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Old Turkic script
Script type	Alphabet
Time period	8th to 10th centuries
Direction	Right-to-left script
Languages	Old Turkic
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Syriac Sogdian? Old Turkic script
Child systems	Old Hungarian script
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Orkh (175), ​Old Turkic, Orkhon Runic
Unicode
Unicode alias	Old Turkic
Unicode range	U+10C00–U+10C4F
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The Old Turkic script (also known as variously Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script) is the alphabet used by the Göktürk and other early Turkic Khanates during the 8th to 10th centuries to record the Old Turkic language. It was mostly replaced by the Arabic script after the adoption of Islam in Volga Bulgaria (922) and Transoxania.

The script is named after the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia, where early 8th century inscriptions were discovered in an 1889 expedition by Nikolay Yadrintsev. These Orkhon inscriptions (Template:Lang-tr) were published by Vasily Radlov and deciphered by the Danish philologist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire. Additionally, a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and the Old Hungarian script of the 10th century. The alphabet was usually written from right to left. Further Turkic Nestorian manuscripts, that have the same "rune-like" duct as the Old Turkic script, have been found especially in the oasis of Turfan and in the fortress of Miran.

Thomsen described the script as "Turkish runes", and it is still occasionally described as "runic" or "runiform" by comparison to the Old Germanic alphabet used for epigraphy during roughly the same period.

Origins

Mainstream opinion derives the Orkhon script from variants of the Aramaic alphabet, in particular via the Pahlavi and Sogdian alphabets, as suggested by V.Thomsen, or possibly via Karosthi (cf., Issyk inscription).

Alternative possibilities include derivation from tamgas, suggested by W. Thomsen in 1893, from the Chinese script. Turkish inscriptions dated earlier than the Orkhon inscriptions used about 150 symbols, which may suggest tamgas at first imitating the Chinese script and then gradually refined into an alphabet.

Thomsen (1893) connected the script to the reports of Chinese account (Shiji, vol. 110) from a 2nd century BC Chinese Yan renegade and dignitary named Zhonghang Yue (Chinese: 中行说) who

"taught the Shanyu (rulers of the Xiongnu) to write official letters to the Chinese court on a wooden tablet (Chinese: 牍) 31 cm long, and to use a seal and large-sized folder".

The same sources tell that when the Xiongnu noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood (ko-mu), and they also mention a "Hu script". At Noin-Ula and other Hun burial sites in Mongolia and region north of Lake Baikal, the artifacts displayed over twenty carved characters. Most of these characters are either identical or very similar to the letters of the Turkic Orkhon script.

Corpus

The inscription corpus consists of two monuments which were erected in the Orkhon Valley between 732 and 735 in honour of the two Kokturk prince Kul Tigin and his brother the emperor Bilge Kağan, as well as inscriptions on slabs scattered in the wider area.

The website of the Language Committee of Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan lists 54 inscriptions from the Orkhon area, 106 from the Yenisei area and 15 from the Talas area, and 78 from the Altai area. There are also a handful of short inscriptions found on archaeological artefacts, including a number of bronze mirrors.

The Orkhon monuments are the oldest known examples of Turkic writing; they are inscribed on obelisks and have been dated to 732 (for that relating to Kültigin), and to 735 (for that relating to Bilge Kağan. The Tonyukuk inscription, a monument situated somewhat further east, is slightly earlier, dating to c. 722.

Other inscriptions using the same script are found in Mongolia, Siberia, and Xinjiang. They relate in epic language the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese, and their liberation by Bilge.

Table of characters

Old Turkic being a synharmonic language, a number of consonant signs are divided into two "synharmonic sets", one for front vowels and the other for back vowels. Such vowels can be taken as intrinsic to the consonant sign, giving the Old Turkic alphabet an aspect of an abugida script. In these cases, it is customary to use superscript numerals ¹ and ² to mark consonant signs used with back and front vowels, respectively. This convention was introduced by Thomsen (1893), and followed by Gabain (1941), Malov (1951) and Tekin (1968).

Vowels

Orkhon	Yenisei variants	transliteration / transcription
𐰀‎	𐰁 𐰂‎	a, ä
𐰃‎	𐰄 𐰅‎	y, i (e)
𐰆‎		o, u
𐰇‎	𐰈‎	ö, ü

Consonants

synharmonic sets

back vowel			front vowel
Orkhon	Yenisei variant	transliteration	Orkhon	Yenisei variant	transliteration
𐰉‎	𐰊‎	b¹	𐰋‎	𐰌‎	b²
𐰑‎	𐰒‎	d¹	𐰓‎		d²
𐰍‎	𐰎‎	γ (g¹)	𐰏‎	𐰐‎	g (g²)
𐰴‎	𐰵‎	q (k¹)	𐰚‎	𐰛‎	k (k²)
𐰸‎	𐰹‎	oq, uq, qo, qu	𐰜‎	𐰝‎	ök, ük, kö, kü,
𐱃‎	𐱄‎	t¹	𐱅‎	𐱆‎	t²
𐰞‎	𐰟‎	ł (l¹)	𐰠‎		l (l²)
𐰣‎		n¹	𐰤‎	𐰥‎	n²
𐰺‎	𐰻‎	r¹	𐰼‎		r²
𐰽‎		s¹	𐰾‎		s²
𐰖‎	𐰗‎	j¹	𐰘‎	𐰙‎	j²

other consonantal signs

Orkhon	Yenisei variant	transliteration
𐰶‎	𐰷‎	yq, qy
𐰲‎	𐰳‎	č
𐰱‎		ič, či
𐰯‎		p
𐰢‎		m
𐰭‎	𐰮‎ 𐰬‎	ṅ (ng, ŋ)
𐱁‎	𐱂‎	š
𐰔‎	𐰕‎	z
𐰨‎	𐰩‎	nč
𐰪‎	𐰫‎	ń, nj
𐰦‎	𐰧‎	nd
𐰡‎		ld
𐱇‎		ot, ut
𐱈‎		baš

A word separator : () is sometimes used.

A reading example (right to left): transliterated t²ṅr²i, this spells the name of the Turkic sky god, Tengri (/teŋri/).

Variants

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Variants of the script were found from Mongolia and Xinjiang in the east to Balkans in the west. The preserved inscriptions were dated to between 8th and 10th centuries.

These alphabets are divided into four groups by Kyzlasov (1994)

• Asiatic group (includes Orkhon proper)
• Eurasiatic group
• Southern Europe group

The Asiatic group is further divided into three related alphabets:

• Orkhon alphabet, Göktürk, 8th to 10th centuries
• Yenisei alphabet,
  • Talas alphabet, a derivative of the Yenisei alphabet, Kangly or Karluks 8th to 10th centuries. Talas inscriptions include Terek-Say rock inscriptions found in the 1897, Koysary text, Bakaiyr gorge inscriptions, Kalbak-Tash 6 and 12 inscriptions, Talas alphabet has 29 identified letters.

The Eurasiatic group is further divided into five related alphabets:

• Achiktash, used in Sogdiana 8th to 10th centuries
• South-Yenisei, used by the Göktürk 8th to 10th centuries AD
• two especially similar alphabets: the Don alphabet, used by the Khazar Khaganate, 8th to 10th centuries; and the Kuban alphabet, used by the Bulgars, 8th to 13th centuries. Inscriptions in both alphabets are found in the Pontic steppe and on the banks of the Kama river
• Tisza, used by the Badjanaks (Pechenegs) 8th to 10th centuries

A number of alphabets are incompletely collected due to the limitations of the extant inscriptions. Evidence in the study of the Turkic scripts includes Turkic-Chinese bilingual inscriptions, contemporaneous Turkic inscriptions in the Greek alphabet, literal translations into Slavic language, and paper fragments with Türkic cursive writing from religion, Manichaeism, Buddhist, and legal subjects of the 8th to 10th centuries found in Xinjiang.

• Oldest known Turkic alphabet listings, Rjukoku and Toyok manuscripts. Toyok manuscript transliterates Turkic alphabet into Uyghur alphabet. Per I.L.Kyzlasov, "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5.

Unicode

The Unicode block for Old Turkic is U+10C00–U+10C4F It was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2. It includes separate "Orkhon" and "Yenisei" variants of individual characters.

See also

• Banpo symbols
• Göktürks
• Khazar language
• Old Hungarian script
• Khöshöö Tsaidam Monuments
• Orkhon inscriptions

Notes

1. Scharlipp, Wolfgang (2000). An Introduction to the Old Turkish Runic Inscriptions. Verlag auf dem Ruffel., Engelschoff. ISBN 3-933847-00-X.
2. Sinor, Denis (2002). "Old Turkic". History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. 4. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. pp. 331–333.
3. Georg Stadtmüller, Saeculum , Band 1, K. Alber Publishing, 1950, p.302
4. Ural-Altaic Yearbooks, Volumes 42-43, O. Harrassowitz Publishing, 1970, p.180
5. Volker Adam, Jens Peter Loud, Andrew White, Bibliography old Turkish Studies, Otto Harrassowitz Publishing, 2000, p.40
6. University of Bonn. Department of Linguistics and Cultural Studies of Central Asia, Issue 37, VGH Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH Publishing, 2008, p.107
7. N. Ishjatms, "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, Fig 6, p. 166, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, p.165
8. according to Tekin (1968)
9. according to Gabain (1941)
10. according to Gabain (1941), not listed in Thomsen (1893)
11. according to Tekin (1968); not listed in Thomsen (1893) or Gabain (1941); Malov (1951) lists the sign but gives no sound value.
12. Central Bank of Azerbaijan. National currency: 5 manat. – Retrieved on 25 February 2010.
13. Kyzlasov I.L.; “Writings Of Eurasian Steppes”, Eastern Literature", Moscow, 1994, 327 pp. 321-323
14. Kyzlasov I.L.; “Writings Of Eurasian Steppes”, Eastern Literature", Moscow, 1994, pp. 98-100

References

• Diringer, David. The Alphabet: a Key to the History of Mankind, New York: Philosophical Library, 1948, pp. 313–315
• Erdal, Marcel. 2004. A grammar of Old Turkic. Leiden & Boston: Brill.
• Faulmann, Carl. 1990 (1880). Das Buch der Schrift. Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn. ISBN 3-8218-1720-8 Template:De icon
• Février, James G. Histoire de l’écriture, Paris: Payot, 1948, pp. 311–317 Template:Fr icon
• Ishjatms, N. "Nomads In Eastern Central Asia", in the "History of civilizations of Central Asia", Volume 2, UNESCO Publishing, 1996, ISBN 92-3-102846-4
• Jensen, Hans (1970). Sign Symbol and Script. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. ISBN 0-04-400021-9..
• Kara, György. 1996. “Aramaic scripts for Altaic languages”, in Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, eds. The world’s writing systems. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507993-0
• Kyzlasov, I.L. "Runic Scripts of Eurasian Steppes", Moscow, Eastern Literature, 1994, ISBN 5-02-017741-5
• Malov, S.E. 1951, Pamjatniki Drevnitjurkskoj Pisʹmennosti (Памятники Древнитюркской Письменности), Moskva & Leningrad. Template:Ru icon
• Muxamadiev, Azgar. (1995). Turanian Writing (Туранская Письменность). In Zakiev, M. Z.(Ed.), Problemy lingvoėtnoistorii tatarskogo naroda (Проблемы лингвоэтноистории татарского народа). Kazan: Akademija Nauk Tatarstana. Template:Ru icon
• Róna-Tas, A. 1991. An introduction to Turkology. Szeged.
• Scharlipp, Wolfgang Ekkehard. 2000. Eski Türk run yazıtlarına giris ̧: ders kitabı = An introduction to the Old Turkish Runic inscriptions: A textbook in English and Turkish. Engelschoff: Auf dem Ruffel. ISBN 3-933847-00-X
• Tekin, Talat. A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 69 (Bloomington/The Hague: Mouton, 1968)
• Thomsen, Vilhelm. Inscriptions de l’Orkhon déchiffrées, Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, Helsinki Toimituksia, no. 5 Helsingfors: La société de literature Finnoise Template:Fr icon
• Vasilʹiev, D.D. Korpus tjurkskix runičeskix pamjatnikov Bassina Eniseja , Leningrad: USSR Academy of Science, 1983 Template:Ru icon
• von Gabain, A. 1941. Alttürkische Grammatik mit Bibliographie, Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, auch Neutürkisch. Mit vier Schrifttafeln und sieben Schriftproben. (Porta Linguarum Orientalium; 23) Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz. Template:De icon

External links

• Orkhon Inscriptions in Old Turkic Alphabet Unicode
• Türk bitig - Old Turkic inscriptions, Texts, Translations
• Orkhon Alphabet page from Omniglot
• Gokturkish Keyboard by Isa SARI
• glyph table (kyrgyz.ru)
• Bilgitay Orhun Writer (An online converter for Latin alphabet based texts to Orhun Abece.)
• Michael Everson's Proposal for encoding the Old Turkic script in Unicode
• Хөх Түрүгийн Бичиг (in Mongolian)
• Göktürk Orhun Öz Türk Yazısını Öğrenme Kılavuzu (in Turkish)

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• Runiform scripts
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