyzlasov I.L.; “Writings Of Eurasian Steppes”, Eastern Literature", Moscow, 1994, pp. 98-100
[edit] References
- Diringer, David. The Alphabet: a Key to the History of Mankind, New York: Philosophical Library, 1948, pp. 313–315
- Février, James G. Histoire de l’écriture, Paris: Payot, 1948, pp. 311–317
- Ishjatms, N. "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4
- Jensen, Hans (1970). Sign Symbol and Script. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. ISBN 0-04-400021-9..
- Kara, György. Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages. In Daniels and *Bright, eds., The World's Writing Systems, 1996.
- Kyzlasov, I.L. "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5
- Mukhamadiev, Azgar. (1995). Turanian Writing (Туранская Письменность). In Zakiev, M. Z.(Ed.), Problemy lingvoėtnoistorii tatarskogo naroda (Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа). Kazan: Akademija Nauk Tatarstana. (Russian)
- Tekin, Talat. A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 69 (Bloomington/The Hague: Mouton, 1968)
- Thomsen, Vilhelm. Inscriptions de l’Orkhon déchiffrées, Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, Helsinki Toimituksia, no. 5 Helsingfors: La société de literature Finnoise
- Vasil'iev, D.D. Korpus tiurkskikh runicheskikh pamyatnikov Bassina Eniseya [Corpus of the Turkic Runic Monuments of the Yenisei Basin], Leningrad: USSR Academy of Science, 1983
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Old Turkic script |
- Old Turkic inscriptions, Texts, Translations
- Orkhon Alphabet page from Omniglot
- Gokturkish Keyboard by Isa SARI
- glyph table (kyrgyz.ru)
- list of inscriptions (tonyukuk.net)
- Bilgitay Orhun Writer (An online converter for Latin alphabet based texts to Orhun Abece.)
- Michael Everson's Proposal for encoding the Old Turkic script in Unicode
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