𐰋𐰃𐰼

Old Turkic

Old Turkic cardinal numbers

<  0	1	2  >
Cardinal : 𐰋𐰃𐰼 (bir)     Ordinal : 𐰃𐰠𐰚 (ilk)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Turkic *bīr (“one”). Cognate with Chuvash пӗр (pĕr), Khalaj bî, Turkish bir (“one, once”), Uzbek bir, Bashkir бер (ber, “one”), Yakut биир (biir).

Numeral

𐰋𐰃𐰼 (b²ir² /bir/)

1. one
   • 9th century CE, Irk Bitig, Omen 32

     𐰋𐰃𐰼:𐱃𐰉𐰞𐰴𐰆:𐰘𐰇𐰔:𐰉𐰆𐰞𐱃𐰃:𐰘𐰇𐰔:𐱃𐰉𐰞𐰴𐰆:𐰢𐰃𐰭:𐰉𐰆𐰞𐱃𐰃:𐰢𐰃𐰭:𐱃𐰉𐰞𐰴𐰆:𐱅𐰇𐰢𐰤:𐰉𐰆𐰞𐱃𐰃:𐱅𐰃𐰼

     b²ir²:t¹b¹l¹qu:y²üz:b¹ul¹t¹i:y²üz:t¹b¹l¹qu:miŋ:b¹ul¹t¹i:miŋ:t¹b¹l¹qu:t²ümn²:b¹ul¹t¹i:t²ir²

     /bir tabïlqu yüz boltï, yüz tabïlqu miŋ boltï, miŋ tabïlqu tümän boltï, ter/

     One spriaea became a hundred; a hundred spiraeas became a thousand (and) a thousand spiraeas became ten thousand, it says.

Conjunction

𐰋𐰃𐰼 (b²ir² /bir/)

1. once
   • 8th century CE, Bilge Khagan Inscription, N6

     𐰋𐰃𐰼:𐱃𐰆𐰑𐰽𐰺:𐰀𐰲𐰾𐰴:𐰇𐰢𐰕𐰾𐰤

     b²ir²:t¹ud¹s¹r¹:ačs²q:ümzs²n²

     /bir todsar ačsïq ömäzsän/

     ...once you are satiated, you do not think of hunger again.

References

• Tekin, Talât (1968) “bir”, in A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic (Uralic and Altaic Series; 69), Bloomington: Indiana University, →ISBN, page 314
• Tekin, Talât (1993) “bir”, in Irk Bitig: The Book of Omens, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 52
• Clauson, Gerard (1972) “bi:r”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 353
• Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*bir (*bīr)”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill