Kayı | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Turkey,Turkmenistan[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Turkish,Turkmen | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Oghuz Turks |
TheKayı (Karakhanid:قَيِغْ,romanized: qayïġ;Turkish:Kayı boyu,Turkmen:Gaýy taýpasy) were anOghuz Turkic ethnic group and a sub-branch of the Bozok tribal federation. In hisDīwān Lughāt al-Turk, the 11th centuryKara-Khanid scholarMahmud al-Kashgari citedKayı as of one of 24 Oghuz tribes, saying that Oghuz were also calledTurkomans.[2]
The nameKayı means "the one who has might and power by relationship" and aTurkmen proverb says that "the people shall be governed by Kayı and Bayat tribes" (Turkmen:Il başy - gaýy-baýat).[3]
In his history workShajara-i Tarākima, the Khan ofKhiva and historian,Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur, mentionsKayı among the 24 ancientTurkmen (Oghuz Turkic) tribes, direct descendants ofOghuz Khagan. Oghuz Khagan is a semi-legendary figure thought to be the ancient progenitor of Oghuz Turks.Kayı translates as "strong". In his extensive history work “Jami' al-tawarikh” (Collection of Chronicles), the statesman and historian of theIlkhanateRashid-al-Din Hamadani also says that theKayı tribe comes from the oldest of Oghuz Khan's 24 grandchildren who were the patriarchs of the ancient Oghuz tribes, and the nameKayı means "powerful".
SovietSinologist andTurkologistYury Zuev based on the analysis of tribal names andtamgas fromTang Huiyao, identifies a number of ancientCentral Asian Turkic tribes as Oghuz-Turkmen tribes, one of them is the Kay tribe, whom theChinese knew asXí 奚 (< MC *γiei). After examining Chinese sources & consulting the works of other scholars (Pelliot,Minorsky), Zuev proposes that the Kay had belonged to the proto-MongolicXianbei tribal unionYuwenXiongnu and that Kay had been ethnic and linguistic relatives of the Mongolic-speakingKhitans, prior to being known as an Oghuz-Turkmen tribe by the 9th century.[4] Likewise, Hungarian scholarGyula Németh (1969) linksKayı(ğ) to the (para-)MongolicQay/Xí, whom Tibetans knew asDad-pyi andGöktürks knew asTatabï; however, Németh's thesis is rejected byMehmet Fuat Köprülü among others. Later on, Németh (1991) proposes thatMg.Qay is derived fromTk. rootqað- "snowstorm, blizzard"; nevertheless,Golden points out thatQay has several Mongolic etymologies:ɣai "misfortune",χai "interjection of grief",χai "to seek",χai "to hew".[5][6]
Even so, Köprülü rejects scholarly attempts to link the formerly Mongolic Qay/Xi to the Oghuz Turkic tribe Qayı(ğ); he points out thatKashgari'sDīwān Lughāt al-Turk distinguished the Qay tribe from the Qayığ branch/sub-tribe of the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe.[7][8]
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According to Ottoman tradition,Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, was a descendant of the Kayı.[9][10][11][12] This claim has, however, been called into serious question by many modern historians. The only evidence for the Ottomans' Kayı descent came from genealogies written during the fifteenth century, several centuries after the life of Osman. More significantly, the earliest genealogies written by the Ottomans did not include any reference to Kayı descent, indicating that it may have been fabricated at a later date.[13][14][15]
The famous Oghuz folk narrator, soothsayer and bardDede Korkut was a Kayı.[16] In the 10th century, theCentral AsianOghuz Yabgu State was headed by supreme leaders (orYabghu) who belonged to the Kayı tribe.[17]
According toSoviet archaeologist and ethnographerSergey Tolstov, part of the Kayi tribe moved in theMiddle Ages from Central Asia to modern dayUkraine, they are known in theRus' chronicles askovuy andkaepichi as one of the tribes that formed the Turkic tribal confederation called theBlack Klobuks,[a] who were allies of theRurikids of theRus' Khaganate;[19] Golden however considers the Kaepichi to be descendants of thepara-MongolicQay instead.[20][21]
Soviet andRussianlinguist andTurkologist A. V. Superanskaya associates the Kayı tribe with the origin of the name of the city ofKyiv;[22] however, Canadian Ukrainian linguistJaroslav Rudnyckyj connects the nameKyiv to theProto-Slavic root*kyjь, which should be interpreted as meaning 'stick, pole' as in its modern Ukrainian equivalentКий; therefore, the toponym should in that case be interpreted as 'palisaded settlement'.[23]
InAnatolia, twenty seven villages bear the name ofKayı.[24]
InTurkmenistan, theKayı tribe is one of the main divisions of the GökleňTurkmens living in theBalkan velayat and consists of the following clans:adnakel, ak kel, alatelpek, bagly, barak, burkaz, ganjyk, gapan, garabalkan, garawul, garagol, garagul, garadaşly, garakel, garga, garyşmaz and others. TheKayı are also a subtribe of theBayat Turkmens of theLebap velayat.[25]
The name and logo of theİyi Party (İyi meansGood inTurkish) ofMeral Akşener is inspired by the seal of the Kayı tribe.[26]
Огуз — одно из тюркских племен (кабиле), они же туркмены...Второй (род) — Кайыг/(Oghuz - one of the Turkic tribes (kabile), they are also Turkmens. Second (clan) - Kayig)
That they hailed from the Kayı branch of the Oğuz confederacy seems to be a creative "rediscovery" in the genealogical concoction of the fifteenth century. It is missing not only in Ahmedi but also, and more importantly, in the Yahşi Fakih-Aşıkpaşazade narrative, which gives its own version of an elaborate genealogical family tree going back to Noah. If there was a particularly significant claim to Kayı lineage, it is hard to imagine that Yahşi Fakih would not have heard of it.
Based on these charters, all of which were drawn up between 1324 and 1360 (almost one hundred fifty years prior to the emergence of the Ottoman dynastic myth identifying them as members of the Kayı branch of the Oguz federation of Turkish tribes), we may posit that...
In fact, no matter how one were to try, the sources simply do not allow the recovery of a family tree linking the antecedents of Osman to the Kayı of the Oğuz tribe.
