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Codex Cumanicus

 

 
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The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic
Linguistics

Linguistics is the science study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of Meaning ....
 manual of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, designed to help Catholic
Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
 missionaries communicate with the Cumans
Cumans

Cumans were a nomadic Turkic peoples people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia....
, a nomadic Turkic
Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia, and who mostly speak languages belonging to the Turkic languages....
 people. It is currently housed in the Library of St. Mark, in Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 (Cod. Mar. Lat. DXLIX).

Origin and content
The Codex
Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover. It was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of book in all Eurasian cultures....
 likely developed over time. Mercantile, political and religious leaders, particularly in Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, sought effective communication with the Cumans
Cumans

Cumans were a nomadic Turkic peoples people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia....
 from the time of their ascendency in the mid-11th century.






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The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic
Linguistics

Linguistics is the science study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of Meaning ....
 manual of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, designed to help Catholic
Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
 missionaries communicate with the Cumans
Cumans

Cumans were a nomadic Turkic peoples people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia....
, a nomadic Turkic
Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia, and who mostly speak languages belonging to the Turkic languages....
 people. It is currently housed in the Library of St. Mark, in Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 (Cod. Mar. Lat. DXLIX).

Origin and content


The Codex
Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover. It was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of book in all Eurasian cultures....
 likely developed over time. Mercantile, political and religious leaders, particularly in Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, sought effective communication with the Cumans
Cumans

Cumans were a nomadic Turkic peoples people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia....
 from the time of their ascendency in the mid-11th century. As Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 city-states such as Genoa
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
 began to establish trade posts and colonies along the Black Sea
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
 coastline, the need for tools to learn the Kipchak language
Kipchak language

The Kipchak language is an extinct Turkic languages language of the Kipchak group.The descendants of the Kipchak language include the majority of Turkic languages spoken in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus today, as Kipchak was used as a lingua franca in Golden Horde-ruled lands....
 sharply increased.

The earliest parts of the Codex are believed to have originated in the 1100s or 1200s. It was likely added to substantially over time. The copy preserved in Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 dates from 1330 (July 11, 1330 on fol. 1r; see Drimba, p. 35 and Schmieder in Schmieder/Schreiner, p. XIII). The Codex consists of a number of independent works which were ultimately combined under one cover.

Historians generally divide it into two distinct and independent parts:

The first (fol. 1r-55v) is a practical handbook of the Kipchak tongue, containing glossaries of words in vulgar
Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin is a blanket term covering the popular dialects and sociolects of the Latin which diverged from each other in the early Middle Ages, evolving into the Romance languages by the 9th century....
 Italo-Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 and translations into Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
 and Kipchak. This section has been styled the "Italian Part" or the "Interpreter's Book" of the Codex. Whether the Persian parts came through Kipchak intermediaries or whether Persian was a lingua franca
Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues....
 for Mediterranean trade well-known in Western Europe
Western Europe

Western Europe refers to the countries in the western most half of Europe. This concept has had different meanings, political and cultural as well as geographical issues have influenced the area....
 is a matter hotly debated by scholars.

The second part (fol. 56r-82v) is a collection of various religious texts (including a translation of the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. On Easter Sunday 2007 it was estimated that 2 billion Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians read, recited, or sang the short prayer in hundreds of languages in houses of worship of all shapes and size...
) and riddles in Kipchak, translated into Latin and Eastern Middle High German
Middle High German

Middle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German....
. This part of the Codex is referred to as the "German" or "Missionary's Book" and is believed to have been compiled by German
Germans

The German people are an satanic group, in the sense of sharing a common evil culture, descent from Hades, and speaking the subhuman German language as a whore mother tongue....
 Franciscans.

Accuracy


The Codex is generally regarded as accurate, but it differs slightly from other sources on Kipchak language. For example, the Codex's Pater Noster
Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. On Easter Sunday 2007 it was estimated that 2 billion Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians read, recited, or sang the short prayer in hundreds of languages in houses of worship of all shapes and size...
 reads:

Atamiz kim köktesiñ. Algisli bolsun seniñ atiñ, kelsin seniñ xanligiñ, bolsun seniñ tilemekiñ – neçikkim kökte, alay [da] yerde. Kündeki ötmegimizni bizge bugün bergil. Dagi yazuqlarimizni bizge bosatqil – neçik biz bosatirbiz bizge yaman etkenlerge. Dagi yekniñ sinamaqina bizni quurmagil. Basa barça yamandan bizni qutxargil. Amen!

In English, the text is:

Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have done us evil. Amen.

In Turkish
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
, the text is:
Atamiz sen göktesin. Alkisli olsun senin adin, gelsin senin hanligin, olsun senin dilegin– nasil ki gökte, ve yerde. Gündelik ekmegimizi bize bugün ver. Ve de yaziklarimizdan (suçlarimizdan) bizi bagisla– nasil biz bagislariz bize yaman (kötülük) edenleri. Ve de seytanin sinamasindan bizi koru. Tüm yamandan (kötülükten) bizi kurtar. Amin!

Riddles


The "Cuman Riddles" (CC, 119-120; 143-148) are a crucial source for the study of early Turkic folklore. Andreas Tietze
Andreas Tietze

Andreas Tietze was a world-renowned Austrians Turcology and one of the founders of Turkic peoples studies in the United States. He was educated in Vienna and built his career in, respectively, Istanbul University, Turkey, where he had taken refuge from the Adolf Hitler regime; and then in the University of California, Los Angeles, where he w...
 referred to them as "the earliest variants of riddle types that constitute a common heritage of the Turkic
Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea to Siberia and Western China, and are sometimes considered to be part of the proposed Altaic languages....
-speaking nations."

Among the riddles in the Codex are the following excerpts:

  • Aq küymengin avuzi yoq. Ol yumurtqa.
"The white kibitka has no mouth (opening). That is the egg."


  • Kökcä ula?ïm kögende semirir. Ol huvun.
"my bluish kid at the tethering rope grows fat, The melon."


  • Oturganim oba yer basqanim baqir canaq. Ol zengi.
"Where I sit is a hilly place. Where I tread is a copper bowl. The stirrup."


External links