Sir-Kıvchak were aTurkic people whose existence is controversial and who were proposed to be precursors to theKipchaks who settled in East Europe in the 10th century.
TheSir appeared asXinli 薪犁 (OC: *siŋ-ri(:)l) inSima Qian'sRecords of the Grand Historian but were not referred to again until the 7th century asXue 薛 (MC: *siᴇt̚).[1][2]
In theBain Tsokto inscriptions of 720s erected byTonyukuk, the nameTürük "Turks" is mostly accompanied by the name(E)Sir (Old Turkic script: 𐰾𐰃𐰼).[3][4] According to S.G.Klyashtorny and T.İ. Sultanov this shows the importance of Sir element in theSecond Turkic Khaganate (681-744)[5] This opinion is possibly supported by the fact that in theKhöshöö Tsaidam Monuments erected in 735 forBilge Khagan, the nameSir follows the nameTürük and precedes other tribal names.[3]
After the defeat of the short livedXueyantuo khanate in 646, Sir people escaped to west. In 679-681 term they supported Turkic revolt against theTang Empire in China. After the Turkic Empire was restored they took part in the formation of the new empire.[citation needed]
Uyghurs, who replaced theSecond Turkic Khaganate possibly mentioned the Kïvchak, instead of Sir, as the tribe who accompanied the Turks[5] in their Moyun Chur monument. Thus it seems that the names Sir and Kïvchak were used interchangeably and Kïvchak was the name Sir people assumed after the collapse of theTurkic Empire. Klyashtorny proposed that the new name Kïvchak means "unfortunate" inOld Turkic language, probably referring to the problems they encountered after the collapse of the empire. Kïvchak remnants escaped to west toKimek territory. TheKipchak people of the later era likely descended from the Kïvchak of the 8th century.[citation needed] However, this early attestation of the ethnonym Kipchak is uncertain as damages on the inscription leave only-čq (𐰲𐰴) (*-čaq or *čiq) readable.[6] S.E.Malov, G.Aidarov and S.Karzhaubai have read this asTürük Qïbčaq, however the group which took part in the Mongolian and Japanese expedition in 1996-1998, did read the relevant passage astürk qaγan čaq älig yïl olurmïš ("I heard that the Turuk qayans sat on the throne exactly for fifty years").[7]
According toThe Cambridge History of Inner Asia, however, the identification of Sir people with the Kipchak is not well established.[8]