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| Old Turkic script Orkhon script | |
|---|---|
 A line dedicated toBumin Qaghan in theOngin inscription | |
| Script type | Alphabet |
Time period | 8th to 10th centuries[1] |
| Direction | Right-to-left script  |
| Languages | Old Turkic |
| Related scripts | |
Child systems | Old Hungarian |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Orkh(175), Old Turkic, Orkhon Runic |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Old Turkic |
| U+10C00–U+10C4F | |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
TheOld Turkic script (also known variously asGöktürk script,Orkhon script,Orkhon-Yenisey script,Turkic runes) was thealphabet used by theGöktürks and other earlyTurkickhanates from the 8th to 10th centuries to record theOld Turkic language.[1]
The script is named after theOrkhon Valley inMongolia, where early 8th-century inscriptions were discovered in an 1889 expedition byNikolai Yadrintsev.[2] TheseOrkhon inscriptions were published byVasily Radlov and deciphered by theDanish philologistVilhelm Thomsen in 1893.[3]
This writing system was later used within theUyghur Khaganate. Additionally, aYenisei variant is known from 9th-centuryYenisei Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in theTalas Valley ofTurkestan and theOld Hungarian alphabet of the 10th century. Words were usually writtenfrom right to left.
Many scientists, starting withVilhelm Thomsen (1893), suggest that the Old Turkic script is derived from descendants of theAramaic alphabet in particular via thePahlavi andSogdian alphabets ofPersia,[4][5][6] or possibly viaKharosthi used to writeSanskrit.[7][8][9] It has also been speculated thattamgas (livestock brands used by Eurasian nomads) were one of the sources of the Old Turkic script,[10] but despite similarities in shape and forms, this hypothesis has been widely rejected as unverifiable, largely because early tamgas are too poorly attested and understood to be subject to a thorough comparison.[11] The text is most likely derived from Aramaic via theSogdian alphabet andSyriac alphabet.[12]
Contemporary Chinese sources conflict as to whether the Turks had a written language by the 6th century. The 7th centuryBook of Zhou mentions that the Turks had a written language similar to that of the Sogdians. Two other sources, theBook of Sui and theHistory of the Northern Dynasties, claim that the Turks did not have a written language.[13] According to István Vásáry, Old Turkic script was invented under the rule of the first khagans and was modelled after the Sogdian fashion.[14] Several variants of the script came into being as early as the first half of the 6th century.[15]
The Old Turkic corpus consists of about two hundred[16] inscriptions, plus a number of manuscripts.[17]The inscriptions, dating from the 7th to 10th century, were discovered in present-day Mongolia (the area of theSecond Turkic Khaganate and theUyghur Khaganate that succeeded it), in the upperYenisei basin of central-southSiberia, and, in smaller numbers, in theAltai Mountains andXinjiang. The texts are mostlyepitaphs (official or private), but there are also graffiti and a handful of short inscriptions found on archaeological artifacts, including a number of bronze mirrors.[16]
The website of theLanguage Committee of Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan lists 54 inscriptions from the Orkhon area, 106 from the Yenisei area, 15 from the Talas area, and 78 from the Altai area. The most famous of the inscriptions are thetwo monuments (obelisks) which were erected in theOrkhon Valley between 732 and 735 in honor of theGöktürk princeKül Tigin and his brother the emperorBilge Kağan. TheTonyukuk inscription, a monument situated somewhat farther east, is slightly earlier, dating toc. 722. These inscriptions relate in epic language the legendary origins of theTurks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by theChinese (Tang-Gokturk wars), and their liberation byBilge.[citation needed][18]
The Old Turkic manuscripts, of which there are none earlier than the 9th century, were found in present-day Xinjiang and representOld Uyghur, a different Turkic dialect from the one represented in the Old Turkic inscriptions in the Orkhon valley and elsewhere.[16] They includeIrk Bitig, a 9th-century manuscript book on divination.[19]
Old Turkic being asynharmonic language, a number of consonant signs are divided into two "synharmonic sets", one for front vowels and the other for back vowels. Such vowels can betaken as intrinsic to the consonant sign, giving the Old Turkic alphabet an aspect of anabugida script. In these cases, it is customary to use superscript numerals ¹ and ² to mark consonant signs used with back and front vowels, respectively. This convention was introduced by Thomsen (1893), and followed by Gabain (1941), Malov (1951) and Tekin (1968).[citation needed]
𐰀𐰁 𐰂 IPA:/ɑ/,/æ/ a, ä | 𐰃𐰄 IPA:/ɯ/,/i/ ï/ı, i | 𐰅 IPA:/e/ e | 𐰆 IPA:/o/,/u/ o, u | 𐰇𐰈 IPA:/ø/,/y/ ö, ü |
| Back vowels | 𐰉𐰊 IPA:/b/ b¹ | 𐰑𐰒 IPA:/d/ d¹ | 𐰍𐰎 IPA:/ɢ/ γ/g¹ | 𐰞𐰟 IPA:/l/ l¹ | 𐰣 IPA:/n/ n¹ | 𐰺𐰻 IPA:/r/ r¹ | 𐰽 IPA:/s/ s¹ | 𐱃𐱄 IPA:/t/ t¹ | 𐰖𐰗 IPA:/j/ y¹/j¹ | 𐰴𐰵 IPA:/q/ q | 𐰸𐰹 IPA:/oq/ oq[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front vowels | 𐰋𐰌 IPA:/b/ b² | 𐰓 IPA:/d/ d² | 𐰏𐰐 IPA:/ɡ/ g/g² | 𐰠 IPA:/l/ l² | 𐰤𐰥 IPA:/n/ n² | 𐰼 IPA:/r/ r² | 𐰾 IPA:/s/ s² | 𐱅𐱆 IPA:/t/ t² | 𐰘𐰙 IPA:/j/ y²/j² | 𐰚𐰛 IPA:/k/ k | 𐰜𐰝 IPA:/øk/ ök[b] |
| Others | 𐰲𐰳 IPA:/tʃ/ č | 𐰢 IPA:/m/ m | 𐰯 IPA:/p/ p | 𐱁𐱀 𐱂 IPA:/ʃ/ š[c] | 𐰔𐰕 IPA:/z/ z | 𐰭𐰮 𐰬 IPA:/ŋ/ ñ, ň, ŋ | 𐰱 IPA:/itʃ/, /tʃi/,/tʃ/ ič, či, č | 𐰶𐰷 IPA:/ɯq/, /qɯ/,/q/ ıq, qı, q | 𐰨𐰩 IPA:/ntʃ/ -nč | 𐰪𐰫 IPA:/ɲ/ -nj, ny, ñ | 𐰡 IPA:/lt/,/ld/ -lt |
𐰦𐰧 IPA:/nt/,/nd/ -nt | 𐰿 IPA:/aʃ/ aš | 𐱇 IPA:/ot/,/ut/ ot, ut[d] | 𐱈 IPA:/baʃ/ baš[e] |
Acolon-like symbol (U+205A ⁚TWO DOT PUNCTUATION) is sometimes used as a word separator.[20] In some cases a ring (U+2E30 ⸰RING POINT) is used instead.[20]
A reading example (right to left): 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃 transliteratedt²ñr²i, this spells the name of the Turkic sky god,Täñri (/tæŋri/).
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Variants of the script were found from Mongolia andXinjiang in the east to the Balkans in the west. The preserved inscriptions were dated to between the 8th and 10th centuries.
These alphabets are divided into four groups by Kyzlasov (1994)[22]
TheAsiatic group is further divided into three related alphabets:
The Eurasiatic group is further divided into five related alphabets:
A number of alphabets are incompletely collected due to the limitations of the extant inscriptions. Evidence in the study of the Turkic scripts includes Turkic-Chinese bilingual inscriptions, contemporaneous Turkic inscriptions in the Greek alphabet, literal translations into Slavic languages, and paper fragments with Turkic cursive writing from religion,Manichaeism,Buddhist, and legal subjects of the 8th to 10th centuries found inXinjiang.
Transcription of part of Bilge Kağan's inscription (lines 36-38).
𐰖𐰕𐰸𐰞𐱃----: 𐰋𐰃𐰼𐰘𐰀: 𐱃𐰉𐰍𐰲𐰑𐰀: 𐱃𐰃: 𐰚𐰇𐰾𐰃:
𐰖𐰸: 𐰉𐰆𐰡𐰃: 𐰉𐰆: 𐰘𐰼𐰓𐰀: 𐰢𐰭𐰀: 𐰴𐰆𐰺: 𐰉𐰆𐰡𐰃:
𐰢𐰤: 𐰇𐰕𐰢: 𐰴𐰍𐰣: 𐰆𐰞𐰺𐱃𐰸𐰢: 𐰇𐰲𐰤: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:
𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣𐰍: ----𐰇----: 𐰴𐰞𐰢𐰑𐰢: 𐰃𐰠𐰏: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰇𐰏:
𐰘𐰏𐰓𐰃: 𐰴𐰕𐰍𐰦𐰢: 𐰃𐰑----: ----𐱅𐰃𐰼𐰠𐰯: 𐰘----:
𐰦𐰀: 𐰾𐰇𐰤𐱁𐰓𐰢: 𐰾𐰇𐰾𐰃𐰤: 𐰽𐰨𐰑𐰢: 𐰃𐰲𐰚𐰏𐰢𐰀:
𐰱𐰚𐰓𐰃: 𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣: 𐰉𐰆𐰡𐰃: 𐰇𐰠𐰏𐰢𐰀: 𐰇𐰠𐱅𐰃: 𐰾𐰠𐰭𐰀:
𐰸𐰆𐰑𐰃: 𐰖𐰆𐰺𐰯𐰣: 𐰴𐰺𐰍𐰣: 𐰶𐰃𐰽𐰞𐱃𐰀: 𐰋𐰃𐰤:
𐰉𐰺𐰴𐰃𐰤: 𐰦𐰀: 𐰉𐰆𐰕𐰑𐰢: ----: 𐰘𐱁𐰴𐰀: 𐰍𐰑𐰃:
𐰆𐰖𐰍𐰺: 𐰠𐱅𐰋𐰼: 𐰘𐰇𐰕𐰲𐰀: 𐰼𐰏: 𐰃𐰠𐰏𐰼𐰇: 𐱅𐰕𐰯:
𐰉𐰺𐰑𐰃: ----:
𐱅𐰃: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰: 𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣: 𐰀𐰲: 𐰼𐱅𐰃: 𐰆𐰞:
𐰘𐰃𐰞𐰴𐰃𐰍: 𐰞𐰯: 𐰃𐰏𐱅𐰢: 𐰆𐱃𐰕: 𐰺𐱃𐰸𐰃: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐱅:
𐰖𐱁𐰢𐰀: 𐰆𐰍𐰕: 𐱅𐰕𐰯: 𐱃𐰉𐰍𐰲𐰴𐰀: 𐰚𐰃𐰼𐱅𐰃:
𐰇𐰚𐰤𐰯: 𐰾𐰇𐰠𐰓𐰢: 𐰽𐰆𐰴𐰣: ----: 𐰆𐰍𐰞𐰃𐰤:
𐰖𐰆𐱃𐰕𐰃𐰤: 𐰦𐰀: 𐰞𐱃𐰢: 𐰚𐰃: 𐰠𐱅𐰋𐰼𐰠𐰏: 𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣:
The Unicode block for Old Turkic is U+10C00–U+10C4F. It was added to theUnicode standard in October 2009, with the release of version 5.2. It includes separate "Orkhon" and "Yenisei" variants of individual characters.
SinceWindows 8 Unicode Old Turkic writing support was added in theSegoe font.
| Old Turkic[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+10C0x | 𐰀 | 𐰁 | 𐰂 | 𐰃 | 𐰄 | 𐰅 | 𐰆 | 𐰇 | 𐰈 | 𐰉 | 𐰊 | 𐰋 | 𐰌 | 𐰍 | 𐰎 | 𐰏 |
| U+10C1x | 𐰐 | 𐰑 | 𐰒 | 𐰓 | 𐰔 | 𐰕 | 𐰖 | 𐰗 | 𐰘 | 𐰙 | 𐰚 | 𐰛 | 𐰜 | 𐰝 | 𐰞 | 𐰟 |
| U+10C2x | 𐰠 | 𐰡 | 𐰢 | 𐰣 | 𐰤 | 𐰥 | 𐰦 | 𐰧 | 𐰨 | 𐰩 | 𐰪 | 𐰫 | 𐰬 | 𐰭 | 𐰮 | 𐰯 |
| U+10C3x | 𐰰 | 𐰱 | 𐰲 | 𐰳 | 𐰴 | 𐰵 | 𐰶 | 𐰷 | 𐰸 | 𐰹 | 𐰺 | 𐰻 | 𐰼 | 𐰽 | 𐰾 | 𐰿 |
| U+10C4x | 𐱀 | 𐱁 | 𐱂 | 𐱃 | 𐱄 | 𐱅 | 𐱆 | 𐱇 | 𐱈 | |||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Руника Восточного Туркестана представлена двояко: в виде рукописных текстов и как граффити на фресках и на штукатурке пещерных храмов в Турфанском оазисе. Образцы тюркского рунического письма на бумаге имеют особое значение, так как только к этой группе могут быть применены традиционные приемы и методы палеографического исследования. Эти памятники относятся к периоду расцвета древнеуйгурских городов и торговли, к периоду зарождения тюркской письменной литературы и науки. Функциональное изменение характера памятников может быть признано свидетельством возникшей потребности в более широком и утилитарном использовании рунической грамоты.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
