Old Turkic script
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox writing system Template:Location map The Old Turkic script (also known variously as Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script, Turkic runes) was the alphabet used by the Göktürks and other early Turkic khanates from the 8th to 10th centuries to record the Old Turkic language.<ref name="Scharlipp">Scharlipp, Wolfgang (2000). An Introduction to the Old Turkish Runic Inscriptions. Verlag auf dem Ruffel, Engelschoff. Template:ISBN.</ref>
The script is named after the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia, where early 8th-century inscriptions were discovered in an 1889 expedition by Nikolai Yadrintsev.<ref name=sinor>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> These Orkhon inscriptions were published by Vasily Radlov and deciphered by the Danish philologist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893.<ref>Vilhelm Thomsen, [Turkic] Orkhon Inscriptions Deciphered (Helsinki : Society of Finnish Literature Press, 1893). Translated in French and later English (Ann Arbor MI: University Microfilms Intl., 1971). OCLC 7413840</ref>
This writing system was later used within the Uyghur Khaganate. Additionally, a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Yenisei Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and the Old Hungarian alphabet of the 10th century. Words were usually written from right to left.
OriginsEdit
Many scientists, starting with Vilhelm Thomsen (1893), suggest that the Old Turkic script is derived from descendants of the Aramaic alphabet in particular via the Pahlavi and Sogdian alphabets of Persia,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> or possibly via Kharosthi used to write Sanskrit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It has also been speculated that tamgas (livestock brands used by Eurasian nomads) were one of the sources of the Old Turkic script,<ref>Aristov, N. (1896) Notes on Ethnic Composition of Turkic Tribes and People and Population Record. ZhS 3-4, 277-456 </ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The text is most likely derived from Aramaic via the Sogdian alphabet and Syriac alphabet.<ref>Old Turkic script</ref>
Contemporary Chinese sources conflict as to whether the Turks had a written language by the 6th century. The 7th century Book of Zhou mentions that the Turks had a written language similar to that of the Sogdians. Two other sources, the Book of Sui and the History of the Northern Dynasties, claim that the Turks did not have a written language.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to István Vásáry, the Old Turkic script was invented under the rule of the first khagans and was modelled after the Sogdian fashion.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Several variants of the script came into being as early as the first half of the 6th century.<ref>Sigfried J. de Laet, Joachim Herrmann, (1996), History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D., p. 478</ref>
CorpusEdit
The Old Turkic corpus consists of about two hundred<ref name=erdal>Erdal, Marcel. 2004. A grammar of Old Turkic. Leiden, Brill. p. 7</ref> inscriptions, plus a number of manuscripts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The inscriptions, dating from the 8th to 10th century, were discovered in present-day Mongolia (the area of the Second Turkic Khaganate and the Uyghur Khaganate that succeeded it), in the upper Yenisei basin of central-south Siberia, and, in smaller numbers, in the Altai Mountains and Xinjiang. The texts are mostly epitaphs (official or private), but there are also graffiti and a handful of short inscriptions found on archaeological artifacts, including a number of bronze mirrors.<ref name="erdal"/>
The website of the Language 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 the two monuments (obelisks) which were erected in the Orkhon Valley between 732 and 735 in honor of the Göktürk prince Kül Tigin and his brother the emperor Bilge Kağan. The Tonyukuk inscription, a monument situated somewhat farther east, is slightly earlier, dating to Template:Circa. These inscriptions relate in epic language the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese (Tang-Gokturk wars), and their liberation by Bilge.Template:Citation needed<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Old Turkic manuscripts, of which there are none earlier than the 9th century, were found in present-day Xinjiang and represent Old Uyghur, a different Turkic dialect from the one represented in the Old Turkic inscriptions in the Orkhon valley and elsewhere.<ref name="erdal" /> They include Irk Bitig, a 9th-century manuscript book on divination.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
AlphabetEdit
Old Turkic being a synharmonic 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 be taken as intrinsic to the consonant sign, giving the Old Turkic alphabet an aspect of an abugida 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).Template:Citation needed
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
A colon-like symbol (Template:Unichar) is sometimes used as a word separator.<ref name="TUS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In some cases a ring (Template:Unichar) is used instead.<ref name="TUS"/>
A reading example (right to left): 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃 transliterated t²ñr²i, this spells the name of the Turkic sky god, Täñri ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}).
VariantsEdit
Variants of the script were found from Mongolia and Xinjiang 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)<ref>Kyzlasov I. L.; "Writings of Eurasian Steppes", Eastern Literature, Moscow, 1994, 327 pp. 321–323</ref>
- Asiatic group (includes Orkhon proper)
- Eurasiatic group
- Southern Europe group
The Asiatic group is further divided into three related alphabets:
- Orkhon alphabet, Göktürks, 8th to 10th centuries
- Yenisei alphabet,
- Talas alphabet, a derivative of the Yenisei alphabet, Kangly or Karluks 8th to 10th centuries. Talas inscriptions include Terek-Say rock inscriptions found in the 1897, Koysary text, Bakaiyr gorge inscriptions, Kalbak-Tash 6 and 12 inscriptions, Talas alphabet has 29 identified letters.<ref>Kyzlasov I. L.; "Writings of Eurasian Steppes", Eastern Literature, Moscow, 1994, pp. 98–100</ref>
The Eurasiatic group is further divided into five related alphabets:
- Achiktash, used in Sogdia 8th to 10th centuries.
- South-Yenisei, used by the Göktürks 8th to 10th centuries.
- Two especially similar alphabets: the Don alphabet, used by the Khazars, 8th to 10th centuries; and the Kuban alphabet, used by the Bulgars, 8th to 13th centuries. Inscriptions in both alphabets are found in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and on the banks of the Kama river.
- Tisza, used by the Pechenegs 8th to 10th centuries.
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 in Xinjiang.
Sample textEdit
Transcription of part of Bilge Kağan's inscription (lines 36-38).
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UnicodeEdit
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The Unicode block for Old Turkic is U+10C00–U+10C4F. It was added to the Unicode standard in October 2009, with the release of version 5.2. It includes separate "Orkhon" and "Yenisei" variants of individual characters.
Since Windows 8 Unicode Old Turkic writing support was added in the Segoe font.
Template:Unicode chart Old Turkic
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
SourcesEdit
- Diringer, David. The Alphabet: a Key to the History of Mankind, New York, NY: Philosophical Library, 1948, pp. 313–315.
- Erdal, Marcel. 2004. A grammar of Old Turkic. Leiden & Boston: Brill.
- Guzev, V.G., Kljashtornyj, S.G. The Turkic Runic script: Is the hypothesis of its indigenous origin no more viable? Rocznik Orientalistyczny, T. 49, Z. 2 (1994), wyd. 1995 [19]
- LFaulmann, Carl. 1990 (1880). Das Buch der Schrift. Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn. Template:ISBN Template:In lang
- Février, James G. Histoire de l'écriture, Paris: Payot, 1948, pp. 311–317 Template:In lang
- Ishjatms, N. "Nomads in Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, Template:ISBN
- Template:Cite book
- Kyzlasov, I.L. "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, Template:ISBN
- Malov, S.E. 1951, Pamjatniki Drevnitjurkskoj Pisʹmennosti (Памятники Древнитюркской Письменности), Moskva & Leningrad. Template:In lang
- Muxamadiev, Azgar. (1995). Turanian Writing (Туранская Письменность). In Zakiev, M. Z.(Ed.), Problemy lingvoėtnoistorii tatarskogo naroda (Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа). Kazan: Akademija Nauk Tatarstana. Template:In lang
- Róna-Tas, A. 1991. An introduction to Turkology. Szeged.
- Tekin, Talat. A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 69 (Bloomington/The Hague: Mouton, 1968)
- Thomsen, Vilhelm. Inscriptions de l'Orkhon déchiffrées, Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, Helsinki Toimituksia, no. 5 Helsingfors: La société de littérature Finnoise [1] Template:In lang
- Vasilʹiev, D.D. Korpus tjurkskix runičeskix pamjatnikov Bassina Eniseja [Corpus of the Turkic Runic Monuments of the Yenisei Basin], Leningrad: USSR Academy of Science, 1983 Template:In lang
- von Gabain, A. 1941. Alttürkische Grammatik mit Bibliographie, Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, auch Neutürkisch. Mit vier Schrifttafeln und sieben Schriftproben. (Porta Linguarum Orientalium; 23) Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz. Template:In lang
External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Wikisourcelang
- Türk bitig - Old Turkic inscriptions, Texts, Translations
- Orkhon Alphabet page from Omniglot
- Gokturkish Keyboard by Isa SARI
- Old Turkic Virtual Keyboard by Pamukkale University
- glyph table (kyrgyz.ru)
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Хөх Түрүгийн Бичиг (in Mongolian)
- Göktürükçe çevirici (An online converter for Turkish alphabet )
Template:Turkic topics Template:Göktürks Template:List of writing systems