Mahmud al-Kashgari compiles the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk
In Baghdad in 1072–1074 Mahmud al-Kashgari, a scholar from a family related to the Karakhanid dynasty, compiled the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, ‘Compendium of the Languages of the Turks’ — the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic, explaining thousands of words in Arabic with verses and proverbs and including a map of the Turkic world — and dedicated it to the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadi.
- Date
- between 1072 and 1077exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Baghdadtoday: Baghdad, Iraq · Middle East and Egypt
- Participants
- Mahmud al-Kashgari, Kara-Khanid Khanate, Abbasid Caliphate
- Threads
- Central Asia and the Steppe (11th–12th c.)
- Also known as
- Diwan Lughat al-Turk; Divanu Lugati't-Türk; Compendium of the Turkic Dialects; Kashgari's map; Диван лугат ат-турк; Дивану лугат-ит-тюрк; Карта Махмуда Кашгари
Mahmud came from a family related to the ruling Karakhanid dynasty: by the usual account his father Husayn was the head of Barsgan on Lake Issyk-Kul, though Mahmud is also called ‘of Kashgar’. Around 1057 he became a political refugee and eventually settled in Baghdad, where the Seljuks now ruled in the caliph’s name. His dictionary was meant for the Abbasid court, the new Arab allies of the Turks: it was to teach them the language of the Turks and, in Kashgari’s own words, to show that the Turkic dialects ‘keep pace with Arabic like two horses in a race’. He compiled it in 1072–1074, and the dedication to the caliph al-Muqtadi is dated 1077.
The Dīwān explains Turkic words in Arabic — about 7,500 by one count, about 8,000 headwords by another — and illustrates them with specimens of old Turkic poetry in quatrains, with proverbs and with notes on the dialects of the Turks; it also contains the first known map of the lands inhabited by Turkic peoples. The only surviving manuscript, copied in Damascus in 1266, came to light in Istanbul in the early 20th century in the collection of the bibliophile Ali Emiri; long kept in the Millet Library, it was moved to the Presidential Library in Ankara in 2020.
Connections
Related events
- Yusuf Balasaguni completes the Kutadgu Biligbetween 1069 and 1070 · Central and Northern Asiathe two great works of Karakhanid Turkic culture were completed within a few years of each other
Same participants
- Tughril Beg enters Baghdadbetween 17 December and 18 December 1055 · Middle East and Egyptvia Abbasid Caliphate
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Same place
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- Reign of Khosrow I Anushirvan531–579 · Middle East and Egypt
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Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Norman conquest of SicilyMay 1061 – between 1090 and 1091
- Walk to Canossa25–28 January 1077
- Investiture Controversy1075 – 23 September 1122
Balkans and Anatolia
- Battle of Manzikert26 August 1071
- Suleiman ibn Qutalmish founds the Sultanate of Rum at Nicaeabetween 1075 and 1081
- Michael Psellos writes the Chronographiac. 1059 – c. 1078
Africa
- Hummay founds the Sayfawa dynasty: Islam at the court of Kanembetween 1075 and 1085
- The Almoravids: from a desert reform movement to an empirebetween 1039 and 1046 – 1147
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
Central and Northern Asia
- Yusuf Balasaguni completes the Kutadgu Biligbetween 1069 and 1070
South Asia
East Asia
- Wang Anshi’s New Policies26 February 1069 – 16 September 1086
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Polynesians settle the Society Islandsbetween 1025 and 1120
- Battle of the Như Nguyệt Riverbetween January and March 1077
- Anawrahta builds the Pagan Empire1044–1077
North America
- Classic Mimbres: the painted bowls of the Mogollonc. 1000 – between 1130 and 1150
- Pueblo II: stone pueblos and the Chaco worldc. 900 – c. 1150
Latin America
- Collapse of Tiwanakuc. 1000 – c. 1150
- Tula and the Toltecs: the leading city of central Mexicoc. 900 – c. 1150
- Middle Sicán: the Lambayeque culture at its height at Batán Grandec. 900 – c. 1100
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk
- Wikipedia (English): Mahmud al-Kashgari
- Wikipedia (Russian): Диван лугат ат-турк
- Wikipedia (Russian): Махмуд аль-Кашгари
- Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī. Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Dīwān Luγāt at-Turk) / Ed. and transl. R. Dankoff, J. Kelly. — Harvard University Printing Office, 1982–1985. — 3 vols. — (Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures; 7).
- Wikidata: Q737625