Yenisei Kyrgyz
𐰶𐰃𐰺𐰴𐰕 Qyrqyz | |
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| Languages | |
| Old Turkic | |
| Religion | |
| Tengrism, Buddhism, Manichaeism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Göktürks, Kyrgyz, Khakas, Fuyu Kyrgyz, Siberian Tatars, Altaians, Kazakh |
| History of Kyrgyzstan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Timeline | |
| 1916–1917 | |
| Turkestan Autonomy | 1917–1918 |
The Yenisei Kyrgyz (
History
The Yenisei Kyrgyz correlated with the
Around 202 BCE,
The Kyrgyz
| History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century |
|---|
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In 758, the Uyghurs killed the Kyrgyz Khan and the Kyrgyz came under the rule of the
When Genghis Khan came to power in the early 13th century, the Yenisei Kyrgyz submitted peacefully to him and were absorbed into his Mongol Empire, putting an end to their independent state. During the time of the Mongol Empire, the territory of the Yenisei Kyrgyz in northern Mongolia was turned into an agricultural colony called Kem-Kemchik. Kublai Khan, who founded the Yuan dynasty, also sent Mongol and Han officials (along with colonists) to serve as judges in the Kyrgyz and Tuva regions.
Some of the Yenisei Kyrgyz were relocated into the
The descendants of the Yenisei Kyrgyz today are the
Ethnicity and language
Culturally and linguistically, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were Turkic.
The
From Xiajiasi 黠戛斯,
As far as I can see the only basis for the assumption that the Kirghiz were not originally Turkic in language is the fact that they are described as blonds, hardly an acceptable argument in the light of present day ideas about the independence of language and race. As Ligeti himself admitted, other evidence about the Kirghiz language in
Xin Tangshu unfortunately misunderstood it and changed it to, "Whenever it rains, their custom is always to get iron," which is rather nonsensical. Ligeti unfortunately used only the Xin Tangshu passage without referring to the Tongdian. His restoration of qaša or qaš seems quite acceptable but I doubt that word simply meant "iron". It seems rather to refer specifically to "meteorite" or "meteoric iron".
American Turkologist Michael Drompp notes that the connection between language and race is highly inconclusive and the physical appearance of the Kyrgyz is no more credible an indicator of non-Turkic origin than a few possibly non-Turkic words in their lexicon, whose presence can be explained through linguistic borrowing. Yenisei Kyrgyz inscriptions in the eighth century and later are written completely in the Turkic language and Tang Chinese sources clearly state that the Kyrgyz wrote and spoke a language identical to the Uyghurs. Drompp states that there is no reason to assume the Kyrgyz were non-Turkic in origin, although such a possibility cannot be discounted.[32]
According to Lee & Kuang, who cite Chinese historical descriptions as well as genetic data, the turcophone "Qirghiz" may have been of non-Turkic origin, and were later Turkified through inter-tribal marriage. The Kyrgyz were described in the You yang za zu by Duan Chengshi in the 9th century AD as people with yellow hair, green eyes, and red beards. According to Duan, the Kyrgyz were not of wolf descent, unlike the Turks, and were born in a cave north of Quman Mountain as the offspring of a god and a cow. The
Lifestyle
The Yenisei Kyrgyz had a mixed economy based on traditional nomadic animal breeding (mostly horses and cattle) and agriculture. According to Chinese records, they grew Himalayan
Etymology and names
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The trisyllabic forms with Chinese -sz for Turkic final -z appear only from the end of 8th century onward. Before that time we have a series of Chinese transcriptions referring to the same people and stretching back to the 2nd century BCE, which end either in -n or -t:
- Gekun (EMC kέrjk kwən), 2nd century BCE. Hanshu94a.
- Jiankun (EMC khέn kwən), 1st century BCE onward. Hanshu 70.
- Qigu (EMC kέt kwət), 6th century. Zhoushu50.
- Hegu (EMC γət kwət), 6th century. Suishu84.
- Jiegu (EMC kέt kwət), 6th–8th century. Tongdian 200, Old Book of Tang 194b, and Tang Huiyao 100.
Neither -n nor -t provides a good equivalent for -z. The most serious attempt to explain these forms seems still to be that of
The change of r to z in Turkic which is implied by the Chinese forms of the name Kirghiz should not give any comfort to those who want to explain Mongolian and Tungusic cognates with r as Turkic loanwords. The peoples mentioned in sources of the Han period that can be identified as Turkic were the Dingling (later Tiele, from whom the Uyghurs emerged), the Jiankun (later Kirghiz), the Xinli (later Sir/Xue), and possibly also the Hujie or Wujie, were all, at that period, north and west of the Xiongnu in general area where we find the Kirghiz at the beginning of Tang.
| History of Mongolia |
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Further reading
- Chavannes, Edouard. "Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux" ("Documents on the Western Tujue") (1904)
- Mambetaliev Askar. "Nestorianism among ancient Kirghiz tribes"
References
- ^ "Xipoliya Yanke Suo Jian Xiajiesi Monijiao" ("Siberian Rock Arts and Xiajiesi's Manicheism") 1998 Gansu Mingzu Yanjiu
- ^ A. J. Haywood, Siberia: A Cultural History, Oxford University Press, 2010, p.203
- ^ Christoph Baumer, The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors, I.B.Tauris, 2012, p.171
- ^ Theobald, Ulrich (2012). "Xiajiasi 黠戛斯, Qirqiz" for ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art
- ^ Pulleyblank, Edwin G. "The Name of the Kirghiz" in Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1/2 (1990). Harrassowitz Verlag. page 98-99 of 98-108
- ^ Golden, Peter B. (2017). "The Turkic World in Mahmûd al-Kâshgarî" (PDF). Türkologiya 4: 16.
- ^ Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks". The Medieval History Journal, 21(2): 302.
- Records of the Grand Historian Vol. 110 "後北服渾庾、屈射、丁零、鬲昆、薪犁之國。…… 是時漢初定中國，……。" translation: "Later in the North [Modun] subdued the Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun, and Xinli nations. It was when the Han had just stabilized the Central Region, [...]. [i.e. 202 BCE]"
- ^ Youzang Zazu vol. 4
- ^ Lee & Kuang (2017) "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples", Inner Asia 19. p. 204-205 of 197-239
- ^ Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks". The Medieval History Journal, 21(2): 297-304
- ^ Kenzheakhmet, Nurlan (2014). "Ethnonyms and Toponyms" of the Old Turkic Inscriptions in Chinese sources". Studia et Documenta Turcologica. II. p. 299 of 287–316.
- ISBN 978-3447055376. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ISBN 9004141294. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ISBN 978-973-27-1962-6. Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologiaeque Antiqutatis et Medii Aevi.
- ISBN 978-3447055376. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ^ JSTOR 605932.
- ^ ISBN 9004141294.
- ISBN 978-0-08-087775-4.
- ISBN 978-963-7326-14-1.
- ISBN 978-951-9403-84-7.
- ISBN 9783110819724.
- ^ Tchoroev (Chorotegin) 2003, p. 110.
- ^ Pozzi & Janhunen & Weiers 2006, p. 113.
- ISBN 978-3-447-05378-5.
- ^ a b Pulleyblank, Edwin G. "The Name of the Kirghiz" in Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1/2 (1990). Harrassowitz Verlag. page 105 of 98-108
- ISBN 978-9027224446. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ISBN 978-3447055376. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ISBN 9004141294. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ^ Lee & Kuang (2017) "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples", Inner Asia 19. p. 216 of 197-239
- JSTOR 26571579.
The remaining Turkic clans (Yenisei Kyrgyz) were called the Tatars of Minusinsk by the Russians, and soon this became their autonym (tadarlar). In Soviet times, their official name (exonym) changed. They became Khakas after their Chinese name "xiaqiasi," or Kyrgyz.
- ^ a b Drompp, Michael (2002). "The Yenisei Kyrgyz from Early Times to the Mongol Conquest". Academia. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
- ISBN 0-86078-859-8.
- ISSN 2210-5018.
According to the You yang za zu, written by Duan Chengshi in the ninth century ad, the Qirghiz regarded themselves as progenies of a god and a cow: 24 The Jiankun (堅昆) [Qirghiz] tribe, [unlike the Türks], is not of wolf descent. Their ancestors were born in a cave located to the north of the Quman Mountain. They themselves say that in the ancient times there was a god who mated with a cow in that cave. The people's hair is yellow, eyes are green, and beards are red. The Qirghiz are distinguished from the Uighurs and other Tiele tribes in Chinese histories. The Xin Tangshu, which provides detailed information on the Qirghiz and the Tiele tribes, does not include the former among the latter (Xin Tangshu 217b.6139–6145). In addition, while the Xin Tangshu states that 'their language and script were identical to those of the Uighurs (其文字言語，與回鶻正同)' (Xin Tangshu 217b.6148), it also notes the peculiar physical phenotype of the Qirghiz. The Xin Tangshu relates: 'The people are all tall and big and have red hair, white faces, and green eyes (人皆長大，赤髮、皙面、綠瞳)' (Xin Tangshu, 217b.6147).25 According to the Xin Tangshu, their neighbouring tribe named Boma (駁馬) or Bila (弊剌) resembled the Qirghiz, although their language was different (Xin Tangshu 217b.6146). This may imply that the Qirghiz were originally a non-Turkic people26 who became Turkicized during the Kök Türk period at least partly through inter-tribal marriages.
- ^ Lee & Kuang 2017, p. 204-205.
- ISBN 978-0-253-35385-6.