''İn Cin'' (also: ''İn jinn'') is a
Turkish phrase
In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adject ...
used to express that a place is entirely abandoned.
Background
According to Turkish beliefs, İn and
jinn
Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam.
Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either ...
inhabit forgotten or desolated places. Therefore, a place visited by such beings, as for example in "İn cin top oynamak" ("İn and jinn play ball"), means that this place must be completely devoid of human life.
The combination of these two entities bears resemblance to the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
ic phrase ''al-ins wa al-jinn'' (الإِنسِ وَالْجِنِّ). However, whereas in Arabic the term ''al-ins'' (الإِنسِ) refers to mankind, the similar Turkish term (İn) refers to a being similar to the jinn (''human'' means ''insan'' in Turkish). The İn would be less predictable in behavior and more prone to chaos than the jinn.
The jinn entered the Turkish consciousness through
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. The İn refers to a type of demon from Turkish legends. İn might root in the concept of Turkic
master spirits (''İye''). In many Turkish tales, people are afraid or even killed by the İn and jinn when visiting haunted places.
[DİREKÇİ, Bekir. "" İpäk Yoli Äfsånäläri" nin Tasnifi." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 26 (2009): 39-56.]
See also
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Div
*
Peri
References
{{reflist
Turkic demons
Phrases
Former populated places