Orkhon script

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Orkhon script

The Old Turkic script (also Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script; , ) is the alphabet

Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
used by the Göktürk and other early Turkic groups from at least the 8th century to record the Old Turkic language

Old Turkic language

Old Turkic is the earliest attested Turkic language, found in inscriptions by the G?kt?rks and the Uyghur people in ca. the 7th to 13th centuries AD....
. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire

Uyghur people

The Uyghur are a Turkic peoples of Central Asia. Many English speakers pronounce it as "wEEger" but the pronunciation "ooygOOr" is closer to native ....
.

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Encyclopedia

The Old Turkic script (also Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script; , ) is the alphabet

Alphabet

Old Turkic language

Old Turkic is the earliest attested Turkic language, found in inscriptions by the G?kt?rks and the Uyghur people in ca. the 7th to 13th centuries AD....
. It was later used by the Uyghur Empire

Uyghur people

The Uyghur are a Turkic peoples of Central Asia. Many English speakers pronounce it as "wEEger" but the pronunciation "ooygOOr" is closer to native ....
. Additionally, a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz

Kyrgyz

The Kyrgyz are a Turkic peoples ethnic group found primarily in Kyrgyzstan....
inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan

Turkestan

Turkestan is a region in Central Asia, which today is largely inhabited by Turkic peoples. It has been referenced in many Turkic and Persian sagas and is an integral part of Turan ....
and the Old Hungarian script

Old Hungarian script

The Old Hungarian script is a writing system used by the Hungarian people in the Early Middle Ages .Because it is reminiscent of the runic alphabet, the Old Hungarian script has also popularly been called "Hungarian runes" or "Hungarian runic script"....
of the 10th century. The alphabet was usually written from right to left.

The script is named after the Orkhon Valley

Orkhon Valley

Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape sprawls along the banks of the Orkhon River in Central Mongolia, some 360 km west from the capital Ulaanbaatar....
in Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
, where early 8th century inscriptions were discovered in an 1889 expedition by Nikolay Yadrintsev. These Orkhon inscriptions were published by Vasily Radlov

Vasily Radlov

Vasily Vasilievich Radlov or Friedrich Wilhelm Radloff was a Germany-born Russian founder of Turkology, a scientific study of Turkic peoples....
and deciphered by the Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
philologist Vilhelm Thomsen

Vilhelm Thomsen

Vilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen was a Denmark linguistics. In 1893, he deciphered the Turkic Orkhon inscriptions in advance of his rival, Wilhelm Radloff....
in 1893. These inscriptions are the earliest known texts in any Altaic language

Altaic languages

Altaic is a disputed language family that is generally held by its proponents to include the Turkic languages, Mongolic languages, Tungusic languages, Korean language, and Japonic languages language families ....
.

Because of similarities to the angular shapes of the runic alphabet

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using Letter known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter....
, the letters of the Orkhon script have been referred to as "Turkic runes" or described as "runiform".

Origins

Mainstream opinion derives the Orkhon script from variants of the Aramaic alphabet

Aramaic alphabet

The Aramaic alphabet has been called an abjad--that is, a consonantal alphabet -- used for writing Aramaic language. It is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet, and became distinctive from it by the eighth century BCE....
, in particular via the Pahlavi and Sogdian alphabet

Sogdian alphabet

The Sogdian alphabet was originally used for the Sogdian language, a language in the Iranian family used by the people of Sogdiana. The alphabet is derived from Syriac alphabet, the descendant script of the Aramaic alphabet....
s, as suggested by V.Thomsen

Vilhelm Thomsen

Vilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen was a Denmark linguistics. In 1893, he deciphered the Turkic Orkhon inscriptions in advance of his rival, Wilhelm Radloff....
, or possibly via Karosthi

Kharo??hi

The script, also known as the Gandhari script, is an ancient abugida used by the Gandhara culture, nestled in the historic northwest Asian subcontinent to write the Gandhari language and Sanskrit languages....
(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.

The Danish hypothesis connects the script to the reports of Chinese account, from a 2nd century BC Chinese Yan renegade and dignitary named Zhonghang Yue who

"taught the Shanyu (rulers of the Xiongnu

Xiongnu

The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes. They lived on the steppes north of China, and appear in Chinese sources from the 3rd century BC as controlling an empire stretching beyond the borders of modern day Mongolia....
) to write official letters to the Chinese court on a wooden tablet 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

Orkhon Valley

Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape sprawls along the banks of the Orkhon River in Central Mongolia, some 360 km west from the capital Ulaanbaatar....
between 732 and 735 in honour of the two Kokturk prince Kul Tigin

Kul Tigin

Kul Tigin ??? was a famous general of the Second Turkic Khaganate. He was a second son of Ilteris Sad and the younger brother of Bilge Kaghan ....
and his brother the emperor Bilge Kagan, as well as inscriptions on slabs scattered in the wider area.

The Orkhon monuments are the oldest known examples of 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....
writings; they are inscribed on obelisk

Obelisk

An obelisk An Obelisks is a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramid like shape at the top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone, a monolith; however, most modern obelisks are made of individual stones, and can even have interior spaces....
s and have been dated to 720 (for the obelisk relating to Tonyukuk

Tonyukuk

Tonyukuk ??? was the yabgu and commander-in-chief of four G?kt?rk khagans, the best known of whom is Bilge Khan. He played a major role in the revival of local Turkic peoples tribes and establishment of the G?kt?rk state....
), to 732 (for that relating to Kültigin

Kul Tigin

Kul Tigin ??? was a famous general of the Second Turkic Khaganate. He was a second son of Ilteris Sad and the younger brother of Bilge Kaghan ....
), and to 735 (for that relating to Bilge Kagan). They are carved in a script used also for inscriptions found in Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
, Siberia

Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
, and Eastern Turkistan and called by Thomsen "Turkish runes". They relate in epic language the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, and their liberation by Bilge. The polished style of the writings suggests considerable earlier development of the Turkish language.

Table of characters

Old-Turkic Alphabet (Classic age)
Using			Symbols	Transliteration and transcription
vowels				A		,
				I		, ,
				O		, ,
				U		, ,
consonants	harmonized	with: (¹) — back, (²) — front vowels		B¹		B²
				D¹		D²
				G¹		G²
				L¹		L²
				N¹		N²
				R¹		R²
				S¹		S²
				T¹		T²
				Y¹		Y²
		only (¹) — Q only (²) — K		Q		K
		with all vowels		-Ç
				-M
				-P
				-S
				-Z
				-NG
	clusters	+ vowel		IÇ, ÇI, Ç		, ,
				IQ, QI, Q		, ,
				OQ, UQ, QO, QU, Q	, ,	ÖK, ÜK, KÖ, KÜ, K	, ,
		+ consonant		-NÇ
				-NY
				-LT		,
				-NT		,
word-divide symbol				none
(-) — word endings only

A reading example: — inscription (RTL)

T²NGR²I — transliteration

/te?ri/ — transcription

teñri / tanri — record with modern Turkic alphabet

the skygod or the eternal blue sky indicating the highest god — ancient meaning

God — modern meaning

Variants

Variants of the script were found from Mongolia and Uyghurstan/Eastern Turkestan in the east to Balkans in the west. The preserved inscriptions were dated to between 7th and 13th centuries AD.

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

Asiatic
Languages of Asia

There is a wide variety of languages spoken throughout Asia, comprising a number of families and some unrelated isolates. Many languages have a long tradition of writing....
group (includes Orkhon proper)
Eurasia
Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
tic group
Southern Europe
Southern Europe

The term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean 'all countries in the south of Europe'. However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional Policy, Linguistics and Culture context to the definition in addition to the typical Geography, Phytogeography or Clime approach....
group

The Asiatic

Languages of Asia

There is a wide variety of languages spoken throughout Asia, comprising a number of families and some unrelated isolates. Many languages have a long tradition of writing....
group is further divided into three related alphabets:

Orkhon alphabet, Göktürk, 8-10th centuries AD
Yenisei alphabet,

Talas alphabet, a derivative of the Yenisei alphabet, Kangly
Kangju

Kangju was the name of an ancient people and the kingdom they established in central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin and became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi....
or Karluks 8-10th centuries AD. 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 Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
tic group is further divided into five related alphabets:

Achiktash, Sogdiana
Sogdiana

Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian peoples and a province of the Achaemenid Empire Persian Empire, the eighteenth in the list in the Behistun Inscription of Darius I of Persia ....
7-10th centuries AD
South-Yenisei, Göktürk 8-10th centuries AD
Don
Don River (Russia)

The Don is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk, Russia 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, Russia, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
alphabet, Khazar Khaganate, 8-10th centuries AD and Kuban
Kuban

Kuban is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus....
alphabet, Bulghars, 8th-13th centuries AD, closely related, inscriptions in both alphabets found in the Pontic steppe and on the banks of the Kama
Kama

Kama is pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, pleasure of the senses, desire, eros, the aesthetic enjoyment of life in Sanskrit....
river
Tisza
Tisza

The Tisza is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in Ukraine, with the White Tisza in the Chornohora and Black Tisza in the Gorgany range, flows partially along the Romanian border, enters Hungary at Tiszabecs, marks Slovakia-Hungarian border, passes through Hungary, and falls into the Danube in central Vojvodina in Serbia...
, Badjanaks
Pechenegs

The Pechenegs or Patzinaks were a nomad Turkic peoples people of the Central Asian steppes speaking the Pecheneg language which belonged to the Turkic languages....
8-10th centuries AD

A number of alphabets are not completed, due to the limitations of the extant inscriptions. Great help in the studies of the Turkic scripts was received from Turkic-Chinese bi-lingual inscriptions, contemporaneous Turkic inscriptions in Greek alphabet, literal translation into Slavic language, and paper fragments with Türkic cursive writing from religion, Manichaeism, Buddhist and legal subjects of the 8-10th centuries AD found in Uyghurstan/Eastern Turkestan.

External links

(kyrgyz.ru)
(tonyukuk.net)
(An online converter for Latin alphabet based texts to Orhun Abece.)
Michael Everson
Michael Everson

Michael Everson is a linguistics, Character encoding, typesetting, and font designer. His central area of expertise is with writing systems of the world, specifically in the representation of these systems in formats for computer and digital media....
's

Orkhon script

Origins

Corpus

Table of characters

Variants

See also

External links