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, sing. Ṣaḳlabī, Ṣiḳlabī, the designation in mediaeval Islamic sources for the Slavs and other fair-haired, ruddy-complexioned peoples of Northern Europe (see A.Z. Velidi Togan, Die Schwerter der Germanen , 19-38). 1. The Ṣaḳāliba of Northern and Eastern Europe. The actual name was a borrowing from Middle Greek Σλάβος, “Slav.” this, in turn, is to be connected with the self-designation of the Slavs, Slověne (cf. the Rus’ usage Slověne, Slovyane , Sloven’ski̊y yazi̊k “Slavs”, “Slavic nation” in the Povest’ vremyanni̊k̲h̲ let , in PSRL, i, 5-6, 28, Mod. Russ. Slavyane , Ukr. Slov’yani̊ …

, a nomadic people in the South Russian steppes who flourished in the early Islamic period. The K̲h̲azar tribal union emerged in the course of the 6th century A.D. in the aftermath of a series of migrations of nomadic peoples from Inner and Central Asia. With the collapse of the European Hun state in 454 A.D., some of the nomadic elements of Attila’s horde withdrew to the Pontic steppe zone. They were joined here, ca. 463 A.D., by waves of Og̲h̲ur tribes which had been driven from Western Siberia and the Kazak̲h̲ steppe by the Sabirs who, in turn, had been forced to m…

, the name of a river in Western Siberia from which Toboli̊ḳ , the ethnonym of a subgrouping of the Siberian Tatars derives, as does also the name of the Russian city Tobol’sk built (1587) near Sibir, the capital of the Sibir Ḵh̲ānate [see sībīr ]. The Tobol Tatars, together with the Tümenli , constitute one of the principal subgroupings of the Siberian Tatars along with the Tara, Baraba, Tomsk and Buk̲h̲arli̊ḳ groupings. The Toboli̊ḳ presently number about 50,000 and live interspersed among Russian, Siberian Buk̲h̲ārān and Ḳ…

, the designation of Western Siberia first used in sources for the Čingizid era of the 13th and 14th centuries. From this the modern Russ. Сибирь (and thence “Siberia” in European and other languages) derives. The origins of this toponym are unclear. A connection with the Sabirs, a Turkic nomadic grouping which formed part of the K̲h̲azar state (cf. the Suwār in Volga Bulg̲h̲aria) and who may have occupied some parts of this region before moving to the Volga zone in the early 6th century A.D., has been suggested (Patkanov, Über das Volk der Sabiren , 258-77). Sabir ( Säbir …

, occasionally Rūsiya , the Arabic rendering (and thence into other Islamic languages) of Eastern Slavic Poycb ( Rus ’). This was the designation of a people and land from which modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus’ derive. The rapid ethnic, political and social evolution of this term and the people(s) which it denoted during the 3rd-4th/9th-10th centuries produced a series of temporally multi-layered, occasionally contradictory notices in the classical Islamic geographical literature. In contemporary Byzantine sources it appears as …

, the name of a Mongolic tribal grouping. Their earliest attestation is in the 8th century Ork̲h̲on Turk inscriptions in which the Otuz Tatar (“Thirty T.”) are noted (KT, e14, sl) together with other Proto-Mongolian peoples (the Ḳitan, Tatabi̊) as rebellious subjects of the Türk Empire. Elsewhere (BḲ, e35), the Toḳuz Tatar (“Nine T.”) are reported as allies of the Og̲h̲uz who were defeated by Bilge Ḳag̲h̲an (Tekin, Orhon yazitlari , see also runic fragments from Tuva and K̲h̲akasia, Vasil’ev, Korpus , 33-4; Kljaštornyj, Das Reich , 75) and in the late 740s b…

¶ I. History. 1. The pre-Islamic period: the first Turks in history and their languages. Towards 540, on the northern fringes of China, the nomadic empire of the Z̲h̲ouan-z̲h̲ouan (proto-Mongols?) dominated the lands of Mongolia and some neighbouring zones. Its Ḳag̲h̲an or ruler had as his vassals notably the chiefs of two important tribal confederations, those of the Türks, in the northern Altai, and the equally Turkish-speaking one of the “High Waggons” (Chinese Kao-kiu) in the Selenga basin (the northern part of central Mongolia). After an abortive revolt by these last, the …

, Russ. Ty̲u̲men’, the name of a town, previously called Čimgi-Tura on the Tura river in Western Siberia and of a subgrouping, the Tümenli , of the Siberian Tatars (who in 1926 numbered 22,636). The toponym derives, probably, from the Činggisid administrative-fiscal unit tümen (< Turk. tümen “10,000” < Tokhar. A. tmān , B. tmāne , an early borrowing in Mongol where it came to designate a military unit of 10,000 (Clauson, Dictionary , 507-8; Spuler, Goldene Horde , 303, 333, 377; Nasonov, Mongoli̊ , 98 ff. [see tūmān 1.]). This region had been largely inhabited by Uralic peoples, in…

, the Russian rendering of Tat. Bas̲h̲k. Tiptär , a social term and subsequently ethnonym, the “people of the register” (< Pers. < Arab, daftar “book, record, register” ult. Gr. διφθέρα), used of a grouping speaking a Tatar dialect (influenced by Bas̲h̲kir) in Bas̲h̲ḳortostan/Bas̲h̲kiria. It denoted populations of Volga Tatar, Mis̲h̲är, Bas̲h̲kir, Čuvas̲h̲ and Volga Finnic origins which were allowed to settle on and farm Bas̲h̲kir lands after the Russian conquest of the Tatar Volga k̲h̲ānates (mid-16th century). The Finnic element, in the…

, the name of one or more cities in Western Eurasia. The location of this city (or cities) is still unclear. It is unrecorded in the classical Islamic geographies. Maḥmūd al-Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī (tr. R. Dankoff and J. Kelly ¶ Cambridge, Mass. 1982-5, i, 330), who finished writing his Dīwān lug̲h̲at al-Turk in ca. 469/1077, notes it as “a city near Bulg̲h̲ār. It is Suwār.” The latter was a tribal name ( Saviri /Σαβίροι of the Latin and Byzantine sources) of one of the constituent elements of the Volga Bulg̲h̲ārs. In this regard, Togan ( Ibn Faḍlān’s Reisebericht , 203-4, cite…

(Turkic Toḳuz Og̲h̲uz “the Nine Og̲h̲uz”), the name of a Turkic tribal confederation that was used in often chronologically confused Muslim accounts as the general designation of the Uyg̲h̲urs until the late 5th/11 th century. Chinese sources, in which they are first attested in 630, invariably translate rather than transcribe this name as Chiu hsing , the “Nine Surnames”, i.e. clans or tribal groupings. The ethnonyms Uyg̲h̲ur and Toḳuz Og̲h̲uz were not, stricdy speaking, coterminous. The Uyg̲h̲urs (consisting of ten tribes or …

, also tark̲h̲ān , a high-ranking Inner Asian title of considerable antiquity. It probably entered Arabic from Sog̲h̲dian trg̲h̲ʾn or Middle Pers. trk̲h̲ʾn < Turk, tarḳan (pl. in Mongolian tarḳat ), which appears to have been part of the imperial titulature that the Turks inherited from the Jou-jan empire. Its etymology is unclear. Attempts have been made to link it with the Hsiung-nu Shan-yü (Archaic Chin. * dânhwâh ), the tide of their supreme ruler (Pulleyblank, 91). It is also noted among the Hephthalites, another pre-Türk polity derivi…

(also Ṣayram, etc.), the name of a town in present-day Kazak̲h̲stan, some 7-8 miles east of Čimkent, on the Ari̊s river, a tributary of the Syr Darya. Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī (ed. and tr. Dankoff, ii, 241; repeated in the Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Ras̲h̲īdī , tr. Ross, 171), in the earliest reference to it under this name, identifies it as the “White City which is called Isbīd̲j̲āb” [see isfīd̲j̲āb, in Suppl.]. In Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī’s day (i, 84) its inhabitants spoke “both Sog̲h̲dian and Turkic.” It is to be distinguished from a city of the same name in Eastern Turkistan (located betw…

, a Turkic tribal confederation of mediaeval central and western Eurasia. Their ethnonym appears in our sources as Tibet. Be-ča-nag , Arabo-Persian Bd̲j̲nāk , Bd̲j̲ānāk , Bd̲j̲ynh , Georg. Pačanik-i , Arm. Pacinnak , Greek Πατζινακῑται, Πατζινάκοι, Rus’. Pečeneg’ Lat. Pizenaci , Bisseni , Bysseni , Bessi , Beseneu , Pol. Pieczyngowie and Hung. Besenyő (< Bes̲h̲enäg̲h̲ ) = Bečenäk/Pečenäk . It has been etymologised, with some uncertainty (cf. Pritsak, Pečenegs , 211; Bazin, À propos du nom des Petchénèques ), as a variant of bad̲j̲anak/bad̲j̲i̊nak “in-law” (>Old Church Slav. Pas̲h̲eno…

, nom donné à un groupe tribal mongol. On trouve le premier témoignage à leur propos dans des inscriptions turques Ork̲h̲on du VIIIe siècle dans lesquelles les Otuz Tatar («Trente T.») sont cités (KT, e 14, si) aux côtés d’autres peuples proto-Mongols (les Kitan, Tatabi) en tant que sujets rebelles de l’Empire turc. Ailleurs (BK. e35) les Toḳuz Tatars («Neuf T.») sont cités en tant qu’alliés des Og̲h̲uz qui furent défaits par Bilge Ḳag̲h̲an (Tekin, Orhon yazitlari, voir aussi les fragments runiques de Tuva et de Ḵh̲akasia, Vasil’ev, Korpus, 33-4; Kljaštornyj, Dos Reich, 75) et par les …

, également tark̲h̲ān, titre de rang élevé en Asie centrale dans l’antiquité. Il entra sans doute dans la langue arabe à partir du sog̲h̲dien trg̲h̲ʾn ou du moyen perse trk̲h̲ʾn < turc tarḳan (pl. en mongol tarḳat) et semble avoir fait partie de la titulature impériale que les Turcs héritèrent de l’empire Jou-jan. Son étymologie n’est pas claire. Des tentatives furent faites de le rapprocher du mot Shan-yü en Hsiung-nu (chinois archaïque *dân-hwâh), titre de leur ¶ dirigeant suprême (Pulleyblank, 91). On le trouve aussi chez les Hephtalites, autre régime politique pré-t…

(également Ṣayram, etc.), nom d’une ville de l’actuel Kazak̲h̲stān, à une douzaine de km à l’Est de Čimkent, sur la rivière Ari̊s, affluent du Syr Darya. Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī (éd. et trad. Dankoff, II, 241; repris dans le Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Ras̲h̲īdī, trad. Ross, 171), dans les plus anciennes références qui lui sont attribuées, l’identifie à la «ville blanche appelée Isbīd̲j̲āb» (voir Isfīd̲j̲āb, au Suppl.). A l’époque de Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī (I, 84), ses habitants parlaient à la fois le sog̲h̲dien et le turc». Il convient de la distinguer d’une cité du même nom au Turkist…

, nom d’une rivière de la Sibérie occidentale, duquel dérive Toboli̊ḳ, nom ethnique d’une subdivision des Tatars sibériens, ainsi que celui ¶ de la ville russe de Tobol’sk construite (1587) près de Sibir, capitale du Ḵh̲ānat de Sibir [voir Sībīr]. Les Tatars tobols, avec les Tümenli, constituent l’une des subdivisions les plus importantes des Tatars sibériens, comme les groupements de Tara, de Baraba, de Tomsk et de Buk̲h̲arli̊ḳ. On dénombre actuellement environ 50.000 Toboli̊ḳs, qui vivent éparpillés dans des villages habités par des Russ…

, (türk Toḳuz Og̲h̲uz «les Neuf Og̲h̲uz») nom d’une confédération tribale türke qui fut utilisé dans des récits, dont la chronologie est souvent erronée, écrits par des Musulmans pour désigner les Uyg̲h̲urs en général, jusqu’à la fin du Ve/XIe siècle. Les sources chinoises, dans lesquelles ils sont attestés pour la première fois en 630, traduisent invariablement plus qu’ils ne transcrivent ce nom sous la forme Chiu hsing, les «Neufs Noms», c’est-à-dire clans ou groupements tribaux. Les noms d’ethnie Uyg̲h̲ur et Toḳuz Og̲h̲uz n’étaient pas stricto sensu des termes équivalents. Le…

, sing. Ṣaḳlabī, Ṣiḳlabī, dans les sources islamiques du Moyen-Age, désignation des Slaves et d’autres peuples d’Europe du Nord aux cheveux blonds et à la peau colorée (voir A. Z. Velidi Togan, Die Schwerter der Germanen, 19-38). 1. Les Ṣaḳāliba d’Europe du Nord et de l’Est. Le vrai nom des Ṣaḳāliba était «Slave», un mot d’emprunt du grec moyen ΣκλάβοΣ. Celui-ci, à son tour, est à relier à Slovĕne, appellation choisie par les Slaves eux-mêmes (cf. l’emploi par les Rus’ de Slovĕne, Slovyane, Sloven’skiy yazik «Slaves», «nation slave», dans le Povest’ vremyannik̲h̲ let, dans PSRL, I, 5-6, …