Mergen (
Old Turkic
Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It is the ...
: 𐰢𐰼𐰏𐰤) is a
Turkic deity of abundance and wisdom. Mergen is often depicted with a
bow and arrow
The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elasticity (physics), elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles (arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the ...
in one hand. Other important symbols include a white
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...
and the color
white
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
. He is associated with profundity and depicted as a strong and powerful
god
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
. Mergen is the son of
Kayra
Kayra or Kaira (Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰖𐰺𐰀) is creator god in Turkic mythology. He is the god who planted the tree of life called ''Ulukayın''. He is the supreme god of the Tatars and the Son of the sky deity (Gök Tengri). This son, Kara Han ( ...
[Necati Demir]
Mitoloji
ITU Yayınları and the brother of
Ulgan, and lives on the seventh floor of sky. He was portrayed as a young man with a helmet and a bow riding on a white horse. Mergen symbolizes intelligence and thought.
Etymology
The word Mergen means
archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
or bowman in
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 ...
. In the
Bashkir language
Bashkir (, ; Bashkir: ''Bashqortsa'', ''Bashqort tele'', ) is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch. It is co-official with Russian in Bashkortostan. It is spoken by approximately 1.4 million native speakers in Russia, as well a ...
the word ''märgän'' (мәргән) means marksman or
sniper, while in Khalkha the
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...
Mergen (мэргэн) means wise or genius.
See also
*
Zasa Mergen Baatar
References
Bibliography
* Sarangerel (Julie Ann Stewart) : Chosen by the Spirits : Following Your Shamanic Calling. Destiny Books, Rochester (VT), 2001.
External links
The Gods of TurksАлтайская мифология
{{Turkic Deities
Turkic deities
Wisdom gods