Middle Turkic (''Türki'' or ''Türkçe'') refers to a phase in the development of the Turkic language family, covering much of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

(c. 900–1500 CE). In particular the term is used by linguists to refer to a group of Karluk and Oghuz and related languages spoken during this period in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a 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 the fo ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and other parts of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

controlled by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

Classification

Middle Turkic can be divided into eastern and western branches. Eastern Middle Turkic consists of Karakhanid (also called Khaqani Turkic), a

literary language A literary language is the form (register) of a language used in written literature, which can be either a nonstandard dialect or a standardized variety of the language. Literary language sometimes is noticeably different from the spoken langua ...

which was spoken in

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. ...

, Balasaghun and other cities along the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and rel ...

and its later descendents such as Khorezmian and Chagatai. The western branch consists of Kipchak languages documented in '' Codex Cumanicus'' and various Mamlukean Kipchak texts from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and Oghuz Turkic represented by

Old Anatolian Turkish Old Anatolian Turkish (OAT, tr, Eski Anadolu Türkçesi, ''EAT'') is the stage in the history of the Turkish language spoken in Anatolia from the 11th to 15th centuries. It developed into Early Ottoman Turkish. It was written in the Arabic ...

. Old Anatolian Turkish was noted to be initially influenced by Eastern Middle Turkic traditions. Karluk and Oghuz "Middle Turkic" period overlaps with the East Old Turkic period, which covers the 8th to 13th centuries, thus sometimes Karakhanid language is categorized under the "Old Turkic" period.

Literary works

*Book of Wisdom (ديوان حكمت) (Dīvān-i Ḥikmet) by Khoja Akhmet Yassawi. (in Karakhanid) *

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 ...

's '' Divânü Lügati't-Türk'' (in Karakhanid and Arabic) * Yusuf Balasaghuni's '' Kutadgu Bilig'' (in Karakhanid) *Ahmad bin Mahmud Yukenaki (Ahmed bin Mahmud Yükneki) (Ahmet ibn Mahmut Yükneki) (Yazan Edib Ahmed b. Mahmud Yükneki) ( w:tr:Edip Ahmet Yükneki) wrote the ''Hibet-ül hakayik'' (Hibet ül-hakayık) (Hibbetü'l-Hakaik) (Atebetüʼl-hakayik) (Hibat al-ḥaqāyiq) (هبة الحقايق) ( w:tr:Atabetü'l-Hakayık) *The works of

Ali-Shir Nava'i 'Ali-Shir Nava'i (9 February 1441 – 3 January 1501), also known as Nizām-al-Din ʿAli-Shir Herawī ( Chagatai: نظام الدین علی شیر نوایی, fa, نظام‌الدین علی‌شیر نوایی) was a Timurid poet, writer ...

(in Chagatai), including (titles in Arabic) **''Gharā’ib al-Ṣighār'' ("Wonders of Childhood") **''Nawādir al-Shabāb'' ("Witticisms of Youth") **''Badā’i‘ al-Wasaṭ'' ("Marvels of Middle Age") **''Fawā’id al-Kibār'' ("Advantages of Old Age") **''Muḥākamat al-Lughatayn'' ("Judgment between the Two Languages") *The Mughal Emperor

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through hi ...

's ''

Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...

'' (in Chagatai)

References

*Sinor, Dennis. "Old Turkic and Middle Turkic Languages." ''History of the Civilizations of Central Asia'', vol. IV, 2 (2000), pp. 331–334. {{DEFAULTSORT:Turkish Language Agglutinative languages Turkic languages Languages attested from the 9th century Languages extinct in the 15th century

Classification

Literary works

See also

References