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Harvard Ukrainian Studies 28, no. 1–4 (2006): 237–43. Th e Turkic Etymology of

Harvard Ukrainian Studies 28, no. 1–4 (2006): 237–43. Th e Turkic Etymology of the Word Qazaq ‘Cossack’ Omeljan Pritsak Concerning the Turkic etymology of the word Qazaq, there is no consensus among scholars. While the historians (Hruševs´kyj , ; Stökl 1953, 31) and the etymologists of the Slavic languages (Berneker 1924, 496; Brückner 1957, 262; Vasmer and Trubačev 1967, 495; as well as Mel´nyčuk 1985, 495–96) accept without any reservation—but also without proof—the Turkic etymology of this word, some leading Turkologists have their doubts. Räsänen (1969, 243), in his etymological dictionary of the Turkic languages, gives no etymology in his entry qazaq, and Doerfer (1967, 462–68) states ﬂ atly: “eine sichere Etymologie für das Wort [qazaq] existiert nicht.” Th e same opinion was expressed by Menges (1979, 196, nos. 11, 12). From the formal point of view the word qazaq can be easily explained. It is a deverbal noun in /-AK/ from the verb qaz-, as are käsäk ‘piece’ from käs- ‘to cut’ , jatak ‘bed’ from jat- ‘to lie down’ , qonaq ‘palace; guest’ from qon- ‘to pass a night’ , and süräk ‘runner’ from sür- ‘to run’ (Zajączkowski 1932, 61–63). As we can see, the suﬃ x /-AK/ forms nouns expressing the result of the action, instruments and the actor. Th e problem is that the verb qaz-, which is also attested in the older Turkic literary languages, has the meaning ‘to dig, to dig out’ . Also the noun qaz-aq theoretically must have had the meaning ‘the digger’ (Clauson 1972, 680). And in fact such meaning is attested to in 1395 (Sreznevskij 1893, cols. 1173–74; cf. Doerfer 1967, 468). It means that there existed some Turkic languages where the said meaning was the basic one. It appears especially in Eastern Europe. But I shall not dwell on it here since Larysa Pritsak dealt with it in a recent paper (2006). But I would like to propose the following hypothesis concerning the word qazaq. Th e given meaning of the word qazaq entered the given Turkic language at the time when it commonly used that particular meaning. It became “exis- tent” when the literary language of the time included it in its vocabulary. Hence one Turkic linguistic group preserved the words qazaq and qaz- in the meaning ‘the digger’ , ‘to dig out’ , and this meaning of qaz- has been pre- served in the majority of the old and new Turkic literary languages. 238 pritsak Annemarie von Gabain (1960) has convincingly proven that the verb qaz- had in the Old Turkic language of the Orkhon inscriptions (8th century) the same meaning as the verb qazγan- ‘to gather, conquer’ . Th is meaning had remained in the Eurasian steppe, but since it was connected with the nomads, who were replaced as rulers by the sedentary dynasties of the Ujγurs (740–840) and thereafter with the sedentary Karakhanids (840–1220), it was not included into the Turkic literary language of that time. We have an excellent comparative dictionary of the Turkic languages from 1077, but it neglects the languages of the nomads. It was compiled by the Karakhanid prince Mah . mūd al-Kāšγarī (1985, 135). Hence the meaning of qaz- and qazaq- from the nomadic era was not included into his Dīvān luγāt at-Turk. In the Muslim world there were two types of slaves. Th e ﬁ rst type was called ‘abd (pl. ‘ibād), ‘slave, son of the slaves’ , who were usually black and were customarily used for heavy work and as domestic servants. Th e second were mamlūks (‘purchased slaves’), purchased from the slave market. Th ey were chil- dren of free white people who originated from the Polovcian (Qipčaq) steppe. Ethnically they were Polovcians, Cherkes, or the ancestors of the Ukrainians. Th ey were purchased at a young age and kept in special barracks where they were instructed in military arts. Th e Muslim rulers who employed the mamlūks were the dynasties of the Fāt .imids (907–1171) and Ayyūbids (1169–1250). In 1250 the mamlūks dethroned the last Ayyūbid and their commander took for himself the ruler’s title ‘sult .ān’ and ruled over Syria and Egypt. Th e rule of the mamlūks lasted until 1517, when the Ottoman sultan Selīm conquered both Syria and Egypt. In order to communicate with the mamlūks, the Arabs of Egypt and Syria compiled several Arabic-Polovcian glossaries. One of the oldest such glossaries, written in ah 643/ad 1245, was published by Martin Houtsma in 1894. Th ere is one lexeme qazaq which is translated into Arabic as al-muj ˇarrad, i.e. ‘free. ’ Unfortunately both Hruševs ´kyi (1909) and Stöckl (1953) had no knowledge about the existence of the Arabic-Polovcian dictionary, published in 1894, and even contemporary historians repeat that the lexeme qazaq ﬁ rst occurred in the Codex Cumanicus of 1303. Concerning the date of the Codex Cumanicus, one has to mention the special study of the Hungarian Turkologist György Györﬀ y (1942), which also remains unknown to historians. Györﬀ y established that the Codex Cumanicus was a collection of several texts, all from the 13th and 14th centuries (ibid., 1–30). Th e ﬁ rst of them (where the word Cosac appears) was written in 1294/95. It is a Middle-Age Latin, Persian, Polovcian glossary. It was probably written in Solchat in the Crimea. In 1303 a copy of it was made, probably in the mon- astery of St. John in Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. Between 1300 and 1340 a new copy of it was made that was ultimately owned by the compilers of the Codex Cumanicus, who included it in the collection at the beginning. turkic etymology of qazaq 239 Th us on fol. 50v, l. 5 the Medieval Latin gloss guayta ‘guard’ has the Persian correspondence naobat ‘guard’ and the Polovcian correspondence Ghasal Cosac. Th e ﬁ rst word (an attribute?) has not yet been deciphered; the second is ‘Cossack. ’ In New Persian literature of the period of the Golden Horde (ca. 1240–1500) there can be found a Turkic loanword qazaq. I should quote here just one case of its usage. I am quoting from the work of the Persian writer Nat .anzī (the “Anonymous of Iskander”), written ca. 1412. He wrote: dar ān navāh .i dar s .urāti qāzāqī me-gardad, ‘in this region he roamed in the manner of a qāzāq. ’ Th ese three examples clearly testify that the Polovcians (Qipčaqs) had and used the institution of qazaq. But since the Polovcian literary language never developed, the Polovcian lexeme qazaq was not included into the vocabulary of the Turkic literary languages, and did not “exist” until the sixteenth century. But the word qazaq and its original meaning came down to us in the nota- tions of foreigners: Arabs in 1245, in the Latin of the Genoese 1294–1295, and in the New Persian literary language which, on par with the Chinese, was the oﬃ cial language of the Mongolian empire (1206–1500). Bābur (d. 1526) the great Cossack, an excellent statesman, the conqueror of India as well as a beautiful man of letters who wrote his memoirs (Bābur- nāme) even during a battle became the leading classic of the Turkic Chaγataj literary language. Th is literary language often used the lexeme qazaq in its meaning as ‘freebooter, one who takes possession’ . I quote here three passages from his Bābur-nāme: “Tulun xvāj ˇa moγōlni eki üč jüz qazaq jigitlär bilä ilγar ajirdük [We sent the Mongol Tulun with two-three hundred of young qazaq on the raid]” (1:59, ll. 9–10); “mäniŋ bilä qazaqliqlarda vä mihnätlärdä bolγan kišiler bilä jaman ma‘āš qila kirišti [we have undertaken Cossack raids with the people who were with me suﬀ ering and in want of means of sustenance]” (1:110, ll. 19–20); and “özüm bilä qazaqliqlarda bilä bolup kälgän bäglärgä vä jigitlärgä a‘zīsīγä kent vä jatal dēk bērildi [To those princes and warriors who were with me on the Cossack raids were given cities as well as possessions]” (1:223, ll. 10–11). Th e analytical method in the etymologization of Turkic words was elaborated in the ﬁ rst third of the 20th century in Berlin by two Ger- man Turkologists, Prof. Willy Bang and his student (and my teacher) Prof. Annemarie von Gabain. In 1960 Prof. Gabain published a very important study dealing with the Cossacks. I shall not discuss the sociological part of her theory, since this has already been done by Larysa Pritsak (2006), but I will limit myself to the philological theory. According to Gabain the word qazaq already existed in the language of the Old Turkic inscriptions of the eighth century. But it suﬀ ered a change after the denominal verbal suﬃ x /a/ was added and its voiceless q changed into voiced γ so that it became qazaγa-. Th e deverbal reﬂ exive suﬃ x /n/ was added to this so that the form became qazaγan. With the Turkic Mit- 240 pritsak telsilbenschwund it became qazγan. Some Turkic languages, e.g. Polovcian (Qipčaq and Chaγataj), retained the simple form qaz-, whereas the others, uploads/Geographie/ the-turkic-etymology-of-the-word-qazaq-x27-cossack-x27-omeljan-pritsak-2006.pdf