Editing Khazars (section)

== Linguistics ==
{{Main|Khazar language}}

Determining the origins and nature of the Khazars is closely bound with theories of [[Turkic languages|their languages]], but analysis of their languages' origins is difficult, since no indigenous records in the Khazar language survive, and the state was [[polyglot]] and [[Polyethnicity|polyethnic]].{{efn|group=note|"there must have been many different ethnic groups within the Khazar realm&nbsp;... These groups spoke different languages, some of them no doubt belonging to the Indo-European or different Caucasian language families." {{harv|Erdal|2007|p=75, n.2}}}}{{efn|group=note|The high chancery official of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] under [[Al-Wathiq]], Sallām the interpreter (''Sallam al-tardjuman''), famous for his reputed mastery of thirty languages, might have been both Jewish and a Khazar {{harvnb|Wasserstein|2007|pp=376, and n.2}}, referring to {{harvnb|Dunlop|1954|pp=190–193}}.}} Whereas the royal or ruling elite probably spoke an eastern variety of [[Common Turkic languages|Shaz Turkic]], the subject tribes appear to have spoken varieties of [[Lir-Turkic|Lir Turkic]], such as [[Oghur (tribe)|Oğuric]], a language variously identified with [[Bulgars|Bulğaric]], [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], and [[Hunnish language|Hunnish]].

The latter based upon the assertion of the Persian historian [[Estakhri|Istakhri]] the Khazar language was different from any other known tongue. Alano-As was also widely spoken. Eastern Common Turkic, the language of the royal house and its core tribes, in all likelihood remained the language of the ruling elite in the same way that Mongol continued to be used by the rulers of the Golden Horde, alongside of the [[Kipchaks|Qipčaq Turkic]] speech spoken by the bulk of the Turkic tribesmen that constituted the military force of this part of the [[Borjigin#Post-Mongol Empire|Činggisid]] empire. Similarity, Oğuric, like Qipčaq Turkic in the Jočid realm, functioned as one of the languages of government.{{sfn|Golden|2006|p=91}}{{efn|group=note|al-Iṣṭakhrī's account however then contradicts itself by likening the language to [[Bulgars|Bulğaric]] {{harv|Golden|2007a|pp=13–14, 14 n.28}}.}} One method for tracing their origins consists in the analysis of the possible etymologies behind the [[ethnonym]] "Khazar".