Yenisei Kirghiz
Encyclopedia
The Yenisei Kirghiz, also known as the Khyagas or Khakas
, were an ancient people that dwelled along the upper Yenisei River
in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression
from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. The heart of their homeland was the forested Tannu-Ola mountain range (known in ancient times as the Lao or Kogmen mountains), in modern day Tuva
, just north of Mongolia. The Sayan mountains
, and much of Mongolia's Great Lakes Depression
were also included in their territory at different times. The Kirghiz Khaganate existed from 550 to 1293 CE, in 840 it took over the leadership of the Turkic Khaganate from the Uigurs, expanding their state from the Yenisei territories into the Central Asia and Tarim basin. The Yenisei Kirghiz mass migration to the Jeti-su resulted in the formation of the modern Kirghizstan in the Pamir
area.
. The Xiajiasi first appeared as Gekun or Jiankun in Han period
records. Culturally and linguistically, the Yenisei Kirghiz were Turkic. But ethnically it is believed they were part Mongol and part Samoyed
because of their red hair and light skin and eyes. Kirghiz with dark features were believed to be descended from the famous Han Dynasty
general Li Ling, who defected to Siberia in the first century BCE. By the fall of the Gokturk empire in the eighth century CE, the Yenisei Kirghiz had established their own thriving state based on the Gokturk model. They had adopted the Orkhon script
of the Gokturks and established trading ties with China
and the Abbasid Caliphate in Central Asia and Middle East. Later, under the Uyghur Khaganate, the Yenisei Kirghiz spent much of their time in a state of rebellion, and in 840 they succeeded in sacking the Uyghur capital in Mongolia's Orkhon
valley and driving the Uyghurs out of Mongolia entirely. But rather than replace the Uyghurs as the lords of Mongolia, the Yenisei Kirghiz continued to live in their traditional homeland and exist as they had for centuries. When Genghis Khan
came to power in the early 13th century, the Yenisei Kirghiz submitted peacefully to him and were absorbed into his Mongol Empire
, putting an end to their independent state. During the time of the Mongol Empire the Yenisei Kirghiz's territory in northern Mongolia was turned into an agricultural colony called Kem-Kemchik. Kublai Khan
(who founded the Yuan Dynasty
) also sent Mongolian and Chinese officials (along with colonists) to serve as judge
s in the Kyrgyz and Tuva regions.
, barley
, millet
, and wheat
. They were also skilled iron workers, jewelry makers, potters, and weavers. Their homes were traditional nomadic tents and, in the agricultural areas, wood and bark huts. Their farming settlements were protected by log palisades. The resources of their forested homeland (mainly fur) allowed the Yenisei Kirghiz to become prosperous merchants as well. They maintained trading ties with China
, Tibet
, the Abbasid Caliphate of the Middle east, and many local tribes. Kirghiz horses were also renowned for their large size and speed.
(961 CE) article on Jiegu which very likely comes from the Xu Huiyao of Yang Shaofu and others completed in 852, the passage begins:
This passage follows after immediately on a quotation from a lost Records of Western Regions by Gai Jiayun, who was Protector General of Anxi, the point of which is to record a legend that dark haired people among the Kirghiz were descendants of Chinese general Li Ling, who was captured by the Xiongnu
. Since the Turks were being described as people of small stature in the Tangshu. The description of the Kirghiz as tall, blue-eyed blonds early excited the interest of scholars, who assumed that they could not have originally been Turkic in language. Ligeti cited the opinions of various scholars who had proposed to see them as Germanic
, Slav
or Ket
, while he himself, following Castrén and Schott, favoured a Samoyed
origin on the basis of an etymology for a supposed Kirghiz word qaša or qaš for "iron". However Pullyblank argued
final -z appear only from the end of 8th century onward. Before that time we have a series of Chinese transcriptions referring to the same people and stretching back to the 2nd century BCE, which end either in -n or -t:
Neither -n nor -t provides a good equivalent for -z. The most serious attempt to explain these forms seems still to be that of Paul Pelliot
in 1920. Pelliot suggested that Middle Chinese
-t stands for Turkic -z, which would be quite unusual and would need supporting evidence, but then his references to Mongol plurals in -t suggest that he thinks that the name of the Kirghiz, like that of the Turks, first became known to the Chinese though Mongol speaking intermediaries. There is still less plausibility in the suggestion that the Kirghiz, who first became known as a people conquered by that Xiongnu
and then re-emerged associated with other Turkic peoples in the 6th century, should have had Mongol style suffixes attached to all the various forms of their name that were transcribed into Chinese up to the 9th century.
The change of r to z in Turkic which is implied by the Chinese forms of the name Kirghiz should not give any comfort to those who want to explain Mongolian
and Tungusic cognates with r as Turkic loanword
s. The peoples mentioned in sources of the Han period that can be identified as Turkic was Dingling (later Tiele, out of whom the Uyghurs emerged), the Jiankun (later Kirghiz), the Xinli (later Sir/Xue), and possibly also the Hujie or Wujie, were all, at that period, north and west of the Xiongnu in general area where we find the Kirghiz at the beginning of Tang.
Among the present-day Turkic Tuvans
on the Yenisei headwaters in the Republic of Tuva, one of the traditional clan-names is 'Kirgiz'.
Khakas
The Khakas, or Khakass , are a Turkic-speaking people, who live in Russia, in the republic of Khakassia in southern Siberia. They speak the Khakas language.The origin of the Khakas people is disputed...
, were an ancient people that dwelled along the upper Yenisei River
Yenisei River
Yenisei , also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean...
in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression
Minusinsk
Minusinsk is a historic town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It serves as the administrative center of Minusinsky District, although it is not administratively a part of it. Population: 44,500 ....
from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. The heart of their homeland was the forested Tannu-Ola mountain range (known in ancient times as the Lao or Kogmen mountains), in modern day Tuva
Tuva
The Tyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia . It lies in the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders with the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, and the Republic of Buryatia in Russia and with Mongolia to the...
, just north of Mongolia. The Sayan mountains
Sayan Mountains
The Sayan Mountains are a mountain range between northwestern Mongolia and southern Siberia, Russia.The Eastern Sayan extends from the Yenisei River at 92° E to the southwest end of Lake Baikal at 106° E...
, and much of Mongolia's Great Lakes Depression
Great Lakes Depression
The Great Lakes Depression is a large semi-arid depression in Mongolia that covers parts of the Uvs, Khovd, Zavkhan and Govi-Altai aimags. Bounded by the Altai in the West, Khangai in the East and Tannu-Ola Mountains in the North,...
were also included in their territory at different times. The Kirghiz Khaganate existed from 550 to 1293 CE, in 840 it took over the leadership of the Turkic Khaganate from the Uigurs, expanding their state from the Yenisei territories into the Central Asia and Tarim basin. The Yenisei Kirghiz mass migration to the Jeti-su resulted in the formation of the modern Kirghizstan in the Pamir
Pamir
Pamir may refer to:* a pamir, a U-shaped grassy valley in the Pamir Mountains**Great Pamir, a high valley in the Wakhan on the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan**Little Pamir, a high valley in the Wakhan, Afghanistan...
area.
History
The Yenisei Kirghiz may perhaps be correlated to the Tashtyk cultureTashtyk culture
Tashtyk culture was an archaeological culture that flourished in the Yenisei valley from the first to the fourth century CE, perhaps equivalent to the Yenisei Kirghiz...
. The Xiajiasi first appeared as Gekun or Jiankun in Han period
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
records. Culturally and linguistically, the Yenisei Kirghiz were Turkic. But ethnically it is believed they were part Mongol and part Samoyed
Samoyed
Samoyed may refer to:* the Samoyedic peoples in Siberia who speak the Samoyedic languages: the Enets, the Nenets, the Nganasans, and the Selkups* the Samoyedic languages they speak* Samoyed , a dog breed...
because of their red hair and light skin and eyes. Kirghiz with dark features were believed to be descended from the famous Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
general Li Ling, who defected to Siberia in the first century BCE. By the fall of the Gokturk empire in the eighth century CE, the Yenisei Kirghiz had established their own thriving state based on the Gokturk model. They had adopted the Orkhon script
Orkhon script
The Old Turkic script is the alphabet used by the Göktürk and other early Turkic Khanates from at least the 7th century to record the Old Turkic language. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire...
of the Gokturks and established trading ties with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the Abbasid Caliphate in Central Asia and Middle East. Later, under the Uyghur Khaganate, the Yenisei Kirghiz spent much of their time in a state of rebellion, and in 840 they succeeded in sacking the Uyghur capital in Mongolia's Orkhon
Orkhon
Orkhon may refer to:* Orkhon River, Mongolia* Orkhon Valley, the landscape around that river* Orkhon Province, an Aimag in Mongolia* several Sums in different Mongolian Aimags:** Orkhon, Bulgan** Orkhon, Selenge...
valley and driving the Uyghurs out of Mongolia entirely. But rather than replace the Uyghurs as the lords of Mongolia, the Yenisei Kirghiz continued to live in their traditional homeland and exist as they had for centuries. When Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
came to power in the early 13th century, the Yenisei Kirghiz submitted peacefully to him and were absorbed into his Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
, putting an end to their independent state. During the time of the Mongol Empire the Yenisei Kirghiz's territory in northern Mongolia was turned into an agricultural colony called Kem-Kemchik. Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
(who founded the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
) also sent Mongolian and Chinese officials (along with colonists) to serve as judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s in the Kyrgyz and Tuva regions.
Lifestyle
The Yenisei Kirghiz had a mixed economy based on traditional nomadic animal breeding (mostly horses and cattle) and agriculture. According to Chinese records they grew Himalayan ryeRye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, and wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
. They were also skilled iron workers, jewelry makers, potters, and weavers. Their homes were traditional nomadic tents and, in the agricultural areas, wood and bark huts. Their farming settlements were protected by log palisades. The resources of their forested homeland (mainly fur) allowed the Yenisei Kirghiz to become prosperous merchants as well. They maintained trading ties with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, the Abbasid Caliphate of the Middle east, and many local tribes. Kirghiz horses were also renowned for their large size and speed.
Language
There is a discussion of the change of name in the Tang HuiyaoTang Huiyao
The Tang Huiyao is an institutional history of Tang Dynasty compiled by Wang Pu and presented it to Emperor Taizu of Song in 961. The book contains 100 volumes and 514 sections, it has an abundant content for the period before 846, and scarce material unobtainable from the Tongdian, Book of Tang,...
(961 CE) article on Jiegu which very likely comes from the Xu Huiyao of Yang Shaofu and others completed in 852, the passage begins:
This passage follows after immediately on a quotation from a lost Records of Western Regions by Gai Jiayun, who was Protector General of Anxi, the point of which is to record a legend that dark haired people among the Kirghiz were descendants of Chinese general Li Ling, who was captured by the Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
. Since the Turks were being described as people of small stature in the Tangshu. The description of the Kirghiz as tall, blue-eyed blonds early excited the interest of scholars, who assumed that they could not have originally been Turkic in language. Ligeti cited the opinions of various scholars who had proposed to see them as Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
, Slav
Early Slavs
The early Slavs were a diverse group of tribal societies in Migration period and early medieval Europe whose tribal organizations indirectly created the foundations for today’s Slavic nations .The first mention of the name Slavs dates to the 6th century, by which time the Slavic tribes inhabited a...
or Ket
Ket people
Kets are a Siberian people who speak the Ket language. In Imperial Russia they were called Ostyaks, without differentiating them from several other Siberian peoples. Later they became known as Yenisey ostyaks, because they lived in the middle and lower basin of the Yenisei River in the Krasnoyarsk...
, while he himself, following Castrén and Schott, favoured a Samoyed
Samoyedic peoples
The term Samoyedic peoples is used to describe peoples speaking Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguistic grouping, not an ethnic or cultural one. The name derives from the obsolete term Samoyed used in Russia for some indigenous peoples of Siberia...
origin on the basis of an etymology for a supposed Kirghiz word qaša or qaš for "iron". However Pullyblank argued
Etymology and names
The trisyllabic forms with Chinese -sz for TurkicTurkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
final -z appear only from the end of 8th century onward. Before that time we have a series of Chinese transcriptions referring to the same people and stretching back to the 2nd century BCE, which end either in -n or -t:
- Gekun (EMC kέrjk kwən), 2nd century BCE. Shiji 110, Hanshu 94a.
- Jiankun (EMC khέn kwən), 1st century BCE onward. Hanshu 70.
- Qigu (EMC kέt kwət), 6th century. Zhoushu 50.
- Hegu (EMC γət kwət), 6th century. Suishu 84.
- Jiegu (EMC kέt kwət), 6-8th century. TongdianTongdianThe Tongdian is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 to 801...
200, Book of TangBook of TangThe Book of Tang , Jiu Tangshu or the Old Book of Tang is the first classic work about the Tang Dynasty. The book began when Gaozu of Later Jin ordered its commencement in 941...
194b, and Tang Huiyao 100.
Neither -n nor -t provides a good equivalent for -z. The most serious attempt to explain these forms seems still to be that of Paul Pelliot
Paul Pelliot
Paul Pelliot was a French sinologist and explorer of Central Asia. Initially intending to enter the foreign service, Pelliot took up the study of Chinese and became a pupil of Sylvain Lévi and Édouard Chavannes....
in 1920. Pelliot suggested that Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese , also called Ancient Chinese by the linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties...
-t stands for Turkic -z, which would be quite unusual and would need supporting evidence, but then his references to Mongol plurals in -t suggest that he thinks that the name of the Kirghiz, like that of the Turks, first became known to the Chinese though Mongol speaking intermediaries. There is still less plausibility in the suggestion that the Kirghiz, who first became known as a people conquered by that Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
and then re-emerged associated with other Turkic peoples in the 6th century, should have had Mongol style suffixes attached to all the various forms of their name that were transcribed into Chinese up to the 9th century.
The change of r to z in Turkic which is implied by the Chinese forms of the name Kirghiz should not give any comfort to those who want to explain Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
and Tungusic cognates with r as Turkic loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s. The peoples mentioned in sources of the Han period that can be identified as Turkic was Dingling (later Tiele, out of whom the Uyghurs emerged), the Jiankun (later Kirghiz), the Xinli (later Sir/Xue), and possibly also the Hujie or Wujie, were all, at that period, north and west of the Xiongnu in general area where we find the Kirghiz at the beginning of Tang.
Among the present-day Turkic Tuvans
Tuvans
Tuvans or Tuvinians are Turkic peoples living in southern Siberia. They are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation...
on the Yenisei headwaters in the Republic of Tuva, one of the traditional clan-names is 'Kirgiz'.