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B. Qarakhanids: The First Turkic Muslim State in Central Asia
- Indiana University Press
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11 al-Kashghari: On the Linguistic Distribution of the Turks Qarakhanids: The First Turkic Muslim State in Central Asia B Introduction Mahmud al-Kashghari, an eleventh-century lexicographer, hailed from Barskhan on the southern shores of Lake Issïq-köl (modern-day Kyrgyzstan). His family seems to have been well connected with the Qarakhanid dynasty, and Kashghari traveled extensively in the Turkic lands before making his way to Baghdad, where he began work on his Diwan Lughat al-turk (Compendium of Turkic dialects) in 1072. Apparently, his second work on Turkic grammar has been lost. Kashghari had hoped that his Compendium would serve as a language manual for Baghdad-based scholars engaged with the Turkic world, so he used methods of Arabic grammar and lexicography to make the work more obliging for its intended users. Many of the observations made in the work are from the author’s own personal experience. The Diwan Lughat al-turk is very significant for the early history of the Turkic peoples, and contains many details on language, history, and geography. It survives in a unique manuscript from 1266. Most of the references in the work— addressing, among other things, designations of different Turkic groupings, ranks and titles, proper names, as well as proverbs and verses—are for the kind of Turkic spoken in Kashghar in the eleventh century, referred to by the author as Khaqani Turkic. Nevertheless, there is a comparative element to the Diwan that makes this 70 Encounter with the Turks work particularly appealing for the study of Turkic history of the era. The work has been edited and studied in Turkey since the early twentieth century, and its vocabulary appeared in several Turkic dictionaries. The slave, Mahmud ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad [al-Kashghari ] states: When I saw that God Most High had caused the Sun of Fortune to rise in the Zodiac of the Turks, and set their Kingdom among the spheres of Heaven; that He called them “Turk,” and gave them Rule; making them kings of the Age, and placing in their hands the reins of temporal authority; appointing them over all mankind, and directing them to the Right; that He strengthened those who are affiliated to them, and those who endeavor on their behalf; so that they attain from them the utmost of their desire, and are delivered from the ignominy of the slavish rabble; [then I saw that] every man of reason must attach himself to them, or else expose himself to their falling arrows. And there is no better way to approach them than by speaking their own tongue, thereby bending their ear, and inclining their heart. And when one of their foes comes over to their side, they keep him secure from fear of them; then others may take refuge with him, and all fear of harm be gone. I heard from one of the trustworthy informants among the Imams of Bukhara, and from another Imam of the people of Nishapur: both of them reported the following tradition, and both had a chain of transmission going back to the Apostle of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. When he was speaking about the signs of the Hour and the trials of the end of Time, and he mentioned the emergence of the Oghuz Turks, he said, “Learn the tongue of the Turks, for their reign will be long.” Now if this hadith is sound—and the burden of proof is on those two!—then learning it is a religious duty: and if it is not sound, still Wisdom demands it. I have traveled throughout their cities and steppes, and have learned their dialects and their rhymes; those of the Turks, the Turkmen-Oghuz, the Chigil, the Yaghma, and the Qïrghïz. Also, I am one of the most elegant among them in language, and the most eloquent in speech; one of the best educated, the most deep-rooted in lineage, and the most penetrating in throwing the lance. Thus have I acquired perfectly the dialect of each one of their groups; and I have set it down in an encompassing book, in a well-ordered system. I wrote this, my book, asking the assistance of God Most High; and I have named it Diwan Lughat al-turk (Compendium of the Turkic Dialects); in order that it be an everlasting memorial, and an eternal treasure; and have Dedicated it to His Excellency; of the Hallowed and Prophetic, Imamate, Hashemite, ῾Abbasid line...