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A Yugur family in Lanzhou, Gansu, 1944.
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Yugur Ethnonyms[1]
Currently, the official name for the nationality of the Yugur is Yugur or, in Chinese, Yùgù (lit. rich union). This name reflects the pronunciation of the Western and Eastern Yugur's autonyms. An older Chinese rendering of this autonym is Yáohuer.
The Turkic speaking Western Yugur's autonym is Yoghïr or Sarïgh Yoghïr (sarïgh yellow, Yoghïr Yugur), that of the Mongolic speaking Eastern Yugur is Yoghor or Shera Yoghor (shera yellow, Yoghor Yugur).
In order to distinguish between the Turkic and Mongolic speaking Yellow Yugur, or Yellow Uygur as they are traditonally known, Chinese linguists coined the terms Western and Eastern Yugur (in Chinese: Xibù Yùgù and Dongbù Yùgù).
It remains to be investigated why and how the Turkic and Mongolic speaking Yugur came to use the same autonym.
The ethnonyms Yoghïr and Yoghor derive from Uygur, the name of a Turkic speaking people that is already attested in ancient Turkic documents. A metathesis form (transposition of two letters in a word) Iugures for Uygur was noted as early as the 13th century by Wilhelm de Rubrouck, a Franciscan missionary and envoy to the Mongol khan.
From the 10th century onwards, Chinese historical documents have recorded the epithet Yellow as part of the ethnonym of the Turkic speaking peoples in the Gansù area, either by translating its meaning (e.g. Huángtóu Huíhe or Yellow-head Uygur), or by giving a phonetic rendering of it (e.g. Sali Wèiwùér, Xiláguer).
It has been suggested that the colour yellow refers to the Buddhist-Lamaist faith, more specifically to the Yellow sect, that these peoples adhered to, but this is uncertain. Many Turkic as well as Mongolic speaking peoples employ colours in their ethnonyms and clan names. Sometimes the colours refer to a specific dress code, as for instance with the ethnonym Karakalpak or Black Cap(s); and sometimes the colour may be taken symbolically, as for instance with the dynastic name Kök Turks or Celestial Turks (kök meaning blue, and by extension, sky). Other examples are the Western Yugur surnames or bone clan names Qïzïl, Red, Aq Thathar, White Tatar, Aq Yaghlahqïr, White Yaghlahqyr, and Qara Yaghlahqïr, Black Yaghlahqyr.
During the Qing dynasty, the Yugur people were called Huángfan (Yellow Foreigners or Yellow Barbarians) by the Chinese, hereby distinguishing them from the Tibetans whom the Chinese called Heifan (Black Foreigners or Black Barbarians).
The Western Yugur of the steppe designate themselves as oy kïsï (steppe person), or oylïgh (steppe + adjective suffix); they designate the Yugur living in the mountains as thagh kïsï (mountain person), or thaghlïgh (mountain + adjective suffix). The oy kïsï are those who live in Mínghua District, and the thagh kïsï those who live in Dàhé District.
The Western Yugur call the Tibetans Taht. This ethnonym is a Turkic word that originally meant stranger, alien. Currently, Taht is used by the Western Yugur of the steppe to refer to the Mongolic speaking Eastern Yugur as well.
The Western Yugur call the Chinese Qhïti. This ethnonym derives from Kitan, the name of a non-Chinese people ruling China in the 10-11th century as the Liao dynasty. Pejorative Western Yugur designations for the Chinese are qara qulaq, black ear, thogh azaq, short foot, and söyrï, a word of unknown origin.
The Western Yugur call the muslim Huí and Uygur Sart. This ethnonym is already attested in ancient Turkic writings, meaning merchant and later on town dweller, and is ultimately a loanword from Sanskrit. An obsolescent designation for the Uygur is Çanthou, a loanword from Chinese Chántóu (wrap-head) that referred to the turban worn by the Uygur.
The Russian Turcologists Malov and Tenishev mention a Western Yugur word Aryq, meaning Chinese or muslim Turk. This is a loanword from Tibetan, A-rig, the name of a country of nomad herdsmen situated to the west of Amdo. It originally may have referred to the local Tibetan population.
According to Potanin and Hermanns, the Mongolic speaking Yugur called the Turkic speaking Yugur Qara Yögür or Xara Yugur, Black Yugur.
Mannerheim reported somewhat bewildered that the Mongolic speaking Yugur regarded the Turkic speaking Yugur as belonging to the same people and at the same time as Tshantu, and that they were of the opinion that the Turkic speaking Yugur should be called Kara Yögur, Black Yugur, and not Sarö Yögur, Yellow Yugur.
By regarding them as Tshantu, the Mongolic speaking Yugur probably recognized that the language of the Turkic speaking Yugur was reminiscent of the Uygur language. Otherwise, the name Tshantu is inexplicable, for the Turkic speaking Yugur never wore turbans, as Malov explicitely states.
Perhaps inspired by the Chinese designations of Yellow and Black Barbarians, the Mongolic speaking Yugur distinguished themselves from the Turkic speaking Yugur by calling them Kara Yögur, Black Yugur.
The Turkic speaking Yugur, however, are not aware of such name, and in the modern sources of the Eastern Yugur language, no such ethnonym occurs.
According to Hermanns, who travelled the Tibetan Amdo area in the 1930s, the Tibetans called the Yugur Hor, and they designated the Yugur living in the east as Hor ser (Yellow Hor), or Hor gur ser (Yellow Tent Hor), and the Yugur living in the west as Hor nag (Black Hor), or Hor gur nag (Black Tent Hor).
In literary Tibetan, Hor means Mongol, or herdsman of northern Tibet, but in the Amdo area, this ethnonym designated such different peoples as muslim Turks or Monguor. Furthermore, Xor occurs as an Eastern Yugur bone clan name.
The Eastern Yugur call their language Ñkar lar (Ngkar language, Ngkar speech). The etymology of this word is uncertain; perhaps it is a loanword from Tibetan mgar-ba, meaning smith, or someone of a low cast. In Western Yugur, this word is rendered as Ïñkar. Incidentally, or perhaps not, the Western Yugur word ïñkar also means confused, muddled.
[1] An ethnonym (from the Greek: ἔθνος, éthnos, "nation" and ὄνομα, ónoma, "name") is the name applied to a given ethnic group.
Buddhism among the Turkic People
Among the many peoples of the world who adopted Islam, several have had a strong Buddhist background, namely the Turks, Afghans, Pakistanis, Indonesians and Malays. Let us look more closely at the spread of Buddhism among the first of these.
The Turki Shahis The earliest Turkic people to adapt Buddhism were the Turki Shahis. They ruled northwestern India from the mid-third to the early fourth centuries CE and then shifted westward to rule modern-day central Afghanistan and eventually central and northern Pakistan until the mid-ninth century. They inherited the blend of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism of their predecessors in these regions, the Kushans and the White Huns, and were strong patrons of the great monastic centers of study that had previously been founded there. During the late eighth and early ninth centuries, the Turki Shahis were vassal allies of the Tibetan Empire and influenced the flourishing of Buddhism there.
The Eastern and Western Turks The next major Turkic group to adopt Buddhism were the Old Turks who gave their name to the Turkic people. The Eastern Turk Empire ruled Mongolia from the end of the sixth to the mid-eighth century. Under its royal patronage, Indian, Central Asian and Chinese masters translated many Buddhist scriptures into the Old Turk language. Several of the Old Turk technical Buddhist terms became standard in Central Asia and were later borrowed by the Uighurs and Mongols. The Old Turks blended into their form of Buddhism veneration of the traditional ancient Turkic gods or "tengri," as well as Zoroastrian gods with whom they were familiar from other Central Asian peoples. This eclectic feature was inherited and continued by the Uighurs and Mongols. In the early eighth century, a princess from the Eastern Turk royal family married the emperor of Tibet and was responsible for the invitation to Tibet of many Buddhist monks from Khotan in southern East Turkistan.
The Western Turk Empire was also a great patron of Buddhism from the early seventh to the early eighth century. Its rulers built new monasteries in Uzbekistan. One branch of the Western Turks, the Turgish tribes, was responsible for the spread of Buddhism to Kyrghyzstan and southeastern Kazakhstan during the later part of the seventh and early eighth centuries. The Turgish were also allies of the Tibetan Empire.
The Turgish were replaced in Kyrghyzstan and Kazakhstan in the early eighth century by the Qarluq, an Eastern Turk tribe that also embraced Buddhism and also became an ally of the Tibetans. One branch of the Qarluqs, the Qarakhanids, established a kingdom in eastern Kyrghyzstan and the Kashgar region of southwestern East Turkistan in the mid-ninth century. For more than a century, the Qarakhanids followed a blend of Kashgari Buddhism and their native shamanism.
The Uighurs The most prominent Turkic form of Buddhism, however, was with the Uighur people of East Turkistan. After migrating from Mongolia to the Turfan region of present-day northeastern Xinjiang in the ninth century, they adopted a form of Buddhism that was a blend of elements from the faiths of the Sogdian merchant community from present-day Uzbekistan, the native Tocharians of Turfan and the Chinese merchants of the region. It spread throughout the Uighur Qocho kingdom that spanned all of modern-day Xinjiang except the Kashgar and Khotan regions in the southwest.
The Uighurs, in turn, passed on their form of Buddhism, as well as their alphabet and administrative skills, to the Mongols in the early thirteenth century at the time of Chinggis Khan. In the later part of the thirteenth century, the Uighurs shifted the style of their practice and adopted the Tibetan form of Buddhism as did their Mongol allies. The Uighurs translated a vast number of Buddhist texts into their Turkic language from Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tocharian, Chinese and Tibetan sources, and were the pioneer translators of the Buddhist scriptures into Mongolian. Their translation style of retaining many Sanskrit technical terms was adopted by the Mongols. Buddhism continued among the Uighurs until approximately the seventeenth century.
Three other branches of the Uighurs have also been followers of Buddhism. One branch migrated from Mongolia in the mid-ninth century to the Chu River valley of northwestern Kyrghyzstan and followed the form of Buddhism practiced there under the patronage of the Qarluq and previously the Turgish Turks. Another group migrated at that time to the Kashgar region of East Turkistan and followed the Kashgari tradition of Buddhism that was also adopted by the Qarakhanid Turks who began to rule the area a century later. The third group are the Yellow Yugurs, who migrated also from Mongolia in the mid-ninth century to central present-day Gansu province of China, which was ruled at that time by the Tibetan Empire. Although small in number, the Yellow Yugurs still follow the Tibetan form of Buddhism today.
Tuva The last Turkic group to adopt Buddhism were the people of Tuva, in present-day Siberia, just north of western Mongolia. They have been following the Tibetan form of Buddhism in close alliance with the Mongolian subdivision since the eighteenth century.
Originally published as part of Berzin, Alexander. Buddhism and Its Impact on Asia
Asian Monographs, no. 8. Cairo: Cairo University, Center for Asian Studies, June 1996
Mavi Boncuk |
Yugur Ethnonyms[1]
Currently, the official name for the nationality of the Yugur is Yugur or, in Chinese, Yùgù (lit. rich union). This name reflects the pronunciation of the Western and Eastern Yugur's autonyms. An older Chinese rendering of this autonym is Yáohuer.
The Turkic speaking Western Yugur's autonym is Yoghïr or Sarïgh Yoghïr (sarïgh yellow, Yoghïr Yugur), that of the Mongolic speaking Eastern Yugur is Yoghor or Shera Yoghor (shera yellow, Yoghor Yugur).
In order to distinguish between the Turkic and Mongolic speaking Yellow Yugur, or Yellow Uygur as they are traditonally known, Chinese linguists coined the terms Western and Eastern Yugur (in Chinese: Xibù Yùgù and Dongbù Yùgù).
It remains to be investigated why and how the Turkic and Mongolic speaking Yugur came to use the same autonym.
The ethnonyms Yoghïr and Yoghor derive from Uygur, the name of a Turkic speaking people that is already attested in ancient Turkic documents. A metathesis form (transposition of two letters in a word) Iugures for Uygur was noted as early as the 13th century by Wilhelm de Rubrouck, a Franciscan missionary and envoy to the Mongol khan.
From the 10th century onwards, Chinese historical documents have recorded the epithet Yellow as part of the ethnonym of the Turkic speaking peoples in the Gansù area, either by translating its meaning (e.g. Huángtóu Huíhe or Yellow-head Uygur), or by giving a phonetic rendering of it (e.g. Sali Wèiwùér, Xiláguer).
It has been suggested that the colour yellow refers to the Buddhist-Lamaist faith, more specifically to the Yellow sect, that these peoples adhered to, but this is uncertain. Many Turkic as well as Mongolic speaking peoples employ colours in their ethnonyms and clan names. Sometimes the colours refer to a specific dress code, as for instance with the ethnonym Karakalpak or Black Cap(s); and sometimes the colour may be taken symbolically, as for instance with the dynastic name Kök Turks or Celestial Turks (kök meaning blue, and by extension, sky). Other examples are the Western Yugur surnames or bone clan names Qïzïl, Red, Aq Thathar, White Tatar, Aq Yaghlahqïr, White Yaghlahqyr, and Qara Yaghlahqïr, Black Yaghlahqyr.
During the Qing dynasty, the Yugur people were called Huángfan (Yellow Foreigners or Yellow Barbarians) by the Chinese, hereby distinguishing them from the Tibetans whom the Chinese called Heifan (Black Foreigners or Black Barbarians).
The Western Yugur of the steppe designate themselves as oy kïsï (steppe person), or oylïgh (steppe + adjective suffix); they designate the Yugur living in the mountains as thagh kïsï (mountain person), or thaghlïgh (mountain + adjective suffix). The oy kïsï are those who live in Mínghua District, and the thagh kïsï those who live in Dàhé District.
The Western Yugur call the Tibetans Taht. This ethnonym is a Turkic word that originally meant stranger, alien. Currently, Taht is used by the Western Yugur of the steppe to refer to the Mongolic speaking Eastern Yugur as well.
The Western Yugur call the Chinese Qhïti. This ethnonym derives from Kitan, the name of a non-Chinese people ruling China in the 10-11th century as the Liao dynasty. Pejorative Western Yugur designations for the Chinese are qara qulaq, black ear, thogh azaq, short foot, and söyrï, a word of unknown origin.
The Western Yugur call the muslim Huí and Uygur Sart. This ethnonym is already attested in ancient Turkic writings, meaning merchant and later on town dweller, and is ultimately a loanword from Sanskrit. An obsolescent designation for the Uygur is Çanthou, a loanword from Chinese Chántóu (wrap-head) that referred to the turban worn by the Uygur.
The Russian Turcologists Malov and Tenishev mention a Western Yugur word Aryq, meaning Chinese or muslim Turk. This is a loanword from Tibetan, A-rig, the name of a country of nomad herdsmen situated to the west of Amdo. It originally may have referred to the local Tibetan population.
According to Potanin and Hermanns, the Mongolic speaking Yugur called the Turkic speaking Yugur Qara Yögür or Xara Yugur, Black Yugur.
Mannerheim reported somewhat bewildered that the Mongolic speaking Yugur regarded the Turkic speaking Yugur as belonging to the same people and at the same time as Tshantu, and that they were of the opinion that the Turkic speaking Yugur should be called Kara Yögur, Black Yugur, and not Sarö Yögur, Yellow Yugur.
By regarding them as Tshantu, the Mongolic speaking Yugur probably recognized that the language of the Turkic speaking Yugur was reminiscent of the Uygur language. Otherwise, the name Tshantu is inexplicable, for the Turkic speaking Yugur never wore turbans, as Malov explicitely states.
Perhaps inspired by the Chinese designations of Yellow and Black Barbarians, the Mongolic speaking Yugur distinguished themselves from the Turkic speaking Yugur by calling them Kara Yögur, Black Yugur.
The Turkic speaking Yugur, however, are not aware of such name, and in the modern sources of the Eastern Yugur language, no such ethnonym occurs.
According to Hermanns, who travelled the Tibetan Amdo area in the 1930s, the Tibetans called the Yugur Hor, and they designated the Yugur living in the east as Hor ser (Yellow Hor), or Hor gur ser (Yellow Tent Hor), and the Yugur living in the west as Hor nag (Black Hor), or Hor gur nag (Black Tent Hor).
In literary Tibetan, Hor means Mongol, or herdsman of northern Tibet, but in the Amdo area, this ethnonym designated such different peoples as muslim Turks or Monguor. Furthermore, Xor occurs as an Eastern Yugur bone clan name.
The Eastern Yugur call their language Ñkar lar (Ngkar language, Ngkar speech). The etymology of this word is uncertain; perhaps it is a loanword from Tibetan mgar-ba, meaning smith, or someone of a low cast. In Western Yugur, this word is rendered as Ïñkar. Incidentally, or perhaps not, the Western Yugur word ïñkar also means confused, muddled.
[1] An ethnonym (from the Greek: ἔθνος, éthnos, "nation" and ὄνομα, ónoma, "name") is the name applied to a given ethnic group.
Buddhism among the Turkic People
Among the many peoples of the world who adopted Islam, several have had a strong Buddhist background, namely the Turks, Afghans, Pakistanis, Indonesians and Malays. Let us look more closely at the spread of Buddhism among the first of these.
The Turki Shahis The earliest Turkic people to adapt Buddhism were the Turki Shahis. They ruled northwestern India from the mid-third to the early fourth centuries CE and then shifted westward to rule modern-day central Afghanistan and eventually central and northern Pakistan until the mid-ninth century. They inherited the blend of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism of their predecessors in these regions, the Kushans and the White Huns, and were strong patrons of the great monastic centers of study that had previously been founded there. During the late eighth and early ninth centuries, the Turki Shahis were vassal allies of the Tibetan Empire and influenced the flourishing of Buddhism there.
The Eastern and Western Turks The next major Turkic group to adopt Buddhism were the Old Turks who gave their name to the Turkic people. The Eastern Turk Empire ruled Mongolia from the end of the sixth to the mid-eighth century. Under its royal patronage, Indian, Central Asian and Chinese masters translated many Buddhist scriptures into the Old Turk language. Several of the Old Turk technical Buddhist terms became standard in Central Asia and were later borrowed by the Uighurs and Mongols. The Old Turks blended into their form of Buddhism veneration of the traditional ancient Turkic gods or "tengri," as well as Zoroastrian gods with whom they were familiar from other Central Asian peoples. This eclectic feature was inherited and continued by the Uighurs and Mongols. In the early eighth century, a princess from the Eastern Turk royal family married the emperor of Tibet and was responsible for the invitation to Tibet of many Buddhist monks from Khotan in southern East Turkistan.
The Western Turk Empire was also a great patron of Buddhism from the early seventh to the early eighth century. Its rulers built new monasteries in Uzbekistan. One branch of the Western Turks, the Turgish tribes, was responsible for the spread of Buddhism to Kyrghyzstan and southeastern Kazakhstan during the later part of the seventh and early eighth centuries. The Turgish were also allies of the Tibetan Empire.
The Turgish were replaced in Kyrghyzstan and Kazakhstan in the early eighth century by the Qarluq, an Eastern Turk tribe that also embraced Buddhism and also became an ally of the Tibetans. One branch of the Qarluqs, the Qarakhanids, established a kingdom in eastern Kyrghyzstan and the Kashgar region of southwestern East Turkistan in the mid-ninth century. For more than a century, the Qarakhanids followed a blend of Kashgari Buddhism and their native shamanism.
The Uighurs The most prominent Turkic form of Buddhism, however, was with the Uighur people of East Turkistan. After migrating from Mongolia to the Turfan region of present-day northeastern Xinjiang in the ninth century, they adopted a form of Buddhism that was a blend of elements from the faiths of the Sogdian merchant community from present-day Uzbekistan, the native Tocharians of Turfan and the Chinese merchants of the region. It spread throughout the Uighur Qocho kingdom that spanned all of modern-day Xinjiang except the Kashgar and Khotan regions in the southwest.
The Uighurs, in turn, passed on their form of Buddhism, as well as their alphabet and administrative skills, to the Mongols in the early thirteenth century at the time of Chinggis Khan. In the later part of the thirteenth century, the Uighurs shifted the style of their practice and adopted the Tibetan form of Buddhism as did their Mongol allies. The Uighurs translated a vast number of Buddhist texts into their Turkic language from Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tocharian, Chinese and Tibetan sources, and were the pioneer translators of the Buddhist scriptures into Mongolian. Their translation style of retaining many Sanskrit technical terms was adopted by the Mongols. Buddhism continued among the Uighurs until approximately the seventeenth century.
Three other branches of the Uighurs have also been followers of Buddhism. One branch migrated from Mongolia in the mid-ninth century to the Chu River valley of northwestern Kyrghyzstan and followed the form of Buddhism practiced there under the patronage of the Qarluq and previously the Turgish Turks. Another group migrated at that time to the Kashgar region of East Turkistan and followed the Kashgari tradition of Buddhism that was also adopted by the Qarakhanid Turks who began to rule the area a century later. The third group are the Yellow Yugurs, who migrated also from Mongolia in the mid-ninth century to central present-day Gansu province of China, which was ruled at that time by the Tibetan Empire. Although small in number, the Yellow Yugurs still follow the Tibetan form of Buddhism today.
Tuva The last Turkic group to adopt Buddhism were the people of Tuva, in present-day Siberia, just north of western Mongolia. They have been following the Tibetan form of Buddhism in close alliance with the Mongolian subdivision since the eighteenth century.
Originally published as part of Berzin, Alexander. Buddhism and Its Impact on Asia
Asian Monographs, no. 8. Cairo: Cairo University, Center for Asian Studies, June 1996