| Khazar | |
|---|---|
 The 10th centuryKievian Letter has theOrkhon inscription word-phraseOKHQURÜM, "I read (this or it)". | |
| Native to | Khazar Khanate |
| Ethnicity | Khazars |
| Extinct | by the 13th century[citation needed] |
Turkic
| |
| Old Turkic | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | zkz |
zkz | |
| Glottolog | None |
Khazar, also known asKhazaric, was aTurkic dialect group spoken by theKhazars, a group of semi-nomadicTurkic peoples originating fromCentral Asia. There are few written records of the language and its features and characteristics are unknown. It is believed to have gradually become extinct by the 13th century AD as its speakers assimilated into neighboring Turkic-speaking populations.
There is a dispute among Turkic linguists and historians as to which branch of the Turkic language family it belongs to. One consideration believes it belongs to theOghur ("lir") branch of the Turkic language family, while another consideration is that it belongs to theCommon Turkic branch. As the extant corpus of Khazar is extremely limited, consisting of two nouns, a conjugated verb, and a few proper names, its exact genealogical position within the Turkic phylum remains unresolved.
There are many problems with exact classification of the Khazar language. One of the basic issues is the vague nature of the nameKhazar itself. It has not yet been determined whether it refers to a specific Turkic tribe, or if it had a political and geographical origin that was not ethnolinguistic.[1] The Khazar realm was a polyglot (multilingual) 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 termKhazar 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 centuryAl-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 theBulgars is like the language of the Khazars but theBurtas have another language."[5] Al-Istakhri mentioned that population ofDarband spoke Khazar along with other languages of their mountains.[6]Al-Masudi (896 – 956) listed Khazars among types of the Turks, and noted they are calledSabir in Turkic andXazar in Persian.[5]Al-Biruni (973 – 1050), while discussing the Volga Bulgars and Sawars (Sabirs), noted their language was a "mixture of Turkic and Khazar."[6][3]Al-Muqaddasi (c. 945/946 – 991) described the Khazar language as "very incomprehensible."[6]Ibn Hawqal, who travelled during the years 943 to 969 AD,[7] wrote that "the Bulgar language resembles that of the Khazars".[8][9]
Compared to the uniformity of Common Turkic, which Al-Istakhri mentioned "as for the Turks, all of them, from theToquz 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.[10]
The linguistic data on Khazar consists mostly ofproper names such astitles (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.[11][12] The interpretations do not indicate whether these are Common Turkic or Oghuric.[13][14]
Just twocommon nouns have been attested. The Arab historianIbn A'tham al-Kufi records the name of a type oftent asalǰdāḏ, whose first part is probably a cognate of eastern Old Turkicalaču 'tent'. A word for 'funeral feast' is recorded by the Byzantine historianTheophanes in several forms:δοχήνdokhḗn,δογήνdogḗn,δογῆνdogên,δουγήνdougén, comparable with eastern Old Turkicyog (as well as with a term recorded byMenandros asδογιαdogia). Other nouns have been proposed to be reflected in Khazar proper names, such as *bulan 'elk', *ït 'dog' in the personal namesBulan andItakh.[15]
Khazar was stated by the 1986Guinness Book of Records (following a claim by theGreat Soviet Encyclopedia) to have the "smallest literature" of any language, allegedly comprising only one attested word,oqurüm, "I have read" (from theKievan Letter).[16]
Sources
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