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 Chuvash ( , ; , , ) is a Turkic language spoken in European Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Tur ...

. The first to branch off from the Turkic family, the Oghuric languages show significant divergence from other Turkic languages, which all share a later common ancestor. Languages from this family were spoken in some nomadic tribal confederations, such as those of the

Onogurs The Onoğurs or Oğurs (Ὀνόγουροι, Οὔρωγοι, Οὔγωροι; Onογurs, Ογurs; "ten tribes", "tribes"), were Turkic nomadic equestrians who flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between 5th and 7th cent ...

or Ogurs,

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

and

Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

History

The Oghuric languages are a distinct group of the

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic l ...

, standing in contrast to Common Turkic. Today they are represented only by Chuvash. The only other language which is conclusively proven to be Oghuric is the long-extinct

Bulgar Bulgar may refer to: *Bulgars, extinct people of Central Asia *Bulgar language, the extinct language of the Bulgars *Oghur languages Bulgar may also refer to: *Bolghar, the capital city of Volga Bulgaria *Bulgur, a wheat product *Bulgar, an Ashke ...

, while

Khazar The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

may be a possible relative within the group. There is no consensus among linguists on the relation between Oghuric and Common Turkic and several questions remain unsolved: *Are they parallel branches of

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 Tur ...

() and, if so, which branch is more archaic? *Does Oghuric represent Archaic Turkic before phonetic changes in 100-400 AD and was it a separate language? Fuzuli Bayat dates the separation into Oghur r-dialects and Oghuz z-dialects to the 2nd millennium BC.Karadeniz Araştırmaları, Sayı 3 (Güz 2004), s.71-77. Fuzuli Bayat: Oğuz kelimesinin etimolijisi, Page 74.
/ref>

Features

The Oghuric languages are also known as "-r Turkic" because the final consonant in certain words is ''r'', not ''z'' as in Common Turkic. cv, вăкăр - tr, öküz - tt-Cyrl, үгез - en, ox. Hence the name '' Oghur'' corresponds to ''Oghuz'' "tribe" in Common Turkic. Other correspondences are Com. ''š'' : Oghur ''l'' (''tâš'' : ''tâl'', 'stone'); ''s'' > ''š''; ''*č'' > ''ś''; ''k/q'' > ''ğ''; ''y'' > ''j, ś''; ''d, δ'' > ''δ'' > ''z'' (10th cent.) > ''r'' (13th cent.)"; ''ğd'' > ''z'' > ''r'' (14th cent.); ''a'' > ''ı'' (after 9th cent.). The shift from ''s'' to ''š'' operates before ''i'', ''ï'', and ''iV'', and Dybo calls the sound change the "Bulgar

palatalization Palatalization may refer to: *Palatalization (phonetics), the phonetic feature of palatal secondary articulation *Palatalization (sound change) Palatalization is a historical-linguistic sound change that results in a palatalized articulation ...

". Denis Sinor believed that the differences noted above suggest that the Oghur-speaking tribes could not have originated in territories inhabited by speakers of

Mongolic languages The Mongolic languages are a language family spoken by the Mongolic peoples in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas and in Kalmykia and Buryatia. The best-known member of this language ...

, given that Mongolian dialects feature the ''-z'' suffix. Peter Golden, however, has noted that there are many loanwords in Mongolic from Oghuric, such as Mongolic ''ikere'', Oghuric ''*ikir'', Hungarian ''iker'', Common Turkic ''*ikiz'' 'twins', and holds the contradictory view that the Oghur inhabited the borderlands of Mongolia prior to the 5th century. The Oghuric tribes are often connected with the

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...

, whose exo-ethnonym is usually derived from '' On-Oğur'' (> ''(H)Ungari''). ''Hungarians'' -> ''Hun Oghur'' -> (''ten oghur tribes''): On ogur -> up. chv. Won ogur -> dow. chv. Wun ogur -> belor. Wugorac -> rus. Wenger -> slove. Vogr, Vogrin -> cheh. pol. Węgier, Węgrzyn, -> lit. Veñgras. The Hungarians are culturally of mixed Ugrian /

Turkic Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

heritage, with strong Oghuric-Bulgar and Khazar influences, even though much of the modern-day Hungarian genepool also has strong Slavic, Germanic, and Iranic influences. Hungarian has many borrowings from Turkic and Oghuric languages: Hung. ''tenger'', Oghur. ''*tengir'', Comm. ''*tengiz'' 'sea', Hung. ''gyűrű'', Oghur. ''*ǰürük'', Comm. ''*yüzük'' 'ring', and terms of equestrian culture ''ló'' 'horse', ''nyereg'' 'saddle', ''fék'' 'bridle', ''ostor'' 'whip'. A number of Hungarian loanwords were borrowed before the 9th century, shown by ''sz-'' (< Oğ. ''*ś-'') rather than ''gy-'' (< Oğ. ''*ǰ-''), for example Hung. ''szél'', Oghur. ''*śäl'', Chuv. ''śil'', Comm. ''*yel'' 'wind', Hung. ''szűcs'' 'tailor', Hung. ''szőlő'' 'grapes'. In the

Oghuz languages 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 tha ...

as azer. tur. ''öküz'' means ''ox'' ( totemic animal), and is a reflection of the Chuvash language w''ăkăr'' where rhotacism is used, in the

Kipchak languages The Kipchak languages (also known as the Kypchak, Qypchaq, Qypshaq or the Northwestern Turkic languages) are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family spoken by approximately 28 million people in much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, spanni ...

it is ''ögiz.''

References

;Sources * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oghur Languages Agglutinative languages Vowel-harmony languages

History

Features

See also

References