Salyr | |
|---|---|
 Tamga of the Salur | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Turkey,Turkmenistan,Iran,China[a] | |
| Languages | |
| Oghuz Turkic | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Oghuz Turks (SalyrTurkmens,Salar people) |
Salur,Salyr orSalgur (Turkish:Salır,Turkmen:Salyr,Persian:سالور) was an ancientOghuzTurkic (orTurkoman) tribe and a sub-branch of theÜçok tribal federation.[clarification needed]
ThemedievalKaramanid principality inAnatolia belonged to the Karaman branch of the Salur.[2] The Salghurids of Fars (Atabegs of Fars), were also a dynasty of Salur origin.[3]
The patriarchs of the modernTurkmen tribe of theSalyr inTurkmenistan,Uzbekistan,Afghanistan,Iraq, andIran, as well as theSalars ofChina, claim descent from the original Oghuz Salur.[2][4]
Historian and statesman of theIlkhanate,Rashid al-Din Hamadani, in his literary workOghuzname, which is part of his extensive history bookJami' al-tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), writes that the nameSalyr means “wherever you go, you fight with a sword and a club”. The khan of theKhanate of Khiva and simultaneously a historian,Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur, in hisShajara-i Tarākima (Genealogy of the Turkmens) expresses his belief that the meaning of the tribe's name is “armed with a saber”.[citation needed]
TurkologistPeter B. Golden believes the name comes from Salğur <sal- "to put into motion, violent motion," in Oghuz "to be aggressive, to hurl oneself into attack." Thus, this is a tribal name expressing military power, force and aggression. Such nomenclature may have appeared more in the medieval Turkic environment (e.g.Qiniq), as for personal names.[5]
According to various versions of the Oghuz Turkic heroic eposOghuzname, the Salyr tribe played an important role in theOghuz Yabgu State up to the middle of the10th century until the beginning of theSeljuk movement, and many Khans of this State were from the Salyrs. Rashid al-Din Hamadani:[6]
For a long time, royal dignity remained in the Oghuz family; for so long the dignity of the sovereign was in the ancestral branch of Salyr, and after that (from) other branches (also) there were revered kings.
Subsequently, the bulk of the Salyr tribe lived on the territory ofTurkmenistan, a significant part of them in the 11th–12th centuries left along with other Oghuz-Turkmen tribes to the west; inAsia Minor they established theSalghurids State centered inIraq in the 12th century,[7] and supported otherTurkmen beyliks in the reconstruction ofAnatolia. The Salgurid Dynasty, which ruled in Fars in 1148-1282 and played an important role in the creation of theSultanate of Rum, belonged to the Salyr tribe.[8] Part of the tribe moved toCrimea, and the Crimean riverSalgir, according to some scholars, owes its name to this tribe.[9][10] In the 14th–16th centuries, the Salyr led the largest military-tribal association of fiveTurkmen tribes: Salyr,Arsary,Tekke,Yomud andSaryk. This military alliance existed until the waters of theAmu Darya stopped flowing alongUzboy watercourse. The Salyrs ofKhorasan were known in the southern Turkmenistan. In the 16th–19th centuries, the Salyr Turkmen tribe lived inMangyshlak peninsula and the area of NorthernBalkan mountains of Turkmenistan, then in theKhiva Khanate, later in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya river, in theMurghab oasis and, finally, inSerakhs – the last place of their final settlement in 1884.
Salur Kazan, one of the heroes inDede Korkut's epic tales, is also a Salurian. Some Salurs still live in theMiddle East andCentral Asia.Matthew Arnold's poemSohrab and Rustum mentions the "lances of Salore" as a contingent of the Tartar army fighting the Persians.