The Basmyls (''Basmyl''; Basmals, Basmils, otk, 𐰉𐰽𐰢𐰞, Basmïl, ,
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
ZS: *''bˠɛt̚-siɪt̚-miɪt̚/mˠiɪt̚/miᴇ''; also 弊剌 ''Bìlà'', MC *''bjiej
H-lat'')
[Golden, Peter B. ''An Introduction to the History of Turkic Peoples'', p. 142-143] were a 7th- to 8th-century
Turkic nomadic tribe who mostly inhabited the
Dzungaria
Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian language, Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang" ...
region in the northwest of modern-day China.
Originally a forest people, Basmyls eventually grew in importance and played a prominent role in the Turkic politics from the 6th century. At one point Basmyls even overthrew the
Second Turkic Khaganate
The Second Turkic Khaganate ( otk, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰃𐰠, Türük el, State of the Turks, , known as ''Turk Bilge Qaghan country'' ( otk, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰝:𐰋𐰃𐰠𐰏𐰀:𐰴𐰍𐰣:𐰃𐰠𐰭𐰀, Türük Bilgä Qaγan eli) in Bai ...
's dynastic clan and briefly held the Khaganate with the help of
Karluks
The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, otk, 𐰴𐰺𐰞𐰸, Qarluq, Para-Mongol: Harluut, zh, s=葛逻禄, t=葛邏祿 ''Géluólù'' ; customary phonetic: ''Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo'', fa, خَلُّخ, ''Khallokh'', ar, قارلوق ...
and
Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
, who later turned against Basmyls. Basmyl supreme leaders were the first to use the term ''Ydyk-kut'', which replaced ''khagan'';
Qocho Uyghur rulers of
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
likewise titled themselves Ydyk-kuts. The title contains two components: the first component ''Ïdïq/Ydyk'' means "
eavensent, sacred"; the second component ''kut/qut'' in the title is often found in Old Turkic
onomastic
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...
s and titulature and has the lexical meaning "grace" or "blessing";.
In the year 720 CE, the dynastic Basmyl clan were reported to be concentrated at
Beiting Protectorate
The Beiting Protectorate-General, initially the Beiting Protectorate, was a Chinese protectorate established by the Tang dynasty in 702 to control the Beiting region north of Gaochang in contemporary Xinjiang. Wu Zetian set up the Beiting ...
, near
Gucheng (Qitai), in the
Bogda Shan range, and to be
Ashina Ashina may refer to:
*Ashina tribe, a ruling dynasty of the Turkic Khaganate
*Ashina clan (Japan),_one_of_the_Japanese_clans
*Ashina_District,_Hiroshima.html" ;"title="DF 7 of 80; retrieved 2013-5-4 ..., one of the Japanese clans
*Ashina District, H ...
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
(Ch. 突厥 pinyin
Tu-jue).
Zizhi Tongjian
''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...
Vol. 212, cited in Zuev Yu.A., ''Horse Tamgas from Vassal Princedoms'' (translation of 8-10th century Chinese ''Tanghuyao''), Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences, Alma-Ata, 1960, p. 104, 132
Mahmut Kashgari, an 11th-century historian, lists the Basmyls as one of ten prominent Turkic tribes and enumerates the locations of the Turkic polities from the borders of the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
to the borders of China in the following sequence:
#
Bäčänäk;
#
Qifčāk;
#
Oğuz;
#
Yemēk;
#
Bašğirt;
# Basmyl;
#
Qāi;
#
Yabāqu;
#
Tatār;
#
Qirqiz.
Kashgari also noted that "Among the nomadic peoples are the ''
Čömül'' - they have a gibberish (''raṭāna''
َطَانَة of their own, but also know Turkic; also ''Qāy'', ''Yabāqu'', ''Tatār'' and ''Basmil'' - each of these groups has its own language, but they also know
Turkic well"."
The Basmyls may be ancestral to the
Argyn
The Argyn ( kz, Арғын) tribe (or clan) is a constituent of the Kazakh ethnicity. The Argyn are a component, of the ''Orta jüz'' (Орта жүз; "Middle Horde" or "Middle Hundred"). Kazakhs historically consisted of three tribal federat ...
of the
Middle Juz
A ''zhuz'' ( kz, ٴجۇز , Жүз, translit=Jüz, , also translated as " horde") is one of the three main territorial and tribal divisions in the Kypchak Plain area that covers much of the contemporary Kazakhstan. It represents the main tribal d ...
of modern
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
.
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
apparently mentioned them as "Argons" in a country called "Tenduc" (around Kuku-Khotan, or modern-day
Hohhot), during the 13th century.
[ ()] Polo reported that this tribe who had "sprung from two different races: to wit, of the race of the
Idolaters of Tenduc and ... the
worshippers of Mahommet. They are handsomer men than the other natives of the country, and having more ability, they come to have authority; and they are also capital
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
s."
History
Khaganate period
The Basmyl ethnonym is etymologisable as
Turkic: the first component *''bas-'' means "to crush, press, oppress make a surprise attack" in
Proto-Turkic
Proto-Turkic is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Turkic languages that was spoken by the Proto-Turks before their divergence into the various Turkic peoples. Proto-Turkic separated into Oghur (western) and Common Turk ...
; the other, *''-mïl'', is the
Oghuric
The Oghuric, Onoguric or Oguric languages (also known as Bulgar, Pre-Proto-Bulgaric or Lir-Turkic and r-Turkic) are a branch of the Turkic language family. The only extant member of the group is the Chuvash language. The first to branch off from ...
cognate of
Common Turkic
Common Turkic, or Shaz Turkic, is a taxon in some classifications of the Turkic languages that includes all of them except the Oghuric languages.
Classification
Lars Johanson's proposal contains the following subgroups:
* Southwestern Common ...
nominalizing suffix *''-miš''/-''*mïs''. Thus "''Basmıl'' may be viewed as Oğuric Turkic ''bas-'' + ''-mıl'' = 'the tribe that crushed (its opponents),' ''Basmıš'' in Common Turkic. This was typical of
Turkic tribal names that denoted aggressiveness." This prompted Golden to further posit that Basmyls were Oghuric speakers who remained east after their cousins had migrated west
According to
Tongdian
The ''Tongdian'' () is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 ...
, the Basmyls originally lived dispersed on the snowy mountains, hunted on
skis
A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...
, and dwelt south of
Beiting Protectorate
The Beiting Protectorate-General, initially the Beiting Protectorate, was a Chinese protectorate established by the Tang dynasty in 702 to control the Beiting region north of Gaochang in contemporary Xinjiang. Wu Zetian set up the Beiting ...
and the Northern Sea (i.e.
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...
) and southeast of
Yenisei Kyrgyz
The Yenisei Kyrgyz ( otk, 𐰶𐰃𐰺𐰴𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Qyrqyz bodun), were an ancient Turkic people who dwelled along the upper Yenisei River in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th ...
es; the "courageous and powerful" Basmyls numbered 2,000 families, and had leaders but no princes Since 552, the Turkicizing Basmyls were a part of the
First Turkic Khaganate, who might have recognized Basmyls' economic or political importance enough to appoint an
Ashina Ashina may refer to:
*Ashina tribe, a ruling dynasty of the Turkic Khaganate
*Ashina clan (Japan),_one_of_the_Japanese_clans
*Ashina_District,_Hiroshima.html" ;"title="DF 7 of 80; retrieved 2013-5-4 ..., one of the Japanese clans
*Ashina District, H ...
yabghu
Yabghu ( otk, 𐰖𐰉𐰍𐰆, yabγu,Entrabγu">"𐰖𐰉𐰍𐰆__over_the_Basmyls._When_this_khaganate_split_into_ _over_the_Basmyls.
_When_this_khaganate_split_into_Eastern_Turkic_Kaganate">Eastern
_
Eastern_may_refer_to:
__Transportation_
*China_Eastern_Airlines,_a_current_Chinese_airline_based_in_Shanghai
*Eastern_Air,_former_name_of_Zambia_Skyways
*Eastern_Air_Lines,_a_defunct_American_airline_that_operated_from_1926_to_1991
*Eastern_Air_Li_...
_and_Western_Turkic_Khaganate.html" ;"title="Eastern_Turkic_Kaganate.html" "title="abγuйабғұ"in_"Ethno-Cultural_Dictionary"_''Türik_Bitig''_),_also_rendered_as_Jabgu,_Djabgu_or_Yabgu,_was_a_state_office_in_the_early_Turkic_peoples.html" ;"title="abγuй ...