ALMATY – While the spoken and written languages of the Kazakh Khanate differed, philologists agree that Kazakh dominated the literature of the era – it was the language through which people expressed themselves and conducted daily life.
Photo credit: e-history.kz
From the Golden Horde to the old Kazakh
Turkologist and doctor of philology Murat Sabyr emphasized that the language of the Golden Horde was the ancient Kipchak language. He noted that the earliest linguistic evidence of Kazakh can be found in the Orkhon-Yenisei script in the 8th-10th centuries, reported Kazinform on Aug. 10.
When discussing Kipchak languages, including the development of the Kazakh language, researchers refer to written monuments that emerged during the Middle Ages, particularly in the 14th century during the Golden Horde era.
Sabyr notes that examples of this written heritage include works such as Qutb’s “Khosrow and Shirin,” Sayf-i-Sarayi’s “Gulistan bi-turki,” Khorezmi’s “Muhabbat-name,” and Mahmud bin Ali’s “Nahj al-Faradis.” He explains that according to established academic views, the monuments created in the 13th–14th centuries in the Golden Horde and Egypt were written in one of two mixed languages – Kipchak-Oghuz or Oghuz-Kipchak – despite this mixture, they share a unified literary tradition.
“Based on Andrey Zaionchkovsky’s [Russian military leader, historian, and theorist] view that a unified Turkic literary or written language took shape in the 13th–15th centuries, we can say with confidence that these monuments were created in a common Turkic language. From the 11th to the 15th century, Middle Turkic served as a common language for all related people and was understood by every tribe,” said Sabyr.
The professor explained that in the medieval period, there were two major branches emerging from this common Turkic base – Kipchak and Oghuz – each with its own distinctive features. The Kipchak variety of Middle Turkic was particularly widespread in the 13th–14th centuries, as the Kipchaks held a dominant position in Desht-i Kipchak, Egypt and the Golden Horde. During this time, Old Kipchak served as the primary language of diplomacy and cultural exchange across much of Eurasia, following the routes of the Silk Road.
“The official language of the Golden Horde was Old Kipchak, and its written records were in Kipchak as well. Kazakh is a unified, monolithic language, but the unity began in the Old Turkic era, strengthened in the Middle Ages and eventually took on a distinct national form. Words preserved in their original sound and meaning from that time form the core of our native vocabulary,” said Sabyr.
Rise of the literary Kazakh language
Sabyr noted that while the Kazakh language’s roots go back to the Old Kipchak period, its formal literary form emerged much later, during the era of Abai Kunanbayev – 1845-1904.
“In the 13th century, there was the Middle Turkic language, from which national languages began to branch off. We are the direct continuation of that Old Kipchak language. After Old Kipchak there was Old Kazakh, and later the early Kazakh language. The written literary form, however, was only established in the time of Abai Kunanbayev; before that, it existed solely as an oral literary tradition,” he said.
This vision is supported by Rita Zhumagaliyeva, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Kazakh Literature at Zhubanov Aktobe Regional University.
“The language of that era was the old written Kazakh language. During the Kazakh Khanate, the Kanly, Kipchaks, Argyns and Naimans all shared the Kazakh language. Another significant work from that time is the writings of Qadyrgali Zhalayiri, also composed in the old literary Kazakh. When we speak of the khanate period, we recall the poetry of the zhyrau [tales in Kazakh]. The literary heritage of that era is preserved in the zhyrau verse. The first volume of ‘Bes Gasyr Zhyrlaidy’ compiled by Mukhtar Magauin is devoted entirely to this tradition, featuring poems by Asan Qaygy from the 15th century, Shalgiiz from the 16th, and Zhiembet and Markas from the 17th – all written in Kazakh and still fully comprehensible today,” Zhumagaliyeva said.
While certain works from that era contain a few archaic, borrowed or obsolete terms, such variations are a natural feature of linguistic evolution. Overall, the literature of the Kazakh Khanate period was produced in the Kazakh language, which functioned as the principal medium of communication for the nation.
The article was originally published in Kazinform.
