There is no universally acceptedetymology of the wordChuvash, but there are two theories. One theory suggests that the wordChuvash may be derived fromCommon Turkicjăvaş ('friendly', 'peaceful'), as opposed toşarmăs ('warlike').[citation needed]
Chuvash is aTurkic language spoken inEuropean Russia, primarily in theChuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of theOghur branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.[15][16]
Although there is no direct evidence, some scholars believe that Chuvash may be descendant from a dialect ofVolga Bulgar language[17] while others support the idea that Chuvash is another distinctOghur Turkic language.[18] Since the surviving literary records for the non-Chuvash members of Oghuric (Bulgar and possiblyKhazar) are scant, the exact position of Chuvash within the Oghuric family cannot be determined.
Some scholars suggestHunnish had strong ties withBulgar and to modern Chuvash[19] and refer to this extended grouping as separate Hunno-Bulgar languages.[20][21] However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.[22][23][24][25]
Chuvash woman in traditional attire
Despite grammatical similarity with the rest of Turkic language family, the presence of changes in Chuvash pronunciation (which are hard to reconcile with other members of the Turkic family) has led some scholars to see Chuvash as originating not fromProto-Turkic, but from another proto-language spoken at the time of Proto-Turkic (in which case Chuvash and all the remaining Turkic languages would be part of a larger language family).[26]
The Oghuric branch is distinguished from the rest of the Turkic family (theCommon Turkic languages) by twosound changes:r corresponding to Common Turkicz andl corresponding to Common Turkicš.[27] The first scientific fieldwork description of Chuvash, byAugust Ahlqvist in 1856, allowed researchers to establish its proper affiliation.[28]
Chuvash is so divergent from the main body of Turkic languages that Chuvash was first believed to be aTurkifiedFinno-Ugric language, or an intermediate branch betweenTurkic andMongolic languages.[29][30]Russian language and neighboringMari andVolga Tatar heavily influenced the Chuvash language.[31][32]
Mongolian,Arabic andPersian also influenced Chuvash.[33][34] Chuvash language has two to three dialects.[35][36] Although Chuvash is taught at schools and sometimes used in the media, it is consideredendangered by theUNESCO,[37][38] sinceRussian dominates in most spheres of life and few children learning the language are likely to become active users.
The subdivision of the Chuvash people are as below:
There are two rival schools of thought on the origin of the Chuvash people. One is that they originated from a mixing between theSabir tribes and theFinno-Ugrians.[39] The other is that they have descendant fromVolga Bulgars. Throughout history, they have experienced significant infusion and influence, not only fromRussian and other Turkic peoples but also from neighboringUralic tribes with whom they were persistently and mistakenly identified for centuries.[40]
TheSabirs who believed to have come fromSiberia, they lived there at least the end of the third millennium BC.[41][42][43] They were skilled in warfare, used siege machinery,[44] had a large army (including women[45]) and were boatbuilders. Sabirs led incursions intoTranscaucasia in thelate-400s/early-500s, but quickly began serving as soldiers and mercenaries during theByzantine–Sasanian Wars on both sides. Their alliance with the Byzantines laid the basis for the laterKhazar-Byzantine alliance.[46]
In the early first century AD, theBulgars whom may related to Chuvash started moving west throughZhetysu and the steppes of modern-dayKazakhstan, reaching theNorth Caucasus in the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD. There they established several states (Old Bulgaria on theBlack Sea coast and theSuar Duchy in modern-day Dagestan). Old Bulgaria broke up in the second half of the 7th century after a series of successfulKhazar invasions.Sabirs who were a tribe within theKhazar Khanate, subsequently undertook a migration to theVolga-Kama region along with otherOghuric tribes, ultimately founded theVolga Bulgaria, which eventually became extremely wealthy: its capital then being the 4th-largest city in the world.[citation needed]
Shortly after that, another state founded by Sabirs in Caucasus known asSuar Principality was forced to become avassal state of Khazaria. About half a century later, the Suars took part in theArab–Khazar wars of 732–737. The adoption of Islam in the early tenth century in Volga Bulgaria led to most of its people embracing that religion.[47]
After theMongols destroyedVolga Bulgaria in 1236, theGolden Horde kept control of the region until its slow dissolution fromc. 1438. TheKazan Khanate then became the new authority of the region and of the Chuvash. The modern name "Chuvash" began to appear in records starting from the sixteenth century from Russian and other foreign sources.[48]
In 1552, the Russians conquered the Kazan Khanate and its territories. The Chuvash, required to payyasak, gradually became dispossessed of much of their land. Many Chuvash who traditionally engaged in agriculture were forced to becomebonded laborers in the timber industry or to work inbarges due to growing poverty.[49] The subsequent centuries saw theChristianization andRussification of the Chuvash. During this period, most Chuvash converted toOrthodox Christianity, but theTsars never achieved their complete Russification.[48][need quotation to verify]
Down theVolga River, the Chuvash, the ancientBulgars, filled the entire county ofKazan andSimbirsk. Now, after receiving baptism, very few of them remain, because many, not wanting to be baptized, moved to theBashkirs and settled in other counties.
The 18th and 19th centuries saw the revival of Chuvash culture and the publication of many educational, literary, and linguistic works, along with the establishment of schools and other programs. TheChuvash language began to be used in local schools, and a special written script for the Chuvash language was created in 1871.[48]
On 24 June 1920, theBolshevik government of theRSFSR established theChuvash Autonomous Region; it became theChuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 21 April 1925. Around this time Chuvash nationalism grew, but theSoviet authorities attempted to suppress nationalist movements by re-drawing the borders of the republic, leaving many Chuvash living in neighboring republics or in Russian districts. During most of the Soviet period of 1917–1991, the Chuvash were subjected to Russification campaigns.[51]
The Chuvash language vanished from educational and public use. In 1989, another Chuvash cultural revival began[52] - partly in response to these changes. Soon the Chuvash language once again came into use in educational, public, and political life.[48] As of 2005[update], schools in the Chuvash Republic and in areas outside that have large Chuvash populations teach the Chuvash language and culture. Chuvash people around Russia also have media available to them in their local communities.[48][need quotation to verify]
Autosomal ancestry proportions of the Chuvash and several other populations, according to Kushniarevich et al. (2015).[53]
Physical anthropologists using the racial frameworks of the early 20th century saw the Chuvash as a mixedFinno-Ugric andTurkic people.[54][40] An autosomal analysis (2015) detected an indication ofOghur and possiblyBulgar ancestry in modern Chuvash. These Oghur tribes brought the Chuvash language with them.[55] Another study found some Finno-Ugric components in Chuvash people.[56]
Phenotypically, there is no particular differences among the Chuvash, as more Caucasoid or more Mongoloid phenotypes can be found among all subgroups.[57][58] In 2017, a full genome study found Chuvash largely show a Finno-Ugric genetic component despite having a small commonTurkic component withBashkir andTatar peoples. This study supportedlanguage shift hypothesis among Chuvash population.[59]
A group of Chuvash children with their traditional dress (Anat jenchi - Middle Low Chuvash)
They speak theChuvash language and have some pre-Christian traditions. The Chuvash have specific patterns used in embroidery, which is found in their traditional clothing.[60] Many people also use theRussian andTatar languages, spoken in Chuvashia and nearby regions along the middle course of the Volga River, in the central part of European Russia.[citation needed]
Most Chuvash people areEastern Orthodox Christians and belong to theRussian Orthodox Church while a minority areSunni Muslims or practitioners ofVattisen Yaly. After the Russian subjugation of the Chuvash in the 16th century, a campaign of Christianization began. However, most Chuvash were not converted until the mid-19th century.[61] The Chuvash retain some pre-Christian and pre-Islamicshamanism traditions in their cultural activities.[61][48] Parallel pray in the shrines calledkeremet and sacrifice geese there. One of the main shrines is located in the town of Bilyarsk.Vattisen Yaly is a contemporary revival of the ethnic religion of the Chuvash people.
A minority of Chuvash may have been exposed to Islam as early as the Volga Bulgaria era but most of those early Chuvash likely converted during the Golden Horde period.[49] An inscription dated at 1307 indicates that some Chuvash were converted to Islam, and religious terms occur in Chuvash in the form of Tatar loanwords.[62] However, sources do not specify the practices of the Chuvash during this period. Some Chuvash who converted to Christianity following the Russian conquest converted to Islam during the 19th and early 20th century.[49] During this period, several Chuvash communities were influenced byTatars and became Muslim. This caused some Muslim Chuvash to define themselves as Tatars but they retained their language and several Chuvash customs.[12][13]
^abArik, Durmuş (1 April 2007). "Islam among the Chuvashes and its Role in the Change of Chuvash Ethnicity".Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.27 (1):37–54.doi:10.1080/13602000701308814.ISSN1360-2004.Chuvashes who accepted Islam later on became imams, muezzins, teachers in madrasahs and the other religious employees. Many Chuvashes were influenced by Tatars who were strong representatives of Islam in the Volga-Urals region. This caused Chuvashes to define themselves as Tatars.
^Gerard Clauson,Studies in Turkic and Mongolic Linguistics. Routledge, 2002, p. 23.
^Agyagási, K. (2020)."A Volga Bulgarian Classifier: A Historical and Areal Linguistic Study".University of Debrecen.3: 9.Modern Chuvash is the only descendant language of the Ogur branch.The ancestors of its speakers left the Khazar Empire in the 8th century and migrated to the region at the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers, where they founded the Volga Bulgarian Empire in the 10th century. In the central Volga region three Volga Bulgarian dialects developed, and Chuvash is the descendant of the 3rd dialect of Volga Bulgarian (Agyagási 2019: 160–183). Sources refer to it as a separate language beginning with 1508
^Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Á, eds. (2021).The Turkic Languages. Routledge.doi:10.4324/9781003243809.ISBN978-1-003-24380-9.Another Turkic people in the Volga area are the Chuvash, who, like the Tatars, regard themselves as descendants of the Volga Bulghars in the historical and cultural sense. It is clear that Chuvash belongs to the Oghur branch of Turkic, as the language of the Volga Bulghars did, but no direct evidence for diachronic development between the two has been established. As there were several distinct Oghur languages in the Middle Ages, Volga Bulghar could represent one of these, and Chuvash another.
^Pritsak, Omeljan (1982). "The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan".Harvard Ukrainian Studies.IV (4). Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute: 470.ISSN0363-5570.JSTOR41036005.The language had strong ties to Bulgar language and to modern Chuvash, but also had some important connections, especially lexical and morphological, to Ottoman Turkish and Yakut
^Ramer, Alexis Manaster."Proto-Bulgarian/Danube Bulgar/Hunno-Bulgar Bekven".Granberg's suggestion that we should revive the term Hunno-Bulgar may well became that replacement — once it is clear that Hunnic and Bulgar were closely related and perhaps even the same language.
^PRITSAK, OMELJAN (1982)."The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan".Harvard Ukrainian Studies.6 (4):428–476.ISSN0363-5570.JSTOR41036005. Archived fromthe original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved23 April 2023.p. 430 "I was able to establish a Danube- Bulgarian nominative- suffix /A/ from the consonant stems. Recalling that Danube- Bulgarian was a Hunnic language."
^Golden, Peter B. (1992).An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples: ethnogenesis and state-formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East. Turcologica. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. pp. 88 89.ISBN978-3-447-03274-2.
^"Chuvash language | Alphabet, People, & Meaning | Britannica". Retrieved25 April 2024.Formerly, scholars considered Chuvash to be a Turkicized Finno-Ugric (Uralic) language or an intermediate branch between Turkic and Mongolian. The distinct character of Chuvash is also indicated by its lack of mutual intelligibility with the other Turkic languages
^Johanson, Lars; Csató, Éva Á, eds. (2021).The Turkic Languages. Routledge. p. 7.doi:10.4324/9781003243809.ISBN978-1-003-24380-9.Chuvash have a quite a different history than their neighbors, the Tatars, but they have been in a cultural contact with them, as is clear from linguistic evidence.
^"Chuvash".Encyclopedia.The Chuvash language by virtue of a number of peculiarities differs more widely than others from the Turkic languages. There are many Chuvash words in Mari, Udmurt, Russian, and other languages. Likewise, the Chuvash language has borrowings from Arabic, Persian, Kypchak-Tatar, Finnish-Ugric, and Russian.
^Poppe, Nicholas (1977). "On Chuvash-Mongolian Linguistic Contacts".Journal of the American Oriental Society.97 (2):111–114.doi:10.2307/598999.ISSN0003-0279.JSTOR598999.
^Carl Skutsch; Martin Ryle (2005).Encyclopedia of the world's minorities. New York: Routledge.ISBN1-57958-392-X.OCLC56420105.
^Graf, Orion M; John Mitchell; Stephen Wilcox; Gregory Livshits; and Michael H. Crawford.Chuvash origins: Evidence from mtDNA Markers. (2010).Their maternal markers appear to most closely resemble Finno-Ugric speakers rather than fellow Turkic speakers.
^abKrueger, John R. (1961).Chuvash Manual. Introduction, Grammar, Reader, and Vocabulary. Hague. pp. 7–8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Tatishchev, Vasily Nikitich (1768).История Российская. Часть 1 (in Russian).
^Skutsch, Carl, ed. (2005).Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. New York: Routledge (published 2013). p. 313.ISBN978-1-135-19388-1. Retrieved13 August 2021.During the Soviet era, the Chuvash [...] were subjected to Russification campaigns.
^Skutsch, Carl, ed. (2005).Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. New York: Routledge (published 2013). p. 313.ISBN978-1-135-19388-1. Retrieved13 August 2021.In the wake of the changes in 1989, a new Chuvash revival movement started [...].
^Suslova, T. A.; Burmistrova, A. L.; Chernova, M. S.; Khromova, E. B.; Lupar, E. I.; Timofeeva, S. V.; Devald, I. V.; Vavilov, M. N.; Darke, C. (1 October 2012). "HLA gene and haplotype frequencies in Russians, Bashkirs and Tatars, living in the Chelyabinsk Region (Russian South Urals)".International Journal of Immunogenetics.39 (5):394–408.doi:10.1111/j.1744-313X.2012.01117.x.ISSN1744-313X.PMID22520580.S2CID20804610.
1 Central Asian (i.e.Turkmeni,Afghani andIranian)Turkmens, distinct from Levantine (i.e.Iraqi andSyrian) Turkmen/Turkoman minorities, who mostly adhere to an Ottoman-Turkish heritage and identity.2 In traditional areas of Turkish settlement (i.e. formerOttoman territories).
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