Cuman language

Cuman
Native to Hungary
Region Cumania
Ethnicity Cumans
Extinct 1770, with the death of István Varró
Turkic
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 qwm
Glottolog None

Cuman (Kuman) was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the Kipchak-Cuman branch. Cuman is documented in medieval works, including the Codex Cumanicus, and it was a literary language in the Central and Eastern Europe that left a rich literary inheritance. The language became the main language (lingua franca) of the Golden Horde.[1]

History

Codex Cumanicus

The Cumans were nomadic people who lived in the steppes of Eastern Europe, north of the Black Sea before the Golden Horde. Many Turkic peoples including the Crimean Tatars, Karachays, Kumyks, and Balkars are descended from the Cumans. Today, the speakers of these various languages belonging to the Kipchak-Cuman branch speak variations closely related to the Cuman language.

The Cuman language became extinct in the early 17th century in the region of Cumania in Hungary, which was its last stronghold. Tradition holds that the last speaker of the Cuman language there was a person named István Varró, a resident of Karcag (Hungary) who died in 1770.

The Cuman-Kipchaks had an important role in the history of Hungary, Romania (see, for example, the Besarab dynasty), Moldavia, Bessarabia and Bulgaria

Sample

From the book known as the Codex Cumanicus, a Cuman Kipchak Turkic Pater Noster:

Atamız kim köktesiñ. Alğışlı bolsun seniñ atıñ, kelsin seniñ xanlığıñ, bolsun seniñ tilemekiñ – neçik kim kökte, alay [da] yerde. Kündeki ötmegimizni bizge bugün bergil. Dağı yazuqlarımıznı bizge boşatqıl – neçik biz boşatırbız bizge yaman etkenlerge. Dağı yekniñ sınamaqına bizni quurmağıl. Basa barça yamandan bizni qutxarğıl. Amen![2]

In Oghuz, or Western, Turkish, the same text is:

Atamız ki göktesin. Alkışlı olsun senin adın, gelsin senin hanlığın, olsun senin dilemeğin – nice ki gökte, öyle (de) yerde. Gündelik ekmeğimizi bize bugün ver. Dahi yazıklarımızı (suçlarımızı) bize boşat – nice biz bağışlarız bize yaman (kötülük) edenleri. Dahi şeytanın (yekin) sınamağına bizi koyurma. Tüm yamandan (kötülükten) bizi kurtar. Amin!

See also

References

  • Güner, Galip (2013), Kıpçak Türkçesi Grameri, Kesit Press, İstanbul.
  • Mustafa Argunşah, Galip Güner (2015), Codex Cumanicus, Kesit Yayınları, İstanbul.
  1. ↑ http://www.unesco.kz/qypchaq/Memorials-En.htm
  2. ↑ Kuun, Géza et al.: Codex cumanicus, Bibliothecae ad templum divi Marci Venetiarum primum ex integro editit prolegomenis notis et compluribus glossariis instruxit comes Géza Kuun, Budapest 1880, XLIX – accessed 2016-08-11
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