Basmyl

The Basmyls (''Basmyl''; Basmals, Basmils, otk, 𐰉𐰽𐰢𐰞, Basmïl, , Middle Chinese 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 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's dynastic clan and briefly held the Khaganate with the help of Karluks and Uyghurs, 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 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 onomastics 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, near Gucheng (Qitai), in the Bogda Shan range, and to be Ashina Turks (Ch. 突厥 pinyin Tu-jue).Zizhi Tongjian 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 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 of the Middle Juz of modern Kazakhstan. Marco Polo 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 merchants."

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; the other, *''-mïl'', is the Oghuric cognate of Common Turkic 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 Basmyls originally lived dispersed on the snowy mountains, hunted on skis, and dwelt south of Beiting Protectorate and the Northern Sea (i.e. Lake Baikal) and southeast of Yenisei Kyrgyzes; 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 yabghu over the Basmyls. When this khaganate split into Eastern Turkic Kaganate">Eastern