Elmи мяъмуяси

 Gökçe Yükselen Abdurrazak Peler 

444 

but was replaced by another Ölberli line, that of al-Khaqan al-Mu’azzam 

Bahā’l-Haqq wa’l-Dîn Ulugh Khan Ghiyäs ad-Dîn Balban (1266-1287). 

However, Balban’s line did not survive long after him and was replaced by 

another Turkic dynasty, the Khaljîs, in 1290 (Golden 1986: 26-27). 

5. The Cuman – Qipchaq Language 

Reference is made to the (Cuman –) Qipchaq language in detail by 

Kasghari and he makes it clear that there was striking phonological 

similarities between Qipchaq Turkic and Oghuz Turkic, when compared to 

later periods (Atalay 1985-86 v. 1: 29-34). Karamanlıoğlu (1962: 177) 

explains this proximity with the very early stage of the formation of the 

Turkic languages and ascribes the later differences between the two branches 

to migration of Cuman – Qipchaqs and Oghuz / Turcomans into separate 

directions.  

The language of the Qipchaq sources dating from the period between the 

thirteenth and sixteenth centuries are known as Middle Qipchaq and are 

written in three different scripts originating from two geographically and 

culturally distinctive regions of the world. Sources written in the Arabic 

script are from the Near East, where they came into being under the 

Mamluks. The second group including both the Roman and Armenian script 

originated from the Russian Steppes

58

 (Berta 1998: 158). Interestingly none 

of the sources originating from the lands of the Cuman – Qipchaq 

Confederacy, i.e. the ones written in Roman and Armenian scripts, are left 

by the Qipchaqs themselves. It might be this fact that forced Golden (1986: 

7) to come to the conclusion that there was no literacy among the Cuman – 

Qipchaqs. Indeed it is an intriguing fact that there is no evidence that the 

Cuman – Qipchaqs had used the Turkic Runic Script. On the other hand 

there is evidence that the Runic Script was used by the Kimeks (Golden 

1992: 205), who had played an important role in the formation of the Cuman 

– Qipchaq ethno-genesis. Additionally Nemeth (1971: 1-3) notes that the 

Runiform inscriptions found at Nagy-Szent Miklos are written in an old 

dialect of the Qipchaq language and have either a Pecheneg or Qipchaq 

                                                                                                                   

deposed by the Turkic elite and replaced with her brother Bahrām Shāh, when she tried to 

neutralise the Turkic soldiery by making use of Tajik elements (Golden 1986: 27). 

58

 Berta (1998: 158) also notes sources written in the Cyrillic script without giving any 

information on them. These also must be from the Russian steppes.  

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Some Notes on the History, the Culture and the Language of the Medieval Qipchaq - Cuman Turks 

445 

origin. Moreover, the Cuman – Qipchaq population, which fled to the 

Bulghar lands before the Mongols (see section 4.5.), Qipchaqisized the local 

population causing the gradual extinction of the Bulghar language (Kurat 

1992: 97). We know from the inscriptions left by these Bulghars that literacy 

existed among them. Therefore at least these Qipchaqisizing populations 

should have transferred their literacy to the Qipchaq language. It is strange to 

assume that literacy existed in the two edges of the Cuman – Qipchaq world, 

whereas it was non-existent in the centre. It is possible that the lack of such 

sources is a result of mass-destruction during the turbulent years of the 

steppe. Indeed Golden (1992: 282) warns the scientific world to be prepared 

for such findings as a result of archaeological studies. 

There is one universally known Middle Qipchaq source written in the 

Roman script. The so-called Codex Cumanicus, which is constituted of two 

parts and is thought to be put together for Italian traders and German 

missionaries

59

. It is regarded to be a proof for the socially high status of the 

Cuman – Qipchaq language in the steppe at the time of its compilation (late 

13

th

 c. – first third of the 14

th

 c.) (Berta 1998: 158). Additionally Ligeti 

(1981: 3) reports on a Coman Lord’s Prayer together with a few other short 

prayers from Hungary, where the language survived until the end of the 18

th

 

century. 

The language of the Middle Qipchaq sources written in the Armenian 

script is known as Armeno-Qipchaq. These sources are produced mainly in 

the 16

th

 and 17

th

 centuries by the descendants of an Armenian community 

from Crimea, who migrated to Ukraine and Poland (Berta 1998: 158). The 

identity of this community is a very controversial matter. It is an un-solved 

problem whether they are Qipchaqs, who adopted Armenian type of 

Christianity or Armenians, who adopted the Qipchaq language

60

. The 

                                                 

59

 Vasary (1988: 268-69) notes that there is a big possibility that Orthodox parallels of Codex 

Cumanicus written in the Greek alphabet were compiled in Crimea as the existence of an 

Orthodox mission based in Sudaq and a thriving Orthodox Cuman – Qipchaq community 

has been proven by the information provided in the Sudaq synazarion. This community was 

absorbed by Greeks in the second half of the thirteenth century and it is possible that they 

became Greco-phone or at east bilingual at an earlier date (Vasary 1988: 270-71). 

60

 It is a known fact that Armenians existed in Crimea in the 12th and 13th centuries. Halperin 

(2000: 234) notes that this colony was established by Armenians fleeing the Seljukid Turks. 

On the other hand majority of the population of the peninsula was constituted of Cuman – 

Qipchaqs (Clauson 1971: 7). Clauson rather convincingly puts forth with linguistic, 

 

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