Editing Turkic peoples (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (original).jpg|thumb|Map from [[Mahmud al-Kashgari|Kashgari]]'s ''[[Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk|Diwan]]'' (11th century), showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.]]
[[File:Turkic Head of Koltegin Statue (35324303410).jpg|thumb|[[Bust of Kul Tigin]] (AD 684–731), prince of the [[Second Turkic Khaganate]], found in [[Khashaat]], [[Arkhangai Province]], [[Orkhon River]] valley. [[National Museum of Mongolia]].]]
The first known mention of the term ''Turk'' ([[Old Turkic]]: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 ''Türük'' or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 ''Kök Türük'', {{zh|突厥}}, [[Pinyin]]: Tūjué < [[Middle Chinese]] *''tɦut-kyat'' < *''dwət-kuɑt'', [[Old Tibetan]]: ''drugu'')<ref name="KulteginMC">{{cite web| url = http://irq.kaznpu.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=15&m=1| title = Kultegin's Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIG}} [[Orkhon inscriptions]]</ref><ref name="TonyukukMC">{{cite web| url = http://irq.kaznpu.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=17&m=1| title = Tonyukuk's Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIG}} [[Bain Tsokto inscriptions]]</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Golden|first= Peter B.|title=The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks|journal=The Medieval History Journal |doi=10.1177/0971945818775373|pages= 291–327|date=25 July 2018|volume= 21|issue= 2|s2cid= 166026934 | issn = 0971-9458}}</ref>{{sfn|Golden|2011|loc=''Ethnogenesis in the tribal zone: The Shaping of the Turks''}} applied to only one Turkic group, namely, the [[Göktürks]],<ref>{{cite journal|first= Joo-Yup|last= Lee|title= The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia|journal= Central Asiatic Journal |volume=59 |issue=1–2|pages= 103–108|year= 2016}}</ref> who were also mentioned, as ''türüg'' ~ ''török'', in the 6th-century [[Inscription of Hüis Tolgoi|Khüis Tolgoi inscription]], most likely not later than 587 AD.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/34589694|title=The Khüis Tolgoi inscription – signs and sounds|first=Dieter |last=Maue|website=Academia.edu|access-date=4 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/34550816|title=Interpretation of the Hüis Tolgoi Inscription|first=Alexander|last=Vovin|website=Academia.edu|access-date=4 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/39716045|last= Vivin|first=Alexander|title= A Sketch of the Earliest Mongolic Language: the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi Inscriptions|journal= International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics|issue= 1|year= 2019|volume= 1|pages= 162–197|doi= 10.1163/25898833-12340008|s2cid= 198833565}}</ref> A letter by [[Ishbara Qaghan]] to [[Emperor Wen of Sui]] in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&q=Chinese+texts+from+585+mentioning+Ishbara+as+%E2%80%9Cthe+Great+Turk+Khan%E2%80%9D.+828+Turkic+peoples&pg=PA828|access-date=24 June 2020|title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania, p. 826|isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7|last1=West|first1=Barbara A.|date=19 May 2010|publisher=Infobase }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://newasia.proj.hkedcity.net/resources/25/beishi/index.phtml?section_num=099|title=新亞研究所 – 典籍資料庫|access-date=18 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221113517/http://newasia.proj.hkedcity.net/resources/25/beishi/index.phtml?section_num=099|archive-date=21 February 2014}}</ref> The [[Bugut inscription|Bugut]] (584 CE) and [[Orkhon inscriptions]] (735 CE) use the terms ''Türküt'', ''Türk'' and ''Türük''.<ref>Moriyasu & Ochir 1999, p. 123</ref>

During the first century CE, [[Pomponius Mela]] refers to the ''Turcae'' in the forests north of the [[Sea of Azov]], and [[Pliny the Elder]] lists the ''Tyrcae'' among the people of the same area.<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History'' – Harvard University Press, vol. II (Libri III-VII); reprinted 1961, p. 351</ref><ref>Pomponius Mela's Description of the World, Pomponius Mela, University of Michigan Press, 1998, p. 67</ref><ref>Prof. Dr. Ercümend Kuran, Türk Adı ve Türklük Kavramı, Türk Kültürü Dergisi, Yıl, XV, S. 174, Nisan 1977. s. 18–20.</ref> However, English archaeologist [[Ellis Minns]] contended that ''Tyrcae'' Τῦρκαι is "a false correction" for ''[[Iyrcae]]'' Ἱύρκαι, a people who dwelt beyond the [[Thyssagetae]], according to [[Herodotus]] ([[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]], iv. 22), and were likely [[Ugric peoples|Ugric]] ancestors of [[Magyars]].<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Iyrcae |page= 102 |volume= 15 |last= Minns|first= Ellis Hovell}}</ref> There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names might have been foreign transcriptions of ''Tür(ü)k'', such as [[Togarmah#Turkic history|''Togarma'']], ''Turukha''/''Turuška'', [[Turukkaeans|''Turukku'']] and so on; but the information gap is so substantial that any connection of these ancient people to the modern Turks is not possible.<ref>Peter B. Golden, Introduction to the History of the Turkic People, p. 12: "... source (Herod.IV.22) and other authors of antiquity, Togarma of the Old Testament, Turukha/Turuska of Indic sources, Turukku of Assyrian..."</ref><ref>German Archaeological Institute. Department Teheran, ''Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran'', Vol. 19, Dietrich Reimer, 1986, p. 90</ref>

The Chinese [[Book of Zhou]] (7th century) presents an etymology of the name ''Turk'' as derived from 'helmet', explaining that this name comes from the shape of a mountain where they worked in the [[Altai Mountains]].<ref>Sinor, Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Page 295</ref> Hungarian scholar [[András Róna-Tas]] (1991) pointed to a Khotanese-Saka word, ''tturakä'' 'lid', semantically stretchable to 'helmet', as a possible source for this folk etymology, yet Golden thinks this connection requires more data.<ref name="Golden2006">{{cite journal|last = Golden|first= Peter B.|title= Türks and Iranians: Aspects of Türk and Khazaro-Iranian Interaction|journal= Turcologica|issue= 105|page= 25}}</ref>

It is generally accepted that the name ''Türk'' is ultimately derived from the [[Old Turkic language|Old-Turkic]] migration-term<ref>(Bŭlgarska akademii︠a︡ na naukite. Otdelenie za ezikoznanie/ izkustvoznanie/ literatura, Linguistique balkanique, Vol. 27–28, 1984, p. 17</ref> 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 ''Türük''/''Törük'',<ref name="Nisanyan">[http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=Türk "Türk"] in ''Turkish Etymological Dictionary'', Sevan Nişanyan.</ref> which means 'created, born'<ref>Faruk Suümer, Oghuzes (Turkmens): History, Tribal organization, Sagas, Turkish World Research Foundation, 1992, p. 16)</ref> or 'strong'.<ref>''[[American Heritage Dictionary]]'' (2000). [http://www.bartleby.com/ ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition'' – "Turk""]. bartleby.com. Retrieved 7 December 2006.</ref> Turkologist Peter B. Golden agrees that the term ''Turk'' has roots in [[Old Turkic]],<ref>Golden, Peter B. "Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Turks and the Shaping of the Turkic Peoples". (2006) In: [https://books.google.com/books?id=8-OilJCX1moC ''Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World'']. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 143.</ref> yet is not convinced by attempts to link ''Dili'', ''Dingling'', ''Chile'', ''Tele'', and ''Tiele'', which possibly transcribed *''tegrek'' (probably meaning '[[cart]]'), to ''Tujue'', which transliterated to ''Türküt''.<ref>Golden, Peter B. (1992), ''An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples'', p. 93-95</ref>

Scholars, including Toru Haneda, Onogawa Hidemi, and Geng Shimin believed that ''Di'', ''Dili'', ''Dingling'', ''Chile'' and ''Tujue'' all came from the Turkic word ''Türk'', which means 'powerful' and 'strength', and its plural form is ''Türküt''.<ref>T. Allsen, P. B. Golden, R. K. Kovalev, and A. P. Martinez (2012), ''ARCHIVUM EURASIAEMEDII AEV'', p. 85</ref> Even though [[Gerhard Doerfer]] supports the proposal that ''türk'' means 'strong' in general, [[Gerard Clauson]] points out that "the word ''türk'' is never used in the generalized sense of 'strong'" and that ''türk'' was originally a noun and meant "'the culminating point of maturity' (of a fruit, human being, etc.), but more often used as an [adjective] meaning (of a fruit) 'just fully ripe'; (of a human being) 'in the prime of life, young, and vigorous'".<ref>Clauson, G. ''An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-13th Century Turkish'' (1972). p. 542-543</ref> Hakan Aydemir (2022) also contends that ''Türk'' originally did not mean "strong, powerful" but "gathered; united, allied, confederated" and was derived from Pre-[[Proto-Turkic]] verb *''türü'' "heap up, collect, gather, assemble".<ref>{{cite book|first= Hakan|last= Aydemir|date= 2–3 December 2022|chapter= TÜRK Adının Kökeni Üzerine (On the origin of the ethnonym TÜRK 'Turkic, Turkish') + an English abstract|title= Türk Dunyası Sosyal Bilimler - Sempozyumu|publisher= Ege University|location= İzmir|editor-last1= Şahin|editor-first1= İbrahim|editor-last2= Akgün|editor-first2= Atıf|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/100924309|language= tr}}</ref>

The earliest Turkic-speaking peoples identifiable in Chinese sources are the [[Yenisei Kyrgyz]] and [[Xueyantuo|Xinli]], located in South Siberia.<ref>The Peoples of the Steppe Frontier in Early Chinese Sources, Edwin G. Pulleyblank, page 35</ref>{{sfn|Golden|2011|p=27}}{{NoteTag|The Xueyantuo were first known as ''Xinli'' 薪犁, later ''[[Xueyantuo|Xue]]'' 薛 in the 7th century;<ref name="Pulleyblank p. VII">Pulleyblank, "Central Asia and Non-Chinese Peoples of Ancient China", p. VII 21–26.</ref><ref name="Duan p. 370">Duan, "Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele", p. 370.</ref> the Yenisei Kyrgyz were first known as ''Gekun'' (鬲昆) or ''Jiankun'' (堅昆), later known as ''Jiegu'' (結骨), ''Hegu'' (紇骨), ''Hegusi'' (紇扢斯), ''Hejiasi'' (紇戛斯), ''Hugu'' (護骨), ''Qigu'' (契骨), ''Juwu'' (居勿), and ''Xiajiasi'' (黠戛斯), all being transcriptions of [[Yenisei Kyrgyz|Kyrgyz]].<ref>Theobald, Ulrich (2012). [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/kirgizes.html "Xiajiasi 黠戛斯, Qirqiz"] for ''ChinaKnowledge.de – An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art''</ref><ref>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.</ref>}} Another example of an early Turkic population would be the [[Dingling]].<ref>Hyun Jin Kim: [https://books.google.com/books?id=fX8YAAAAQBAJ ''Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe'']. Cambridge University Press, 2013. pp.175–176.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lee|Kuang|2017|p=200|ps= "Historians know with certainty that the Dingling [...] were a Turkic people"}}</ref><ref>Xu Elina-Qian, [https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19205 ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''], University of Helsinki, 2005. p. 176.</ref>

In Late Antiquity itself, as well as in and the [[Middle Ages]], the name "Scythians" was used in [[Greco-Roman]] and [[Byzantine literature|Byzantine]] literature for various groups of nomadic "[[barbarian]]s" living on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe who were not related to the actual Scythians.<ref name="Application">{{harvnb|Dickens|2018|p=1346}}: "Greek authors [...] frequently applied the name Scythians to later nomadic groups who had no relation whatever to the original Scythians"</ref>{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}} Medieval European chroniclers subsumed various Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe as "Scythians". Between 400 CE and the 16th century, Byzantine sources use the name Σκύθαι (''Skuthai'') in reference to twelve different Turkic peoples.<ref name="G. Moravcsik, p. 236-39">G. Moravcsik, ''Byzantinoturcica'' II, p. 236–39</ref>

In the modern Turkish language as used in the Republic of Turkey, a distinction is made between "Turks" and the "Turkic peoples" in loosely speaking: the term ''Türk'' corresponds specifically to the "Turkish-speaking" people (in this context, "Turkish-speaking" is considered the same as "Turkic-speaking"), while the term ''[[Turki|Türki]]'' refers generally to the people of modern "Turkic Republics" (''Türki Cumhuriyetler'' or ''Türk Cumhuriyetleri''). However, the proper usage of the term is based on [[Turkic languages|the linguistic classification]] in order to avoid any [[political]] sense. In short, the term ''Türki'' can be used for ''Türk'' or vice versa.<ref>[[Jean-Paul Roux]], ''Historie des Turks – Deux mille ans du Pacifique á la Méditerranée''. [[Fayard|Librairie Arthème Fayard]], 2000.</ref>