Reconstruction:Proto-Turkic/tür(ü)k

This Proto-Turkic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Turkic

Alternative reconstructions

• *türk
• *türkü

Etymology

Uncertain. Multiple etymologies have been proposed;

1. Doerfer (1965), based on Old Uyghur 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾𐽷 (twyrk, “?”) found in fragmentary Manichaean scriptures as "...türk burxanlarta kén éntiŋiz..." ("...you have descended [to Earth] after [???] prophets (Boddhisatvas)..."), presumes that Old Uyghur word and thus *türk must have meant "strong", and or "capable." However, Clauson (1972) rejects this observation, stating that most of the text is illegible and 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾𐽷 (twyrk) in the Manichaean may simply be 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾𐾀 (twyrt, “four”) instead. This is seconded by Nişanyan in his Modern Turkish etymological dictionary.
2. According to Clauson (1972) *türk means "the culmination point of maturity", "ripe (as are fruit)" and "the prime of one's life".
3. Räsänen (1969) in his entry surmises the etymologies above, giving that the word meant "power, might" in Old Uyghur, "midpoint of maturing" in Middle Turkic, "brave" in Chagatai and "brute, harsh; (and by extension) illiterate" in Ottoman Turkish. He also gives "Chinese Tu-küz" (cf. Middle Chinese 突厥 (tʰuət̚ kɨut̚)) for the comparison. Whether or not the words mentioned are related to this etymon is unclear.
4. Róna-Tas (1991) compares this form with Khotanese *tturakä (“lid, helmet”) in the light of the mention of "golden mountains shaped like helmets" by the Chinese Annals where Turks would live. Chinese records also state that Turks got their name from these mountains, which they call türküt. Notwithstanding this etymology, Róna-Tas and Berta (2011) suppose the proto-form as *türkü and comment that this word is not found natively in Yakut, Khakas and Chuvash languages.

The earliest attestation of Turk is found in the Hüis Tolgoi Inscription, stone 1 as 𑀓𑁆𑀭𑀽𑀢𑀼 (türǖg) in Brahmi script, dating back to 584 AD.

See more at Turkic.

Proper noun

*tür(ü)k

1. Turk, person with Turkic ancestry
2. Turks

Declension

Declension of *tür(ü)k (Common Turkic)

	singular	plural2)
nominative	*tür(ü)k	*tür(ü)kler
accusative
genitive	*tür(ü)kniŋ	*tür(ü)klerniŋ
dative	*tür(ü)kke	*tür(ü)klerke
locative	*tür(ü)kte	*tür(ü)klerde
ablative	*tür(ü)kten	*tür(ü)klerden
instrumental1)		*tür(ü)klerin
equative1)	*tür(ü)kče	*tür(ü)klerče

¹⁾The original instrumental and equative cases have fallen into disuse in many Common Turkic languages.
²⁾This plural suffix is used only on Common Turkic, and not in Oghur. See also the notes on the Proto-Turkic/Locative-ablative case and plurality page on Wikibooks.

Descendants

• Oghur: *türkü
  • → Old Hungarian: Turcu (türkü)
    • Hungarian: török
  • →⇒ Old Hungarian: Thevreker (törek-ēr, “Cuman”) (< *tür(ü)k + *ēr)
• →? Rouran: 𑀓𑁆𑀭𑀽𑀢𑀼 (türǖg)
• Common Turkic: *türk

• Oghuz:
  • Old Anatolian Turkish: [script needed] (Türkmen)
    • Ottoman Turkish: ترك, تورك (türk)
      • Turkish: Türk
        • → English: Türk
      • → Albanian: turk
      • → Romanian: turc
      • → Bashkir: төрөк (török)
      • → Tatar: төрек (törek)
      • → Chuvash: тӗрӗк (tĕrĕk)
      • → Kazakh: түрік (türık)
      • → Kyrgyz: түрк (türk)
      • → Southern Altai: тӱрк (türk)
      • → Yakut: турок (turok)
      • → Russian: ту́рок (túrok)
        • → Yakut: туурак (tuurak)
    • Azerbaijani: türk
  • ⇒ Turkmen: Türkmen
  • → Bulgar: تُرُكمَان (“Turkmen”)
  • → Persian: ترکمان
    • → Azerbaijani: türkman
    • → Chagatai: ترکمان
      • Uzbek: turkmon
    • → Gujarati: તુર્કમાન (turkamān)
    • → Medieval Latin: Turcomannus
      • English: Turcoman
      • French: Turcoman
    • → Ottoman Turkish: تركمان (Türkmân)
      • Turkish: Türkman
      • → English: Turkman
• Siberian Turkic:
  • Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜 (t²ür²k̥, “Turks, Göktürks”), 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚 (türk), 𐱆𐰈𐰼𐰝 (türk)
    • ⇒ Rouran: *türküt (“Turks”)
      • → Middle Chinese: 突厥 (tʰuət̚ kɨut̚)
    • → Middle Persian: twlk'
    • Old Uyghur: 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾𐽷 (Türk, “Turkic”)
      • Old Uyghur: 𐾀𐽳𐽶𐽾𐽷𐽽𐽰 (Türkče, “Turkic (language), Old Uyghur language”)

References

• Róna-Tas, András (1991) An Introduction to Turkology, Szeged, pages 10-13
• Róna-Tas, András, Berta, Árpád, Károly, László (2011) West Old Turkic: Turkic Loanwords in Hungarian (Turcologica; 84), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pages 939-942
• Clauson, Gerard (1962) Turkish and Mongolian studies‎^[2], London: Royal Asiatic Society, pages 84-88
• Clauson, Gerard (1972) “türk”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pages 542-543
• Doerfer, Gerhard (1965) Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen [Turkic and Mongolian Elements in New Persian] (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur: Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission)‎^[3] (in German), volume 2, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, page 888
• Räsänen, Martti (1969) Versuch eines etymologischen Wörterbuchs der Türksprachen (in German), Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, page 506