The Kayı or Kayi tribe (
Middle Turkic: قَيِغْ ''qayïγ'' or simply ''qayig''; tr, Kayı boyu, tk, Gaýy taýpasy) were an
Oghuz Turkic people and a sub-branch of the
Bozok tribal federation. In his ''
Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk
The ' ( ar, ديوان لغات الترك, lit=Compendium of the languages of the Turks) is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled in 1072–74 by the Turkic scholar Mahmud Kashgari who extensively studied the Turkic ...
,'' the 11th century
Kara-Khanid
The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek K ...
scholar
Mahmud al-Kashgari
Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari, ''Maḥmūd ibnu 'l-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Kāšġarī'', , tr, Kaşgarlı Mahmûd, ug, مەھمۇد قەشقىرى, ''Mehmud Qeshqiri'' / Мәһмуд Қәшқири uz, Mahmud Qashg'ariy / М ...
cited as of one of 22 Oghuz tribes, saying that Oghuz were also called
Turkomans. The name ''Kayı'' means "''the one who has might and power by relationship''" and the
Turkmen proverb says that "''people shall be led by Kayi and Bayat tribes" ( tk, Il başy - gaýy-baýat)''.
Origin
In his history work ''
Shajara-i Tarākima'', the Khan of
Khiva and historian,
Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur, mentions among the 24 ancient
Turkmen (
Oghuz Turkic
The Oghuz languages are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family, spoken by approximately 108 million people. The three languages with the largest number of speakers are Turkish, Azerbaijani and Turkmen, which, combined, account for more t ...
) tribes, direct descendants of
Oghuz Khagan
Oghuz Khagan or Oghuz Khan ( tk, Oguz Han or Oguz Kagan ; tr, Oğuz Kağan or Oğuz Han; Azerbaijani: Oğuz Xan or Oğuz Xaqan) is a legendary khan of the Turkic people and an eponymous ancestor of Oghuz Turks. Some Turkic cultures use the l ...
. Oghuz Khagan is a semi-legendary figure thought to be the ancient progenitor of Oghuz Turks. translates as "strong". In his extensive history work “
Jami' al-tawarikh” (Collection of Chronicles), the statesman and historian of the
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani
Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb ( fa, رشیدالدین طبیب; 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, fa, links=no, رشیدالدین فضلالله همدانی) was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilk ...
also says that the tribe comes from the oldest of Oghuz Khan's 24 grandchildren who were the patriarchs of the ancient Oghuz tribes, and the name ''Kayı'' means "powerful".
Soviet
Sinologist
Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...
and
Turkologist
Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative con ...
Yury Zuev
Yuri Alexeyevich Zuev or Zuyev (russian: Юрий Алексеевич Зуев; 8 December 1932 – 5 December 2006) was a Russian-born Kazakh sinologist and turkologist.
Biography
Zuev was born in the Siberian city of Tümen in a whit ...
based on the analysis of tribal names and
tamga
A tamga or tamgha (from otk, 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga, lit=stamp, seal; tr, damga; mn, tamga; ; ); an abstract Seal (emblem), seal or Seal (emblem), stamp used by Eurasian nomads and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the e ...
s from
Tang Huiyao
The ''Tang Huiyao'' () is an institutional history of Tang dynasty compiled by Wang Pu and presented it to Emperor Taizu of Song in 961. The book contains 100 volumes and 514 sections, it has an abundant content for the period before 846, and scar ...
, identifies a number of ancient
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n Turkic tribes as Oghuz-Turkmen tribes, one of them is the Kay tribe, whom Chinese knew as
Xí 奚 (< MC *''γiei''). After examining Chinese sources & consulting the works of other scholars (
Pelliot,
Minorsky), Zuev proposes that the Kay had belonged to the proto-Mongolic
Xianbei
The Xianbei (; ) were a Proto-Mongolic ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. They originated from the Donghu people who splintered into the ...
tribal union
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...
and that Kay had been ethnic and linguistic relatives of the Mongolic-speaking
Khitans
The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East.
As a people desce ...
, prior to being known as an Oghuz-Turkmen tribe by the 9th century. Likewise, Hungarian scholar
Gyula Németh (1969) links ''Kayı(ğ)'' to the (para-)Mongolic ''Qay''/''Xí'', whom Tibetans knew as ''Dad-pyi'' and
Göktürks
The Göktürks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks ( otk, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Türük Bodun; ; ) were a nomadic confederation of Turkic peoples in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and ...
knew as ''Tatabï''; however, Németh's thesis is rejected by
Mehmet Fuat Köprülü
Mehmet Fuat Köprülü (December 5, 1890 – June 28, 1966), also known as Köprülüzade Mehmed Fuad, was a highly influential Turkish sociologist, turkologist, scholar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republi ...
among others. Later on, Németh (1991) proposes that
Mg. ''Qay'' is derived from
Tk. root ''qað-'' "snowstorm, blizzard"; nevertheless,
Golden
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
* Golden Cap, Dorset
*Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...
points out that ''Qay'' has several Mongolic etymologies: ''ɣai'' "misfortune", ''χai'' "interjection of grief", ''χai'' "to seek", ''χai'' "to hew".
Even so, Köprülü rejects scholarly attempts to link the formerly Mongolic Qay/Xi to the Oghuz Turkic tribe Qayı(ğ); he points out that
Kashgari Kashgari is a Uyghur family name, meaning "the one from city of Kashgar". Kashgar is a historic city in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region in China. The name may refer to:
* Hamza Kashgari (born 1989), Saudi columnist with Uyghur background
* Mah ...
's
Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk
The ' ( ar, ديوان لغات الترك, lit=Compendium of the languages of the Turks) is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled in 1072–74 by the Turkic scholar Mahmud Kashgari who extensively studied the Turkic ...
distinguished the Qay tribe from the Qayığ branch/sub-tribe of the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe.
History
According to Ottoman tradition,
Osman I
Osman I or Osman Ghazi ( ota, عثمان غازى, translit= ʿOsmān Ġāzī; tr, I. Osman or ''Osman Gazi''; died 1323/4), sometimes transliterated archaically as Othman, was the founder of the Ottoman Empire (first known as the Ottoman Bey ...
, the founder of
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, was a descendant of the Kayı tribe. This claim has, however, been called into serious question by many modern historians. The only evidence for the Ottomans' Kayı descent came from genealogies written during the fifteenth century, several centuries after the life of Osman. More significantly, the earliest genealogies written by the Ottomans did not include any reference to Kayı descent at all, indicating that it may have been fabricated at a later date.
The famous Oghuz-
Turkic folk narrator, soothsayer and bard
Gorkut-ata (Dede Korkut) belonged to the Kayı tribe. In the 10th century, the
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n
Oghuz Yabgu State was headed by supreme leaders (or
Yabghu
Yabghu ( otk, 𐰖𐰉𐰍𐰆, yabγu,Entrabγu">"𐰖𐰉𐰍𐰆_)_who_belonged_to_the_Kayi_tribe.
According_to_Soviet_Union.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 ...
) who belonged to the Kayi tribe.
According to Soviet Union">Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
archaeologist and ethnographer Sergey Tolstov, part of the Kayi tribe moved in the Middle Ages from Central Asia to modern day Ukraine, they are known in the Old Russian Chronicles as ''kovuy'' and ''kaepichi'' as one of the tribes that formed the Turkic tribal confederation called
; Golden however considers the Kaepichi to be descendants of the Mongolic or para-Mongolic
instead. According to the famous Soviet and
A. V. Superanskaya, the origin of the name of the city of
and consists of the following clans: and others. The are also a subtribe of the
.
is inspired by the seal of the Kayı tribe.
* Kafesoğlu, İbrahim. ''Türk Milli Kültürü''. Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü, 1977
*Gmyrya, L. 1995. ''"Hun country at the Caspian Gate: Caspian Dagestan during the epoch of the Great Movement of Peoples"''. Makhachkala: Dagestan Publishing
*
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