Editing Tengri (section)

==Name==
[[File:Orkhon.svg|thumb|right|200px|Spelling of {{OldTurkicUnicode|𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃}} ''tengri'' in the [[Old Turkic script]] (written from right to left, as ''t²ṅr²i'')]]

The oldest form of the name is recorded in Chinese annals from the 4th century BC, describing the beliefs of the [[Xiongnu]]. It takes the form 撑犁/''Cheng-li'', which is hypothesized to be a Chinese transcription of ''Tängri''. (The [[Proto-Turkic]] form of the word has been reconstructed as ''*Teŋri'' or, the back-ablauted variant ''*Taŋrï''.)<ref name="Roux">Jean-Paul Roux, ''Die alttürkische Mythologie'', p. 255</ref> Alternatively, a reconstructed [[Altaic language|Altaic]] etymology from ''*T`aŋgiri'' ("oath" or "god") would emphasize the god's divinity rather than his domain over the sky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/alt/altet&text_number=2306&root=config|title=Altaic etymology : Query result|website=starling.rinet.ru}}</ref> It is generally assumed the term ''tengri'' originally meant "sky".<ref name="auto">Religion and State in the Altaic World: Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC), Friedensau, Germany, 18–23 August 2019. (2022). Deutschland: De Gruyter. p. 178</ref><ref>Moldagaliyev, Bauyrzhan Eskaliyevich, et al. "Synthesis of traditional and Islamic values in Kazakhstan." European Journal of Science and Theology 11.5 (2015): 217-229.</ref> [[Andrey Kononov]] suggested that the term is formed by the words ''tän'' (morning) and ''injir'' (evening) into ''tänri'', referring to the sky as whole.<ref name="auto"/>

The Turkic form, ''Tengri'', is attested in the 8th century [[Orkhon inscriptions]] as the [[Old Turkic language|Old Turkic]] form {{OldTurkicUnicode|𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃}} ''Teŋri''. In modern [[Turkish language|Turkish]], the derived word "''Tanrı''" is used as the generic word for "god", or for the [[Abrahamic religion#The Supreme Deity|Abrahamic God]], and is used today by [[Turkish people]] to refer to any god. The supreme deity of the traditional religion of the [[Chuvash people|Chuvash]] is ''Tură''.<ref>Tokarev, A. et al. 1987–1988. Mify narodov mira.</ref>

Other [[Linguistic reconstruction#Reflex|reflexes]] of the name in modern languages include {{langx|mn|Тэнгэр}} ("sky"), {{langx|bg|Тангра}}, {{langx|az|Tanrı}}.

Earlier, the Chinese word for "sky" 天 ([[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]: ''[[tiān]]'' < [[Old Chinese]] *''thīn''<ref name="starling">{{Cite web|url=https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Cchina%5Cbigchina&first=1&off=&text_character=%E5%A4%A9&method_character=substring&ic_character=on&text_reading=&method_reading=substring&ic_reading=on&text_ochn=&method_ochn=substring&ic_ochn=on&text_cchn=&method_cchn=substring&ic_cchn=on&text_wchn=&method_wchn=substring&ic_wchn=on&text_echn=&method_echn=substring&ic_echn=on&text_epchn=&method_epchn=substring&ic_epchn=on&text_mpchn=&method_mpchn=substring&ic_mpchn=on&text_lpchn=&method_lpchn=substring&ic_lpchn=on&text_mchn=&method_mchn=substring&ic_mchn=on&text_fanqie=&method_fanqie=substring&ic_fanqie=on&text_rhyme=&method_rhyme=substring&ic_rhyme=on&text_meaning=&method_meaning=substring&ic_meaning=on&text_oshanin=&method_oshanin=substring&ic_oshanin=on&text_shuowen=&method_shuowen=substring&ic_shuowen=on&text_comment=&method_comment=substring&ic_comment=on&text_karlgren=&method_karlgren=substring&ic_karlgren=on&text_go=&method_go=substring&ic_go=on&text_kanon=&method_kanon=substring&ic_kanon=on&text_jap=&method_jap=substring&ic_jap=on&text_viet=&method_viet=substring&ic_viet=on&text_jianchuan=&method_jianchuan=substring&ic_jianchuan=on&text_dali=&method_dali=substring&ic_dali=on&text_bijiang=&method_bijiang=substring&ic_bijiang=on&text_shijing=&method_shijing=substring&ic_shijing=on&text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=character&ic_any=on|title=Chinese characters : Query result|website=starling.rinet.ru}}</ref> or *''thîn''<ref>Schuessler, Axel. (2007). ''An Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese''. University of Hawaii Press. p. 495</ref>) had been suggested to be related to ''Tengri'', possibly a loan into Chinese from a prehistoric Central Asian language.<ref>The connection was noted by [[Max Müller]] in ''Lectures on the Science of Religion'' (1870).[https://books.google.com/books?id=l0Vx_SuD5MsC&dq=Mongolian+tengri&pg=PA92] Axel Schüssler (2007:495): "Because the deity Tiān came into prominence with the Zhou dynasty (a western state), a [[Central Asia|Central Asian]] origin has been suggested, note [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] ''tengri'' 'sky, heaven, heavenly deity'" (Shaughnessy ''[[Sino-Platonic Papers]]'', July 1989, and others, like Shirakawa Shizuka before him)."</ref> However, this proposal is unlikely in light of recent reconstructions of the [[Old Chinese]] pronunciation of the character "天", such as {{IPA|*/qʰl'iːn/}} ([[Zhengzhang Shangfang|Zhengzhang]])<ref>鄭張尚芳 《上古音系》(2003) 上海教育出版社</ref> or {{IPA|*/l̥ˤi[n]/}} ([[Reconstructions of Old Chinese#Baxter–Sagart (2014)|Baxter-Sagart]]),<ref>Baxter W. & Sagart, L. [https://ocbaxtersagart.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/BaxterSagartOCbyMandarinMC2014-09-20.pdf Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction, version 1.1 (20 September 2014)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504165432/https://ocbaxtersagart.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/BaxterSagartOCbyMandarinMC2014-09-20.pdf |date=4 May 2021 }} p. 110 of 161</ref> which propose for 天 a voiceless lateral onset, either a cluster or single consonant, respectively. Baxter & Sagart (2014:113-114) pointed to attested dialectal differences in [[Eastern Han Chinese]], the use of 天 as a phonetic component in [[Chinese character classification#Phono-semantic compounds|phono-semantic compound Chinese characters]], and the choice of 天 to transcribe foreign syllables, all of which prompted them to conclude that, around 200 CE, 天's onset had two pronunciations: [[Coronal consonants|coronal]] {{IPA|*/{{IPA link|t}}ʰ/}} and [[Dorsal consonants|dorsal]] {{IPA|*{{IPAslink|x}}}}, both of which likely originated from an earlier voiceless lateral {{IPA|*/{{IPA link|l̥}}ˤ/}}.<ref>Baxter, W. H. & Sagart, L. (2014) ''Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction''. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 113-114</ref>

Linguist [[Stefan Georg]] has proposed that the Turkic word ultimately originates as a loanword from [[Yeniseian languages|Proto-Yeniseian]] ''*tɨŋgVr-'' "high".<ref>Georg, Stefan (2001): Türkisch/Mongolisch tengri “Himmel/Gott” und seine Herkunft. Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia 6: 83–100.</ref><ref>Starostin, Sergei A., and Merritt Ruhlen. (1994). Proto-Yeniseian Reconstructions, with Extra-Yeniseian Comparisons. In M. Ruhlen, ''[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237452482_Proto-Yeniseian_Reconstructions_with_Extra-Yeniseian_Comparisons On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103041408/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237452482_Proto-Yeniseian_Reconstructions_with_Extra-Yeniseian_Comparisons |date=3 November 2021 }}''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. pp. 70–92. [Partial translation of Starostin 1982, with additional comparisons by Ruhlen.]</ref>

Amy Chua renders the name as "[T]he Eternal Blue Sky",<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Chua |first=Amy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/123079516 |title=Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance–and Why They Fall |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-385-51284-8 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=95 |oclc=123079516}}</ref> likely because of the connotations of the name's usage.