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The Turkic alphabets are sets of related alphabets with letters (formerly known as runes), used for writing mostly Turkic languages. Inscriptions in Turkic alphabets were found from Mongolia and Eastern Turkestan in the east to Balkans in the west. Most of the preserved inscriptions were dated to between 8th and 10th centuries AD. The widely known Orkhon alphabet is one descendent branch of the Yenisei subgroup of the Asiatic group of Turkic alphabets^[1][2]

Overview

The earliest positively dated and read Turkic inscriptions date from ca. 150, and the alphabets were generally replaced by the Uyghur alphabet in the Central Asia, Arabic script in the Middle and Western Asia, Greek-derived Cyrillic in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, and Latin alphabet in Central Europe. The latest recorded use of Turkic alphabet was recorded in Central Europe's Hungary in 1699 AD.

The Turkic runiform scripts, unlike other typologically close scripts of the world, do not have a uniform palaeography as, for example, have the Gothic runes, noted for the exceptional uniformity of its language and paleography. ^[3] The Turkic alphabets are divided into four groups, the best known of them is the Orkhon version of the Enisei group.

• Euro Asiatic group
• Asiatic group
• Turanian group
• Southern Europe group

The Euro Asiatic group is further divided into five related alphabets:

• Don alphabet, Alans and Khazar Kaganate 8-10th centuries AD, distinct and closely related to
• Kuban alphabet, N.Pontic Bulgars, 8-13th centuries AD, both alphabets found in the N. Pontic and on the banks of the Kama river, and are related to the South-Yenisei script of South Siberia
• South-Yenisei alphabet, C.Asia Kök Türks (Göktürks) 8-10th centuries AD
• Tisza C.Europe Badjanaks 8-10th centuries AD
• Achiktash C.Asia Sogd Türkuts 7-10th centuries AD
• Isfar C.Asia Sogd unidentified ethnicity 7-10th centuries AD

The Asiatic group is further divided into three related alphabets:

• Orkhon alphabet, the best known, C.Asia Kök Türks 8-10th centuries AD
• Yenisei alphabet,
• Talas alphabet, a derivative of Yenisei alphabet, C.Asia Jeti-Su Kangly or Karluks 8-10th centuries AD.^[4]

A number of alphabets are not completed, due to the limitations of the extant inscriptions. Great help in the studies of the Turkic scripts was received from Turkic-Chinese bi-lingual inscriptions, contemporaneous Turkic inscriptions in Greek alphabet, literal translation into Slavic language, and paper fragments with Turkic cursive writing on Turkic religion, Manichaeism, Buddhist and legal subjects of the 8-10th centuries AD found in Eastern Turkestan^[5].

During the last two centuries the number of specialists knowledgeable of the Turkic scripts never exceeded low single digits. The last quarter of the 20es century brought about most of the paleographical and textual discoveries.

Origins

The origins of the Turkic scripts are uncertain. The initial guesses were based on visual, external resemblances of the Turkic runiform letters with the Gothic runes or with Greek, Etruscan and Anatolian letters, suggesting an Indo-European Alphabet resembling Semitic Phoenician, Gothic, Phoenician-based Greek, etc. letters. Another suggestion, made after W.Thomsen deciphered Orhon inscriptions in 1893, about independent origin of the script from tamgas, in essence, equates two unknowns^[6], even though a number of coincidencies are obvious.

In the literature, four theories were proposed, but none of them gained universal acceptance.

The decipherer of the Turkic alphabet V.Thomsen tentatively linked the Orkhon alphabet to the Aramaic-Pehlevi and Aramaic-Sogdian alphabets, versions of semitic Aramaic. This hypothesis was construed on remote analogies of about half of the Orkhon alphabet letters^[7], and it is widely diffused in the general scientific community.

A. S. Amanjolov advocates that Turkic runes have much better likeness with the ancient Phoenician-Aramaic letters, versus the Pehlevi and Sogdian^[8]. Paleographical and morphological analyzis by I.Kyzlasov corroborate the impossibility of deriving the Turkic alphabet from Aramaic derivatives.

A third theory linked the ancient Turkic writing with Chinese hieroglyphs for phonetic transcription. The Chinese sources say that the Huns (Chinese "Hsiong-nu", "Hsiung-nu", "Xiongnu", etc.), did not have ideographic form of writing like Chinese, but in the 2nd century B.C. a renegade Chinese dignitary Yue "taught the Shanyu to write official letters to the Chinese court on a wooden tablet 31 cm long, and to use a seal and large-sized folder. The same sources tell that when the Huns noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood ('k'o-mu'), and they also mention a "Hu script". At Noin-Ula and other Hun burial sites in Mongolia and region north of Lake Baikal among the artifacts were discovered over twenty carved characters. Most of these characters are either identical or very similar to the letters of the Turkic Orkhon-Yenisey script of the Early Middle Ages found in the Eurasian steppes. From this, some specialists hold that Huns had a script similar to the ancient Eurasian runiform, and that this alphabet was a base for later ancient Turkic writing.^[9]

However, Chinese dynastic chronicles Records of Three Kingdoms provide a dated account that disclaims the Chinese origin. A report from a Chinese embassy to Kamboja between 245 and 250 CE, made by envoy Kan Tai, compared the Indian script in the books of the Funan kingdom with the Hun's script, "Their script resembles the script of the Huns", referring to the Hun's script as a fact absolutely known and serving only for comparison and illustration. Kan Tai accentuated the Indian origin of the Hunnish script, pointing to the western connections of the Huns ^[10].

A fourth theory linked the ancient Turkic writing with another version of Aramaic, the Karosthi script, based on historical proximity, morphological similarity, and partial graphical resemblance.

Corpus of inscriptions

Eurasian group of Turkic runiform alphabets

Don alphabet is named after the basin of river Don where the majority of the 18 inscriptions were located. The initial corpus of 21 inscriptions allowed reconstruction of 34 letters of the alphabet. The complete Turkic runiform alphabet is thought to consist of 40-42 letters, but in some instances a total compliment of 48 letters can be deduced. ^[11]

Kuban alphabet is named after the basin of river Kuban where the majority of the 13 inscriptions were located. The initial corpus of 18 inscriptions allowed reconstruction of 32 letters of the alphabet. ^[12]

The Don and Kuban scripts are a pair of closely related independent derivatives of a single alphabetic basis, devoid of direct genetical links between them, they preserved in different degrees the distinctive features of their paternal script. Distinctions of similar letters in both writing systems allow positive discrimination between the alphabets. ^[13]

South Enisei alphabet is named after the portion of the river Enisei basin surrounding the Minusinsk Depression where the majority of the 17 South Enisei inscriptions were located. An obvious affinity exist between the South Enisei script of Siberia and Don-Kuban alphabets in Europe. Among the Early Middle Age inscriptions, the Don and Kuban scripts are closest to the S.Enisei script. ^[14]

The original features of the three Don, Kuban and South Enisei alphabets positively demonstrate their isolated development. The connecting link between these geographically separated scripts lay in the Central Asian endless space. ^[15]

Achiktash alphabet is named after the basin of river Achiktash in the Fergana-Talas area, where was found the famous Achiktash (Talas) stick with extensive inscription. The Achiktash script is the fourth alphabet related to the Don, Kuban and South Enisei scripts. Achiktash script is represented by 5 inscriptions with 10 letters. Achiktash and South Enisei scripts are a pair of closely related independent derivatives of a single alphabetic basis. ^[16]

Isfar alphabet is named after the location of the first find in the Fergana valley. The Isfar script is the fifth alphabet related to the Don, Kuban and South Enisei scripts. Isfar script is represented by 5 inscriptions with 27 letters. The complete alphabet is thought to consist of 40-42 letters. ^[17]

The Turkic-speaking population in the distribution areas of the Achiktash and Isfar scripts undoubtedly coexisted with Sogdian languages. Fragments of Middle Persian texts from Turfan, written in Orhon script, demonstrate that study of runiform scripts of the Southern Siberia and Central Asia cannot be limited to Türkology. ^[18]

Turanian alphabet is named after the Central Asian general area where the coin inscriptions originated. Artifacts with Turanian inscriptions were found in Chorasmia, Amudarya and Syrdarya interfluvial, and west of the Ural mountains. The Turanian script is a sixth alphabet related to the Don, Kuban and South Enisei scripts. Turanian script is represented by multiple series of coin and silver dish inscriptions with identified 43 letters. ^[19]

Asian group of Turkic runiform alphabets

The thesis about existence and independent development of separate Enisei and Orhon alphabets was first proposed by academician F.W.Radloff in 1895. In 1929 S.E.Malov added his conclusion about the existence of a third, Talas runic alphabet. The Asian runiform scripts received designations used for its alphabets even before the discovery that Enisei and Orhon texts were Turkic-lingual. The scripts were named after the rivers on the banks of which significant number of written monuments were found for the first time, this geographical naming convention later was also applied for the runiform scripts from the banks of river Talas, but not for Eurasian scripts, which were sometimes associated with ethnic definition, like Khazarian, Bulgarian, or Badjanak. ^[20]

The Enisei, Orhon, and Talass scripts are close, but nevertheless vary in composition of their alphabets. ^[21]

Enisei script accounts for most numerous and diverse collection of inscriptions barely short of 200 monuments, representing a vide variety of uses. Enisei script also is the longest existing runiform script known today. Obvious Mongolisms noted in its inscriptions indicates continued use in the 13th-15th centuries. Enisei inscriptions of the Mongolian time are also distinguished by new orthography requiring complete identification of the vowels, similar to the Manichaean book script. ^[22]

Enisei script is represented by the greatest number of monuments because its society had a custom of installing memorial steles with epitaph texts, and a tradition of placing inscriptions on the rocks. Only from the Enisei valley about 150 inscriptions are known. The area of Enisei writing also covers the territory of Altai, Baikal, Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, eastern and western Kazakhstan. Corpus of inscriptions published by D.D.Vasiliev distinguish 78 inscriptions on steles, 8 on mengirs and 42 on the rocks. Also are numerous inscriptions on objects, like 9 on mirrors, 2 on coins, silver vessels and bronze overlays, and 1 on horn horse trapping. ^[23]

I. L. Kyzlasov lists 12 genre classifications, indicating widespread literacy and usage:^[24]

• Epitaphs
• Boundary markers
• Names
• Prayer
• Ritual
• Repentant-pejorative
• Laudatory
• Visitor
• Magic spell
• Explanatory
• Owner
• Benefactor

Enisei alphabet has Altai and Tuva versions, which developed as replacements by the official Enisei script of the pre-existing local runiform alphabets ^[25]. Dialectal analysis of Tuva-Khakass inscriptions demonstrated existence of local dialect, identified with local Chiks and possibly Ases people, and a dialect of the Enisei Kirgizes, who conquered and dominated Tuva after defeating Uigur Kaganate in the 840es ^[26].

Orhon script left written monuments dated by 720s to the 950s AD, its spread is associated with the Second Turkic and Uyghur Kaganates. Particular famous are the 11 steles in honor of the Kaganate rulers, Tonyukuk, Kül-tegin, Bilge-kagan (732-735), Moün-chur, Terhin, Tes, Kuli-chur (about 722), Choyren, Ihe-Ashete, Karabalgasun, and Ongin inscriptions, etc. The number of letters in the Orhon alphabet exceeded 40, while the modern science so far identified 38-40. One of the two surviving alphabetical manuscripts, designated Toiok I, transliterates the names of the Orhon alphabet in Manichean script, showing that the syllabic letters had a closed character (ip, ich, etc.). The Orhon script is presently the only runiform alphabet with extant hand-written materials, with 20 fragments written on a paper with ink, a full “Fortunetelling book” (Ïrq bitig) and also manuscripts written with brush, such as alphabet Toiok I. All manuscripts were found in the East Turkestan, 10 monuments from Turfan oasis, and 8 from Dunhuan). Genetically, the Orhon script is a descendent of Upper Enisei script, the remnants of which were preserved in Tuva. ^[27]

Talas alphabet is named after the location of the finds in the Talas valley of the Jety-su area. The Talas script is the third alphabet related to the Enisei and Orhon scripts. Exemplars of the Talas script are not classified separately from the related Enisei and Orhon scripts, Talas inscriptions include Terek-Say rock inscriptions found in the 1897, Koysary text, Bakaiyr gorge inscriptions, Kalbak-Tash 6 and 12 inscriptions, the alphabet has 29 identified letters. ^[28]

Historical developments

The origin of the Turkic alphabets and most of its dating remains conjectural, but their later development in the Early Middle Ages became clearer with accumulation of the paleographical, geographical, and textual material. In the early Middle Ages only Turkic speech united inhabitants of the Don and Kuban basins, Lower and Upper Syr-Darya and Talas, the Upper and Middle Enisei, ^[29] Central Asian and Mongolian plains.

Upper Enisei alphabet

Upper Enisei alphabet is hypothetically an original alphabet of the Early Middle Age indigenous population of Tuva. ^[30] Facts reflected in brief petroglyphic inscriptions of Mountain Altai indicate coexistence and interaction between the Orhon, Enisei, Talas, South Enisei and Upper Enisei alphabets. ^[31] The Upper Enisei script, already existing by 720es, contained peculiar letters and is the only known source from which the classical Orhon script of the Second Turkic Kaganate could have borrowed these rare letters. ^[32] The Upper Enisei script, not connected directly with the Orhon writing, appears to be reflecting considerably better the synharmonic norms of the Turkic languages. ^[33] Before the 8th century from the Upper Enisei script of the medieval Kirgizes (Khakases) and the native population of Tuva (at least the Chiks), or its contemporaneous variations of the early Turkic script, developed the archaic Enisei writing, in the pre-Orhon (Upper Enisei) and younger Orhon stages. The younger Orhon script developed into the Enisei and classical Orhon script. ^[34]

Enisei script

Prior to the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century, when sometime after the 840 AD Tuva became a subject of the Uyghur Kaganate, the Chik population of Tuva used Enisei script. ^[35] From the beginning of the 8th century, Enisei alphabet, but not the Orhon script, was widely used in the Kirgiz (Hakas) state, which was for centuries, from the 550es to 840es, asserting its independence from the Turkic and Uyghur Kaganates. ^[36] 'Sin Tan shu' testifies about the Kirgizes (Khakases) script during the Uyghur Kaganate “Their alphabet and language are completely similar with Hoi-Hu”, i.e. with Uyghurs. ^[37] The multi-ethnic Kirgiz (Ch. Gyanhun) Kaganate (ca 550 - 1293 A.D.) formed as an independent state simultaneously with the First Turkic Kaganate in the 550es, and maintained its independence except for a brief tumultuous period in the 629 - 647, when the competing Western and Eastern halfs of the Turkic Kaganate tried to expand their areas of dominance, 710-843 during period of the Second Turkic Kaganate dominance, and the period of 758-843 when they were autonomous within the sphere of the Uyghur Kaganate. Uyghurs captured Tuva around 750 AD, and absorbed mostly Chik population, who were using the Enisei alphabet, and it was spread over the Uyghur Kaganate's vast territory. After the fall of the Uyghur Kaganate in the 840s, the use of the Enisei alphabet grew with the growing influence of the ruling Kirgizes. As a result, the Enisei script is found in significant number of 9th-10th centuries petrogliph texts and in runiform manuscripts. ^[38] By the 900es the Yenisey Kyrgyz Kaganate occupied vast territory extending to the middle course of Irtysh in the west, lake Baikal and Selenga river in the east, Angara river and Altai-Sayan highlands in the north, Tuva in the south. Its demise came with the advance of Mongilic Kidanes. Most of the Kyrgyzes retreated north to the Enisei basin and Minusinsk depression. Between the 924-1206 Kyrgyzes succeed in preserving their state in the Enisei basin. Disappearance of the Enisei script was caused by the destruction of the Kyrgyz state in the 13th century, but isolated inscriptions belonging to the end of the 13th through the beginning of the 15th century have survived.

Talas alphabet

Talas script, dated to the second half of the 8th-10th centuries, was spread in the Altai and Tuva area of Southern Siberia. In Southern Siberia during the Early Middle Age Talas script coexisted with other runiform alphabets. ^[39] The Karluk Yabgu state developed in the Jeti-Su after 766, it replaced the Türgesh Kaganate and its Sogdian cursive script, and in the middle of the 9th century it became a Kaganate. In the 940 Karluk Kaganate was destroyed by the Karahanids. ^[40] In the Karluk Kaganate, with territory from the western spurs of Altai to the Tarbagatai range, the Enisei alphabet transformed into Talas alphabet. ^[41] Formation of the Talas alphabet was under obvious influence of the Enisei script and without notable connections with the Orhon alphabet. ^[42]

Kuban alphabet

About the widespread use of the Kuban alphabet in the Bulgar lands A.Rorlich wrote that Bulgaria had a rich written culture based on the Turkic runes of the Orkhon type at the time of their adoption of Islam in 922 AD. "Writing had developed and spread largely as a means of coping efficiently with economic (taxes, trade), legal, and political matters. Records were kept on wood and salt plaques until the tenth century when paper was introduced from Khorezm in Central Asia" ^[43].

2nd century BC - 2nd century AD, characters of Hun- Syanbi script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia), N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 5, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4

2nd century BC - 2nd century AD, characters of Hun- Syr-Tardush (Syanbi) script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia), N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 5, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4

Oldest known Turkic alphaber listings, Rjukoku and Toyok manuscripts. Toyok manuscript transliterates the Turkic alphaber into the Uyghur alphabet. Per I.L. Kyzlasov, Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes, Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5.

Scholars

Among the scholars, who made substantial discoveries and readings in the family of the Turkic alphabets during the last century of the studies, are these prominent scientists:

• F. Altheim
• A. S. Amanjolov
• S. Ya Baichorov.
• I. A. Batmanov
• A. L. Bernshtam
• O. Donner
• A. J. Emre
• M. A. Habichev
• I. Kh. Khalikov
• S. G. Klyashtorny
• A. F. Kochkina
• V. G. Kondratiev
• A. N. Kononov
• I. L. Kyzlasov
• S. E. Malov
• A. Mukhamadiev
• H. N. Orkun
• J. Nemeth
• W. Radloff
• M. Ryasyanen
• A. M. Shcherbak
• E. R. Tenishev
• V. Thomsen

Footnotes

References

• Аманжолов, А. С. (Amanjolov, A. S.), История и теория древнетюркского письма (History and Theory of the Ancient Turkic Script), "Mektep", Almaty, 2003, ISBN 9965-16-204-2 (in Russian).
• Baichorov, S. Ya., Ancient Turkic runic monuments of Europe, Stavropol, 1989 (in Russian).
• Ishjatms, N., "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in Janos Harmatta (Editor) History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 2, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4.
• Кызласов, И. Л. (Kyzlasov, I. L.), Рунические письменности евразийских степей (The Runic Scripts of the Eurasian Steppes). Рос. акад. наук. Ин-т археологии (Russian Academy of Sciences, Archaeology Division), Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5 (in Russian).
• Malov, S. E., Monuments of the ancient Turkic inscriptions. Texts and research, Moscow-Leningrad, 1951 (in Russian).
• Мухамадиев, А. (Mukhamadiev A.) "Туранская Письменность" ("Turanian Writing"), in Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа (Problems of the Linguo-Ethnic History of the Tatar People), Kazan, 1995. с.38, ISBN 5-201-08300 (in Russian).
• Vashari. I., Runic systems of the Eastern Europe script. Altaica II. Moscow 1998.
• Vasiliev, D. D., Graphical fund of Turkic runiform writing monuments in Asian areal. Moscow, 1983, (in Russian).
• Vasiliev, D. D., Corpus of Turkic runiform monuments in the basin of Enisei. Moscow, 1983, (in Russian).

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