Cumans
Turkic nomadic people / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Cumans or Kumans[2] (Bulgarian: кумани, romanized: kumani; German: Kumanen; Hungarian: kunok; Polish: Połowcy; Romanian: cumani; Russian: половцы, romanized: polovtsy; Ukrainian: половці, romanized: polovtsi) were a Turkic[2][3][4][5] nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsy in Rus', Cumans in Western and Kipchaks in Eastern sources.[6]
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Cumania | |
Languages | |
Cuman | |
Religion | |
Tengrism (historically), Christianity (in Balkans), Islam (in Anatolia, Balkans) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Kipchaks, Pecheneg, Tatars, Manavs, Bashkirs, Nogais, Kazakhs[1] |
Related to the Pecheneg,[7] they inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea and along the Volga River known as Cumania, from which the Cuman–Kipchaks meddled in the politics of the Caucasus and the Khwarazmian Empire.[8]: 7 The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian Steppe who exerted an enduring influence on the medieval Balkans.[9]: 116 [10] They were numerous, culturally sophisticated, and militarily powerful.[11]: 13
Many eventually settled west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Kievan Rus', the Galicia–Volhynia Principality, the Golden Horde Khanate, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Moldavia, the Kingdom of Georgia, the Byzantine Empire, the Empire of Nicaea, the Latin Empire and Wallachia, with Cuman immigrants becoming integrated into each country's elite.[12]: 281 The Cumans also played a prominent role in the Fourth Crusade[citation needed] and in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire.[8][13]: 50 Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman–Kipchak confederation.[11]: 7
After the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in 1237, many Cumans sought asylum in the Kingdom of Hungary, as many of them had already settled there in the previous decades. The Cumans also played an important role in the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Nicaea Empire's Anatolia.[8]: 2 [12]: 283 [14][15]
The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages.[5]: 186 The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.
Cuman
Cuman appears in ancient Roman texts as the name of a fortress or gate. The Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder (who lived in the 1st century AD), mentions "a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lay beyond" while describing the "Gates of Caucasus" (Derbent, or Darial Gorge),.[16] The Greek philosopher Strabo (died c. 24 AD) refers to the Darial Gorge (also known as the Iberian Gates or the Caucasian Gates) as Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana.[17]
The original meaning of the endonym Cuman is unknown. It is also often unclear whether a particular name refers to the Cumans alone, or to both the Cumans and the Kipchaks, as the two tribes often lived side by side.[8]: 6
Most other Turkic-speaking people (as well as most Muslim sources) called the Cumans some variant of "Qipchaqs", while Armenians called them "Xartesk'ns". Qumans were primarily used by Byzantine authors (and a few Arab sources), while the name used in Rus' tended to be "Polovtsian".[18]
In Turkic languages qu, qun, qūn, quman or qoman means "pale, sallow, cream coloured", "pale yellow", or "yellowish grey".[19]: 51 [20] While it is normally assumed that the name referred to the Cumans' hair, Imre Baski—a prominent Turkologist—has suggested that it may have other origins, including:
- the color of the Cumans' horses (i.e. cream tones are found among Central Asian breeds such as the Akhal-Teke);
- a traditional water vessel, known as a quman; or
- a Turkic word for "force" or "power".[21]
Observing that the Hungarian exonym for Cumans—i.e. Kun, Kunok—appeared as Cunus, Cuni in the chronicles and was applied to earlier nomads such as Pechenegs or Oghuzes, György Györffy derived Kun from Huns, instead of Qun, which he kept separate from Kun. However, István Vásáry rejected Györffy's hypothesis and contended that "the Hungarian name of the Cumans must go back to one of their self-appellations, i.e. to Qun." In the Hypatian Codex, a certain individual is called Kuman, while in the parallel account of the Laurentian Codex he is called Kun ("Polovčinu menem Kunui", Vásáry considers this a corruption of Kunu, Russian dative of Kun).[8]: 5
Cumania
Even after the Cumans were no longer the dominant power in their territory, people still referred to the area as Cumania. The Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta (1304 – c. 1369), said of Cumania: "This wilderness is green and grassy with no trees, nor hills, high or low ... there is no means of travelling in this desert except in wagons." The Persian historian Hamdallah Mustawfi (1281–1349) wrote that Cumania has a cold climate and that it has excellent pasturage and numerous cattle and horses.[5]: 40 The 14th-century Travels of Sir John Mandeville, note that Cumania
is one of the great kingdoms in the world, but it is not all inhabited. For at one of the parts there is so great cold that no man may dwell there; and in another part there is so great heat that no man may endure it ... And the principal city of Comania is clept [called] Sarak [Serai], that is one of the three ways for to go into India. But by that way, he may not pass no great multitude of people, but if it be in winter. And that passage men clepe the Derbend. The other way is for to go from the city of Turkestan by Persia, and by that way be many journeys by desert. And the third way is that cometh from Comania and then to go by the Great Sea and by the kingdom of Abchaz ... After that, the Comanians that were in servage in Egypt, felt themselves that they were of great power, they chose them a soldan [sultan] amongst them, the which made him to be clept Melechsalan. And in his time entered into the country of the kings of France Saint Louis, and fought with him; and [the soldan] took him and imprisoned him; and this [soldan] was slain by his own servants. And after, they chose another to be soldan, that they clept Tympieman; and he let deliver Saint Louis out of prison for a certain ransom. And after, one of these Comanians reigned, that hight [was called] Cachas, and slew Tympieman, for to be soldan; and made him be clept Melechmenes.[22]
Polovtsy
In East Slavic languages and Polish, they are known as the Polovtsy, derived from the Slavic root *polvъ "pale; light yellow; blonde".[23][24][failed verification]: 43 Polovtsy or Polovec is often said to be derived from the Old East Slavic polovŭ (половъ) "yellow; pale" by the Russians—all meaning "blond".[24] The old Ukrainian word polovtsy (Пóловці), derived from polovo "straw"—means "blond, pale yellow". The western Cumans, or Polovtsy, were also called Sorochinetses by the Rus'—apparently derived from the Turkic sary chechle "yellow-haired". A similar etymology may have been at work in the name of the Śārī, who also migrated westward ahead of the Qun.[25][full citation needed]
However, according to O. Suleymenov polovtsy may come from a Slavic word for "blue-eyed", i.e. the Serbo-Croatian plȃv (пла̑в) means "blue",[26] but this word also means "fair, blonde" and is a cognate of the above; cf. West Slavic Polish płowy ,Eastern Slavic polovŭ, Russian polóvyj (поло́вый), Ukrainian polovýj (полови́й).[27] Blonde individuals likely existed among the Kipchaks, yet anthropologically speaking the majority of Turkic peoples had East Asian admixture and generally Kimeks–Kipchaks were dark-haired and brown-eyed.[28] An alternative etymology of Polovtsy is also possible: the Slavic root *pȍlje "field" (cf. Polish, Russian pole), which would therefore imply that Polovtsy were "men of the field" or "men of the steppe" in contrast to the Lipovtsi.
Folban, Vallani, Valwe
In Germanic languages, the Cumans were called Folban, Vallani or Valwe—all derivatives of Proto-Germanic root *falwa- meaning "pale"[5]: 106 (> English "fallow").[29] In the German account by Adam of Bremen, and in Matthaios of Edessa, the Cumans were referred to as the "Blond Ones".[23]
Kipchak
As stated above, it is unknown whether the name Kipchak referred only to the Kipchaks proper, or to the Cumans as well. The two tribes eventually fused, lived together and probably exchanged weaponry, culture and languages; the Cumans encompassed the western half of the confederation, while the Kipchaks and (presumably) the Kangli/Kankalis (possibly connected to three Pecheneg tribes known collectively as Kangars) encompassed the eastern half. This confederation and their living together may have made it difficult for historians to write exclusively about either nation.[8]: 6
The Kipchaks' folk-etymology posited that their name meant 'hollow tree'; according to them, inside a hollow tree, their original human ancestress gave birth to her son.[30] Németh points to the Siberian qıpčaq "angry, quick-tempered" attested only in the Siberian Sağay dialect.[31] Klyashtorny links Kipchak to qovï, qovuq "unfortunate, unlucky"; yet Golden sees a better match in qïv "good fortune" and adjectival suffix -čāq. Regardless, Golden notes that the ethnonym's original form and etymology "remain a matter of contention and speculation".[32]
Tribes
Kievan Rus', Mamluk, Hungarian, and Chinese sources preserved the names of many Cuman-Kupchak tribal groupings:
- Altun-oba
- Arslan-opa
- Ay-opa
- Badač
- Barat ~ Beret ~ Baraq,
- Baya(w)ut,
- Burčoğlı (R. Burchebichi; Hg. Borcsol),
- B.zângî ~ B.zânrî (< ? *Buranlı "stormy"),
- Jğrâq ~ Jğrât ~ Jqrâq < Čağraq? ~ Čoğraq? ~ Čağraq? ~ Čoğrat? (< čoğrat- "to boil"),[33]
- Čenegrepa (< Mong. čengkir "light blue, bluish"),
- Čitey(oğlı) (R. Chitѣyebichi),
- Čirtan ~ (*Ozur) Čortan (Hg. Csertan),
- Dorut ~ Dörüt ~ Dört,
- Enčoğlı ~ İlančuglı (Hg. Iloncsuk),
- İt-oğlı,
- Qitan-opa,
- Knn ~ Kyt (either corrupted from Köten, R. Kotianъ, Hg. Kötöny; or from Turkic tribal name Keyit, meaning "to irritate, to annoy"),
- Küčeba ~ Küčoba (R. Kouchebichi < küč "strength"),[34]
- Küčet (< küčet- "to urge to seize"),[35]
- Kor ~ Qor (H. Kór),
- Qara Börklü,
- Qay-opa (R. Kaepiči),[36]
- Qol-oba ~ Qul-oba (R. Kolobichi ~ Kulobichi, Ibn Xaldun: Qᵘlabaoğlı[37]),
- Qmngû/Qumanlu, Qonğuroğlı (H. Kongur),
- Mekrüti ~ Bekrüti ~ Bekürte (< bekürt- "заставлять, укрепить, усилить")[38],
- Mingüzoğlı ,
- Orunqu(t) (< Mong. oroŋğu "small, brown-colored gazelle"),
- Ölberli(ğ) ~ Ölperli(ğ) (Ar. al-b.rlū ~ al-b.rlī, R. Olperliu(i.e.)ve, Olbѣry, Olьbery, Ch. Yuliboli (玉里伯里), Lt. reges Uilperitorum, from Mg. ölöbür "ill, infirm" or Tk. *alp-erlü),[39]
- Ören ~ Uran ~ Oyren ( < cognate ören "bad, wicked, evil"[40] or Mong. oyren "artist, craftsman"[41]),
- Pečeneg,
- Shanmie gumali (苫滅古麻里),
- Tarğıl (R. Targolove < tarğıl- "of cattle or other animals, 'striped'."),[42]
- Tarew (R. Tarьevskyi),
- Terter ~ Teriter-oba (R. Terьterobichi),
- Toqsoba (R. Toksobichi),
- Tğ Yšqût (*Tağ Bašqurt? or Tuğ Bašqurt),
- Ulašoğlı (R. Ulashebichi; Hg. Olás),
- Urus-oba (R. Ourusoba; from endonym *Aoruša of Turkicized Alans, compare Greek: Αορσοι[43] or from Turkic root urus- "to fight," i.e. "soldier" [44] (cf. Middle Turkic uruş "quarrel, fight, battle, war"[45])),
- Yimek ~ Yemek (R. Polovtsi Yemiakove),
- Yete-oba (R. Yetebichi),
- Yuğur,[46]
- Moguty,
- Tatrany,
- Revugy,
- Shelьbiry,
- Topchaki,
- Elьborili,
- Bekoba,
- Quyçı (R. Куичия, Kuichiya, meaning "shepherd"[47]),[48][49]
- etc.
Seven Cuman tribes eventually settled in Hungary. Namely:[12]: 280, 511 [50]
- Toqsoba (meaning either "plump leather bottle", "nine clans", compare Toquz Oghuz "nine tribes" or "tribe of the dusty steppe"),
- Borcsol ("Pepper Sons"),
- Csertan ("pike"),
- Olás ("union, federation"),
- Kór ~ Kól ("little, few"),
- Iloncsuk ("little snake"), and
- Koncsog ("leather trouser").
Baskakov thought that the Moguty, Tatrany, Revugy, Shelьbiry, and Topchaki belonged to the Chorni Klobuky.[51]