Story 67. Common sense viewpoint on “Tatars” in Central
Asia
After the “Great War of the Turkic Races” mentioned
in the historical book <Tarikh-e Monghul, Collected History of Mongolia>
and the “Great War of the Tatars and Mogol Races” mentioned in
<Taikh-i Arba' Ulus, Four Khan Countries>, only two people, “Kyan” and
“Nikuz=Takaz”, the ancestors of Genghis Khan, survived and fled to “Arkhana
Kun”, there is a mention of “Tatars” and “Mogol, or Mongols”.
Here, let’s first look at the viewpoint on “Tatars” in Central Asia.
Russia was under the so-called “Mongol yoke” for over 240
years nationwide during the dark period of Russian history, and regionally,
“Tatars” were identified with “Mongols” for a long time, depending on the
region, until the last century. under the rule of the tribes.
Then the Russians, who are Slavs, were finally liberated
from their yoke of oppression.However, in this country today, the largest number of
“Tatars” live together with the Russians, who are Slavs, as brothers.
This Tatar tribe also lives in considerable numbers in the
Central Asian lands, from Turkmenistan to Turkey, and in Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, and other areas surrounding Russia.
In these regions, there is a proverb that Russians and
other peoples sometimes say as a habit.
“Gejje Yesti Tatar, tam Yesti Khatar
(Where there are Tatars, there is trouble).” This word is written as “Tatar
Bar, Hatar Bar” in the Turkic language of Central Asia.
Also, we generally mistakenly think of them as “Russians”,
“Kazakhs”, or “Uzbeks” based on their nationality rather than their race or
ethnicity, but surprisingly, there are many cases where they are actually
“Tatars” living in that land, or “Tatar race”. Among the famous Russian writers
Gogol and Turgenev, the outstanding generals and politicians Bunin and Lenin,
etc., and many other outstanding and famous great writers, composers, painters,
politicians, scientists, generals, and athletes representing countries such as
Russia, there are countless people of Tatar descent.
President Putin even once said, when a Turkic president
visited him, “If you peel off a layer of the Russian face, you will see the
face of the Tatars.” These are the two races of the East and the West who are
widely spread throughout today’s Russia and many Central Asian countries. The
“Tatar” race with exquisite combination of appearance.
The largest concentration of them today is “Tartaristan
(Country of Tatars)” from which the name of the race “Tatar” originates.
It is an autonomous republic of Russia. Its capital is
“Kazan”.
In addition, Crimea in Ukraine, which recently caused
territorial and ethnic conflicts with Russia and was invaded and occupied by
Russia, is the second largest concentration of the Tatar race.
They live widely from today’s Azerbaijan to Crimea,
Astrakhan in the Caucasus, Turkie, Altai, and Hakkasia and Kyrgyzstan in
northern Mongolia and Siberia.
So what kind of relationship do the “Tatars of history”
including the “8 Tatar Khans” have with the “Tatars of today” in these regions?
Who are the “Tatars” that <Secret History of
Mongolia> talks about? The “Secret History of Mongolia” depicted in the
“Mongol” film by the Russian CTB If we recall the scene,
Temujin's father Yesugei Baatar took the nine-year-old
Temujin and married him to Burte, the daughter of Dey Sechen of the Kongrat
tribe.
After leaving his son in the care of his in-laws and
returning home, he took a short break on the grasslands of the Kulun-Buir Lake
in northern Inner Mongolia, where the Tatars lived. The Tatars, who happened to
be having a feast, invited him and treated him to a feast of poisoned food.
After eating the food without knowing it was poisoned,
Yesugei Baatar set off again and returned home. On the way, Yesugei Baatar felt sick and realized that he
had taken poison. He barely made it home, but he called out to Temujin
desperately as he died.
Why do the Tatars in the Secret History of the Mongols, who
poisoned Genghis Khan's father, use the same ethnic title as the Tatars of the
West today? Something is amiss.
The “Tatar tribe of Tataristan” of today’s Central Asia and
Europe, the “Tatars” of the Temujin era in history, and the “8 Khans of Tatar” mentioned in <사국사Taikh-I Arba' Ulus, 四汗國, Four Khan Countries>
are people from very different periods, the 21st century, the 12th century, and
the 6th to 7th centuries respectively.
And yet, they are all called by a common ethnic name. Then,
we have to wonder what kind of relationship exists between them.
First, in order to find out the identity of “the 8th Khan
of Tatar, Suyuji” mentioned in <사국사Taikh-I Arba'
Ulus, 四汗國, Four Khan Countries>, we will first
understand the identity of this “Tatar tribe.”
Episode. Various views of Western scholars on the etymology
of the “Tatar” ethnic name
Rather than clarifying the original ethnicity of the
“Tatar” tribe through historical records and facts based on them, scholars have
tried to clarify it through their own interpretations of etymology. Here is an
article by a scholar who has almost covered all the various views on this
tribal name in one book.
He was originally a scholar of the Russian Academy of
Linguistic Sciences (Rusya Fedrasyonu Dil Bilim Akademisi Akademik). In particular, he is a founding member of the Academy of
Sciences of the Republic of Tataristan (Tatariustan Cumhuriyeti Bilimer
Akademisinism kurucu uyesi) and a world-renowned scholar in Turkology. His name is
Mirafaith Z. Zekiyev.
In his book <Turks and Tatar Roots> (Turklerin ve
Tatarlarin Kokeni), he presented the following opinions of Western scholars and
his own views on the origin of the word “Tatar”:
『Section 22: Etymology, Meaning, and
Functions of the Tatar Tribal Name
The basic tribal name by which other peoples generally call
the Turkic people is the tribal name Tatar. In connection with the Mongol
conquest, the tribal name ‘Tatar’ also became widespread, so many scholars have
tried to explain the etymology of this word with the help of the Mongolian
language. However, it has not yet been found among the Mongolian etymologies.
Some people say that it has a Chinese etymology because it
was first encountered in the Chinese literature in the form ta-ta [da-da or
ta-tse]. In the Chinese language, the word da-da means ‘dirty’ or ‘barbaric’.
However, more objective studies have put forward the theory that the Chinese
initially called their neighbors tatar (ta-ta), but later came to use the same
word to mean ‘dirty’ or ‘barbaric’. According to the Zinin view, only they were
clean and other tribes were ‘dirty’ and ‘barbaric’.
D.Y.Yeremeyev holds the view that the word ‘tat’ is an
Iranian concept, and that the Iranians and later peoples used the ethno-name
‘tatar’ as a concept of ‘foreigner’ (yabanci). This view is illogical. Most explanations regarding the Tatar ethno-name consider
it to be Turkic.
The famous Khive Khan and historian Ebu’l Gazi said that
the word Tatar was initially used as a personal name (antroponim), but later
took the form of an ethno-name.
In the Yakut language, ‘tatar’ means ‘idol’ (put). Karamzin
(N.M.Karamzin) and others understand that from this point of view, the later
Yakut word began to be used as a foot word.
Plano Karpini, who traveled to Mongolia in the 13th
century, writes that a group of Mongols living on the shores of the Tatar River
began to call themselves ‘Tatars’.
As for the origin of the word Tatar, there are several
views on this topic. For example, I.N.Berezin believes that the word ‘tatar’
comes from the word ‘tartir’, meaning ‘to pull’, ‘to weigh’.
N.A.Baskakov believes that the word ‘tatar’ is an old
Turkic word; It is believed to come from the word ‘tatar’ (messenger ualk),
Mongolian-Kalmyk ‘tatr’ (stammerer; kekeme, pepe) and Chuvash ‘tudar’
(stammerer; pepe).
L.G.Budagov, in the 19th century, shows another point of
view, writing that the concept of ‘messenger’ and ‘messenger’ in the word
‘tatar’ came from the fact that ‘the Tatars became known in the Turkish courts
and especially in various regions of Iran, and thus they came to be used as
messengers.’
In my opinion, the word ‘tatar’ is a word created according
to the rules of the Turkic tribal designation: tat-ar, haz-ar, bolg-ar, su-ar,
au-ar, sab-ir, sari-ir, kang-ar, akats-ir, etc. The name Tatar is derived from
the modifier 'ar' (man, people) and the modifier 'tat' (foreigner); yat〉dat〉tat. Tatr - 'foreigners'.
Now let's see what concept the word "Tatar" is
used for. According to Chinese sources, the Tatars were the northern
neighbors of the Chinese during the Han Empire (BC 206-AD 220), and caused
disturbances on the Chinese border. The term “Tatar” refers to the Turkic,
Mongol and Manchurian tribes. The ancient and even the 13th-century Chinese
historian Meng-Hung called the Turks the White Tatars, the Mongols the Black
Tatars, and the Manchus the Water (water-dwelling) Tatars. Eastern sources tell
us that the Tatars were more numerous among these Turkic peoples who submitted
to the Mongols.
Qashgakli Mahmud records the following names of the Turkic
peoples who settled in the region extending from the Byzantine border to China,
according to their location and borders: Pecheneg, Kipchak, Oghuz, Yemaek,
Batgirt, Basmil, Kai, Yabaku, Tatar, and Kirghiz.
The Turkic-speaking “Tatar” people were probably living in
Europe long before the Mongol conquest. Nikonov's vakaynamesi records the
arrival of a Greek embassy from Bulgaria in 990, noting that among their people
were such foul names as 'besermen' and 'tatar'.
After the Mongol conquest, the name Tatar became widespread
to an extent never seen before. The double-meaning of the French king Louis IX
(1214–1270, Saint Louis), who referred to the Tatars as 'those from Tartar
(hell)', paved the way for the Tatars to later be understood in Europe as
'tartar', a form that naturally fits the name of 'the devils of hell'. For
example, in the early 16th century, countless peoples who came under the rule
of the Chinggis Khan family in Europe began to be called ‘Tartar (tatar)’.
In Russia, countless peoples outside of the Russians began
to be called Rarae for the first time (the name Tatarman also remained at that
time)∙∙∙∙∙. As seen above, the name Tatar is one of the names used by the
Turkic peoples, who were neighbors of the Zina people, to introduce
themselves.’』
Mirfatih Z. Zekiyev introduces many different views on the
“Etymology, Meaning and Functions of the Tatar Name”. If we categorize these
views by group, they can be classified into 1) Zinaic, 2) Iranian, 3) Turkic,
4) Yakut, 5) Mongolian, 6) French, etc., and 7) Abulgazi Bahadir Khan’s view.
Then, are the various scholars' views on the origin of the
problematic "Tatar" tribal name correct? However, all of them are
wrong except one.
Because these various theories are all the same as what
Dzhekiev himself said: "Because the tribal name "Tatar" became
widespread in connection with the Mongol conquest, many scholars tried to
explain the etymology of this word with the help of Mongolian. However,
∙∙∙∙∙they could not find this word among the Mongolian etymologies."
Dzhekiev himself and other scholars made the same mistake.
They made the mistake of trying to find the origin of the
word "Tatar" not in another third language that may not be
"Mongolian" but in some other language such as "Chinese",
"Persian", "Yakut" or "Turkic", which has the
true etymology of the word.
』
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