Turkic alphabets: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT[[Orkhon script]] |
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{{Not verified|date=February 2007}} |
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The '''Turkic alphabet''' is a set of related alphabets with letters used for writing mostly [[Turkic languages]]. Inscriptions in Turkic alphabets were found from Mongolia and Eastern Turkestan in the east to Balkans in the west. Most of the preserved inscriptions were dated to between 8th and 10th centuries AD. |
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The Turkic alphabets are divided into four groups, the best known of them is the '''Orkhon''' version of the Enisei group. |
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* [[Eurasia|Euro Asiatic]] group |
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* [[Asiatic]] group |
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* [[Turanian]] group |
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* [[Southern Europe]] group |
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The [[Eurasia]]tic group is further divided into five related alphabets: |
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* [[Don]] alphabet, Alans and Khazar Kaganate 8-10th centuries AD, distinct and closely related to |
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* [[Kuban]] alphabet, N.Pontic Bulgars, 8-13th centuries AD, both alphabets found in the [[Pontic|N. Pontic]] and on the banks of the [[Kama]] river, and are related to the [[Yenisei|South-Yenisei]] script of South Siberia |
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* [[Yenisei|South-Yenisei]] alphabet, C.Asia [[Göktürks|Kök Türks]] ([[Göktürks]]) 8-10th centuries AD |
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* [[Tisza]] C.Europe Badjanaks 8-10th centuries AD |
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* [[Lenin Peak|Achiktash]] C.Asia Sogd Türkuts 7-10th centuries AD |
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* [[Tajikistan|Isfar]] C.Asia Sogd unidentified ethnicity 7-10th centuries AD |
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The [[Asiatic]] group is further divided into three related alphabets: |
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* [[Orkhon]] alphabet, the best known, C.Asia Kök Türks 8-10th centuries AD |
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* [[Yenisei]] alphabet, |
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* [[Kyrgyzstan|Tallas]] alphabet, a derivative of [[Yenisei]] alphabet, C.Asia Jeti-Su [[Kangju|Kangly]] or [[Karluks]] 8-10th centuries AD.<ref>Classification follows Kyzlasov I.L.; “Writings Of Eurasian Steppes”, Eastern Literature", Moscow, 1994, 327 pp. 321-323</ref> |
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A number of alphabets are not completed, due to the limitations of the extant inscriptions. Great help in the studies of the Türkic scripts was received from Türkic-Chinese bi-lingual inscriptions, contemporaneous Türkic inscriptions in Greek alphabet, literal translation into Slavic language, and paper fragments with Türkic cursive writing on Türkic religion, Manichaeism, Buddhist and legal subjects of the 8-10th centuries AD found in Eastern Turkestan<ref>Amanjolov A.S., "History of тhe Ancient Türkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003 ISBN 9965-16-204-2, p. 6-12</ref>. |
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During the last two centuries the number of specialists knowledgeable of the Türkic scripts never exceeded low single digits. The last quarter of the 20es century brought about most of the paleographical and textual discoveries. |
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==Origins == |
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The origins of the Türkic scripts are uncertain. The initial guesses were based on visual, external resemblances of the Türkic [[runiform]] letters with the [[Gothic runes]] or with [[Greek]], [[Etruscan]] and [[Anatolian]] letters, suggesting an [[Ruis|Indo-European alphabet]] resembling Semitic [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], [[Gothic]], Phoenician-based [[Greek]], etc. letters. Another suggestion, made after W.Thomsen deciphered [[Orhon]] inscriptions in 1893, about independent origin of the script from tamgas, in essence, equates two unknowns<ref>Amanjolov A.S., "History of тhe Ancient Türkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, p. 286</ref>. |
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Four theories were proposed, but none of them gained universal acceptance. |
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The decipherer of the Orkhon alphabet [[Vilhelm Thomsen|V.Thomsen]] tentatively linked it to the [[Pehlevi]] and [[Sogdian alphabet]]s, versions of the [[Aramaic alphanet]]s. This hypothesis is widely accepted in the academic community, in spite of occasional criticism to the effec that it rests on analogies of "only" about half of the Orkhon alphabet letters.<ref>Amanjolov A.S., "History of тhe Ancient Türkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, p. 286</ref> |
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Amanjolov (2003) advocates that Orkhon directly derives from the [[Phoenician alphapet]]<ref>Amanjolov A.S., "History of тhe Ancient Türkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, p. 286</ref>. . |
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A third theory linked the ancient Turkic writing with Chinese hieroglyphs for phonetic transcription. The Chinese sources say that the Huns (Chinese "[[Xiongnu|Hsiong-nu]]", "[[Xiongnu|Hsiung-nu]]", "[[Xiongnu]]", etc.), did not have ideographic form of writing like Chinese, but in the 2nd century BC a renegade Chinese dignitary Yue "taught the [[Shanyu]] to write official letters to the Chinese court on a wooden tablet 31 cm long, and to use a seal and large-sized folder. The same sources tell that when the Huns noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood ('k'o-mu'), and they also mention a "Hu script". At [[Noin-Ula]] and other Hun burial sites in Mongolia and region north of Lake Baikal among the artifacts were discovered over twenty carved characters. Most of these characters are either identical or very similar to the letters of the Turkic [[Orkhon script|Orkhon-Yenisey script]] of the Early Middle Ages found in the Eurasian steppes. From this, some specialists hold that Huns had a script similar to the ancient [[runiform|Eurasian runiform]], and that this alphabet was a base for later ancient Turkic writing.<ref>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</ref> |
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A fourth theory links the Orkhon with the [[Kharoṣṭhī|Karosthi]] script of the [[Brahmi]] family. |
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<gallery> |
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Image:Fig6Ishjamts_p166R1.gif|2nd century BC - 2nd century AD, characters of [[Hsiung-nu|Hun]]- [[Xianbei|Syanbi]] script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia), N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 5, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4 |
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Image:Fig5Ishjamts p166R2.gif|2nd century BC - 2nd century AD, characters of [[Hsiung-nu|Hun]]- [[Xianbei|Syanbi]] script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia), N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 5, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4 |
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</gallery> |
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==References== |
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*Kyzlasov I.L., "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5 |
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*Amanjolov A.S., "History of тhe Ancient Türkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, ISBN 9965-16-204-2 |
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*N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4 |
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*A. Mukhamadiev, "Turanian Writing", in "Problems Of Lingo-Ethno-History Of The Tatar People", Kazan, 1995, ISBN 5-201-08300 (Азгар Мухамадиев, "Туранская Письменность", "Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа", Казань, 1995. с.38, ISBN 5-201-08300, In Russian) |
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[[Category:Alphabetic writing systems]] |
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[[Category:Göktürks]] |
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[[Category:Inscriptions]] |
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[[Category:Runiform scripts]] |
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[[Category:History of China]] |
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[[Category:History of the Turkic people]] |
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[[hu:Türk rovásírás]] |
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Revision as of 09:39, 8 March 2007
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