Editing Turanism (section)

== Origins and definitions ==
[[File:Max Müller's Northern Division of Turanian Languages.png|thumb|180px|[[Max Müller]]'s northern division of [[Turanian languages]]. ]]

The concept of a Ural-Altaic ethnic and language family goes back to the linguistic theories of [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]]; in his opinion there was no better method for specifying the relationship and origin of the various peoples of the Earth, than the comparison of their languages. In his ''Brevis designatio meditationum de originibus gentium ductis potissimum ex indicio linguarum'',<ref>{{cite book|author-last=Leibniz |author-first=Gottfried Wilhelm |title=Brevis designatio meditationum de originibus gentium ductis potissimum ex indicio linguarum |trans-title=A brief summary of the thoughts on the origins of the nations drawn mainly from the information of languages |language=la |date=1710 |url=https://edoc.bbaw.de/files/956/Leibniz_Brevis.pdf}}</ref> written in 1710, he originates every human language from one common ancestor language. Over time, this ancestor language split into two families: the Japhetic and the Aramaic. The Japhetic family split even further, into Scythian and Celtic branches. The members of the [[Scythian]] family were: the Greek language, the family of Sarmato-Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech, Dalmatian, Bulgar, Slovene, Avar), the family of Turkic languages (Turkish, [[Cumans|Cuman]], Kalmyk and Mongolian), the family of Finnic languages (Finnish, Saami, Hungarian, Estonian, Liv and Samoyed). Although his theory and grouping were far from perfect, it had a tremendous effect on the development of linguistic research, especially in German speaking countries.

The term "[[Turan]]" is of Iranian origin<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Tūrān |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_COM_0206 |date=1913–1936 |editor-last1=Houtsma |editor-first1=M. Th. |edition=First |doi=10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_COM_0206 |quote=an Iranian term applied to the country to the north-east of Iran. |editor-first2=T.W. |editor-last2=Arnold |editor-first3=R. |editor-last3=Basset |editor-first4=R. |editor-last4=Hartmann|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=van Donzel |first=Emeri |url=https://archive.org/details/islamicdeskrefer00donz_0 |title=Islamic Reference Desk |publisher=Brill Academic |year=1994 |isbn=9789004097384 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicdeskrefer00donz_0/page/461 461] |quote=Iranian term applied to region lying to the northeast of Iran and ultimately indicating very vaguely the country of the Turkic peoples. |url-access=registration}}</ref> and is believed to have referred to a prehistorical [[Turya (Avesta)|human society]] in Central Asia. The term was widely used in scientific literature from the 18th century onwards to denote Central Asia. European scholars borrowed the term from the historical works of [[Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur]]; the annotated English translation of his [[Shajara-i_Tarākima|''Shajare-i Türk'']] was published in 1729 and quickly became an oft-used source for European scholars.
[[File:Ázsia és Európa nyelvei nyelvtani alapeveik szerint elrendezve Friedrich Max Müller 1854-ben kiadott Letter to Chevalier Bunsen on the classification of the Turanian languages című munkájában.png|thumb|180px|The languages of Asia and Europe arranged according to their grammatical principles in Max Müller's ''Letter to Chevalier Bunsen on the classification of the Turanian languages'', published in 1854. ]]
[[Friedrich Max Müller]], the German Orientalist and philologist, published and proposed a new grouping of the non-Aryan and non-Semitic Asian languages in 1855. In his work ''The Languages of the Seat of War in the East'', he called these languages "Turanian". Müller divided this group into two subgroups, the Southern Division and the Northern Division.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/languagesseatwa00mlgoog |title=The languages of the seat of war in the East. With a survey of the three families of language, Semitic, Arian and Turanian|date=1855}} MÜLLER, Friedrich Max. ''The languages of the seat of war in the East. With a survey of the three families of language, Semitic, Arian and Turanian.'' Williams and Norgate, London, 1855. https://archive.org/details/languagesseatwa00mlgoog
</ref> In the long run, his evolutionist theory about languages' structural development, tying growing grammatical refinement to socio-economic development, and grouping languages into 'antediluvian', 'familial', 'nomadic', and 'political' developmental stages,<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Müller | first1 = Friedrich Max | title = Letters to Chevalier Bunsen on the classification of the Turanian languages | date = 1854 | place = London | publisher = A. & G.A. Spottiswoode | url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924087972182 | access-date = 30 September 2024 }}</ref> proved unsound. Nonetheless, his terminology stuck, and the terms 'Turanian peoples' and 'Turanian languages' became parts of common parlance. Another proposed group, the Ural-Altaic languages, was later derived from Müller's Northern Division subgroup.

Like the term [[Aryan]] is used for Indo-European, Turanian is used chiefly as a linguistic term, synonymous with Ural-Altaic.<ref>M. Antoinette Czaplicka, The Turks of Central Asia in History and at the Present Day, Elibron, 2010, p. 19.</ref> However, the Ural-Altaic theory has been scientifically disproven. Concepts of areal linguistics and typology even if in a genetic sense of these terms might be considered as obsolete.<ref>BROWN, Keith and OGILVIE, Sarah eds.:Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. 2009. p. 722.</ref>

Turanism originated in the work of the Finnish nationalist and linguist [[Matthias Castrén|Matthias Alexander Castrén]], who championed the ideology. He concluded that the Finns originated in Central Asia (more specifically in the [[Altai Mountains]]) and far from being a small isolated people, they were part of a larger polity that included such peoples as the [[Hungarians|Magyars]], Turks, and Mongols.<ref>EB on Matthias Alexander Castrén. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/98799/Matthias-Alexander-Castren</ref> It implies not only the unity of all [[Turkic peoples]] (as in [[pan-Turkism]]), but also the alliance of a wider Ural-Altaic family believed to include all speakers of the "[[Turanian languages]]".

Although Turanism is a political movement for the union of all Ural-Altaic peoples, there are different opinions about the movement's inclusivity.<ref>{{cite web |date=8 May 2016 |title=Turancılık – (H. Nihal ATSIZ) – Ulu Türkçü Nihal ATSIZ Otağı – Türkçülük – Turancılık ve Hüseyin Nihal Atsız |trans-title=Turanism – (H. Nihal ATSIZ) – The Great Turkist Nihal ATSIZ Post – Turkism – Turanism and Hüseyin Nihal Atsız |url=http://www.nihal-atsiz.com/yazi/turancilik-h-nihal-atsiz.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816063029/http://www.nihal-atsiz.com/yazi/turancilik-h-nihal-atsiz.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=August 16, 2010 |website=www.nihal-atsiz.com |language=tr}}</ref> The early Turanist [[Ziya Gökalp]] opined that Turanism is for Turkic peoples only, as other Turanian peoples (Finns, Hungarians, Mongolians and so on) are too different culturally.<ref>Türkçülüğün Esasları pg.25 (Gökalp, Ziya)</ref> In contrast, his contemporary [[Lothrop Stoddard]] gave the following description during [[World War I]]:<blockquote>Right across northern Europe and Asia, from the Baltic to the Pacific and from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean, there stretches a vast band of peoples to whom ethnologists have assigned the name of "Uralo-Altaic race", but who are more generally termed "Turanians". This group embraces the most widely scattered folk—the [[Ottoman Turks]] of [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] and [[Anatolia]], the [[Turkmen people|Turcomans]] of [[Central Asia]] and [[Persia]], the [[Tatars]] of South [[Russia]] and [[Transcaucasia]], the [[Hungarians|Magyars]] of [[Hungary]], the [[Finns]] of [[Finland]] and the [[Baltic region|Baltic provinces]], the [[Indigenous peoples|aboriginal tribes]] of [[Siberia]] and even the distant [[Mongols]] and [[Manchu people|Manchus]]. Diverse though they are in culture, tradition, and even physical appearance, these peoples nevertheless possess certain well-marked traits in common. Their languages are all similar, and, what is of even more import, their physical and mental make-up displays undoubted affinities.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1917 |title=Pan-Turanism |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S000305540010557X/type/journal_article |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=16 |doi=10.2307/1944138 |issn=0003-0554 |jstor=1944138 |s2cid=251097785 |author-last=Stoddard |author-first=T. Lothrop|url-access=subscription }}</ref></blockquote>