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Khazar language

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Khazar
RegionKhazar Khanate
Extinctby the 13th century
Turkic
Old Turkic
Language codes
ISO 639-3zkz
zkz
GlottologNone

Khazar, also known as Khazaric or Khazaris, was the dialect spoken by the Khazars, a group of semi-nomadic Turkic originating from Central Asia. There are few written records of the language, and it is regarded as extinct. Khazar was a Turkic language; however, there is a dispute among scholars as to which branch of the Turkic language family it belongs. One consideration believes it belongs to the Oghur ("lir") branch of the Turkic language family, while another consideration is that it belongs to the Oghuz ("shaz") branch.

Classification

The 10th century Kievian Letter has Orkhon inscription word-phrase OKHQURÜM, "I read (this or it)".

There are many problems with exact classification of the Khazar language. One of the basic issues is the vague nature of the name Khazar itself. It has not yet been determined whether it refers to a specific Turkish tribe, or if it had a political and geographical origin that was not ethnolinguistic.[1] The Khazar realm was a polyglot (multi lingual ) and polyethnic (multicultural) state, with Iranian, Finnic, Ugric, Slavic, and North Caucasian languages.[2] According to anthropological data, it was ruled by Inner Asian Mongoloid (with some Europoid somatic elements) core tribes that accompanied the dynasty.[1][3] The Turkic tribes probably spoke a number of Turkic languages.[4] Scholars considered it a possibility that the term Khazar denoted one or even several languages; however, the sources cannot determine the extent of its use.[5]

Chronicles of the time are unclear on Khazar's linguistic affiliation. The tenth century Al-Istakhri wrote two conflicting notices: "the language of the Khazars is different than the language of the Turks and the Persians, nor does a tongue of (any) group of humanity have anything in common with it and the language of the Bulgars is like the language of the Khazars, but the Burtas have another language."[5] Al-Istakhri mentioned that population of Darband spoke Khazar along with other languages of their mountains.[6] Al-Masudi listed Khazars among types of the Turks, and noted they are called Sabir in Turkic and Xazar in Persian.[5] Al-Biruni, while discussing the Volga Bulgars and Sawars (Sabirs), noted their language was a "mixture of Turkic and Khazar."[6][3] Al-Muqaddasi described the Khazar language as "very incomprehensible."[6]

Compared to the uniformity of Common Turkic, which Al-Istakhri mentioned "as for the Turks, all of them, from the Toquz Oghuz, Qirgiz, Kimek, Oguz, Qarluq, their language is one. They understand one another; even if Khazar belonged or was similar to Oghuro-Bulgaric languages, it was distinctly different.[7]

The linguistic data consists of Khazar titles (Beg, Bolušči, Ishad, Il-teber/El-teber, Qağan, Kündü Qağan, Jâwšîġr, Tarxan, Tudun, Yabgu, Yilig/Yelig), anthroponyms (Itaq), and toponyms (Sarkel/Šarkil, Sarığšın/Sarığčın), mostly of Turkic origin.[8][9] The interpretations do not indicate whether these are Common Turkic or Oghuric.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Golden 2011, p. 224.
  2. ^ Golden 2011, p. 151.
  3. ^ a b Golden 1992, p. 235.
  4. ^ Golden 2011, p. 151, 224.
  5. ^ a b c Golden 2011, p. 225.
  6. ^ a b c Golden 2011, p. 226.
  7. ^ Golden 2011, p. 227.
  8. ^ Golden 1992, p. 234–235.
  9. ^ Golden 2011, p. 227–239.
  10. ^ Golden 2011, p. 150.
Sources
  • Golden, Peter Benjamin (1992). An introduction to the History of the Turkic peoples: ethnogenesis and state formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 9783447032742.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Golden, Peter B. (2011). Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes. Editura Academiei Române; Editura Istros a Muzeului Brăilei. ISBN 9789732721520.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
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