Uighur: Private Collection, Erdal I (Turki 4 + 5)
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Details

Details

Erdal I (Turki 4 + 5)
Private Collection
The Yārkand Documents
Gold (given following external peer review through journal/book publication)
Uighur (Uighur script)
Legal
Legal: Sale (bayʿ)

Physical Description

paper
The text appears on two photographs, labelled 'Turki No.'s 4 & 5'. The final lines of the Turki No. 5 are barely legible due to damage to the folio.
Both folios display fold lines, however it is difficult to count their number due to the poor quality of the photographs. Perhaps 8 horizontal fold lines on the Turki No. 4, and 11 horizontal fold lines on the Turki No. 5.

Content

The land sale contracts of the late eleventh century published here are important for several reasons. First, they are the oldest known legal documents written in Turkish. Very many Uighur-Turkish civil documents were found in the more eastern parts of the Tarim basin, but none of those appear to be older than the thirteenth century. the Persian text of A.D. 1107 published by Minorsky (1942) shows a rather similar form, which may simply have been borrowed by the Turks. Formally, our documents differ from the non-Muslim deeds of land sale in Turkish, which appear to follow Chinese models; this also speaks against common Turkish tradition. What we have here are also the oldest specimens of Muslim-Turkish writing. Our documents throw some light on the introduction of Arabic writing customs and lexical material into Turkish.

Dates

  • The Gregorian calendar: September-October 1080 (Estimated date range: 1080-09-25-1080-10-23)
  • The Hijri calendar: Rabīʿ II 473 (0473-04)

People

  • ʿAli b. Bäk Tüzün (ʿAli)
  • Aḥmad Arslan b. Bäk Tüzün (Aḥmad Arslan)
  • İsḥaq (Master İsḥaq)
  • Bughra Bäk
  • B. Tuthun
  • Bughra ögä
  • Ḥasan (Master Ḥasan "the Tall One")
  • Mūsā b. ʿAlī Muḥammad-chi
  • Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf "the Ferry-Man"
  • Ḥasan b. Elig Murad
  • ʿAlī b. Yahudi Yalu
  • ʿAlī (ʿAlī the younger brother of Master Säli the cotton-carder)
  • Muḥammad (Muḥammad the younger brother of Master Säli)
  • ʿAlī (ʿAlī "the Persian", ... of Aḥmad)

Publications

  • Erdal, Marcel. "The Turkish Yarkand Documents." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 47/2, 1984. pp. 260-310 (Pages: 269-280)
    The IEDC translation and transcription have been taken from this publication

Related Shelfmarks

IEDC Data

153
17/06/2024
08/08/2024

Citations

Ofir Haim
The transcription and translation have been taken from a previous publication (see Publications)
See 'How to Cite'
https://www.invisible-east.org/corpus/153/
Images of this Text displayed on this web page are provided by Private Collection.
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If you wish to reproduce these images please contact Private Collection.

Contact

invisible_east@ames.ox.ac.uk (Please include the above permalink when contacting the editorial team about this Text)
Folios
1. recto
Tags
Transcription
Translation
Transcription
Folio:
]nuq. tanuq-l[a]r atı bu khat(t) 1
asthinda yath qılıthı. tanuqlar saq 2
[ta]nuq-luq berür-lär. män Bäktuzün 3
subashı oghlı tapoghlugh 'Ali subashı 4
[män] Bäktuzün subašı oghli Ahmad 5
Arslan biz ikägü og athigh ig-siz 6
togha-sız tandurust arkän oz 7
'aqlımız oz ornumiz-da arkän iqrar 8
[q]ilur miz: män 'Ali subašı, män Ahmad 9
Arslan İshaq jal(l)ab-qa bir käsäk 10
Rabul-tha yer sattımız, säkiz yuz yarmaq- 11
qa. bu yarmaq yarımı bolur tort yuz yarmaq. 12
bu yer-ni tort had(d)-ları birlä İshaq 13
jal(l)ab- sat(t)ımız. bii[n]g-thä ken kethin 14
oghlumız-qa ya qızımız kisimiz-kä 15
qadaš-larımız-qa kim-ärsä-kä da'va 16
dastan yoq. kim da[\]va qılsa, qanmasa[      . 17
batıl, tanuqı yalghan. bu yer-ni(n)g aw(w)a[l had(d)i] 18
bughra bäg-ni(n)g satmıš yer; iki(n)č 19
had(d)i tägirmän ozäki; učü(n)č had(d)i 20
Bäkäč (?) tuthun yeri; tortünč had(d)i 21
Bughra ogä [yeri 22
/attımız. yıl tort yuz yetmiš uč-dä 23
sıčghan yılı rabi'al akhir ayında bu 24
khat(t) qılıthı. bu khat(t) ičindäki-kä 25
män Uzun Hasan jal(l)ab tanuq män. män 26
['A]li Muhamad-čı oghlı Musa tanuq män. män Yusu[f] 27
[tä]knäči oghlı Yaqub tanuq män. Elig Mura[d] (?) 28
[o]ghlı Hasan Tanuq män. män Yahudi (?) Yalu oghlı 29
['A]li tanuq män. hal(l)aj Säli jal(l)ab inisi 'Ali 30
[ta]nuq män. Säli jal(l)ab inisi Muhmad tanuq mä[n] 31
m[ä]n Ahmad //// /// 'Ali Täzhik tanuq män. 32
                                ]si tanuq män.  [ 33
                              ]oghlı [       ] män [ 34
                               ] tanuq [          ] oghlı /// 35
                         ] tanuq män [  36
Translation
Folio:
1 The names of the witnesses have been noted at the
2 lower part of this document. The witnesses give
3 conscious testimony. I, commander
4 Bäk Tüzün's son, the veteran commander 'Alī
5 (and) I, commander Bäk Tüzün's son Ahmad
6 Arslan, we two, being clear of mind, free of illness
7 and sound of body, our
8 mental powers being unimpaired, acknowledge:
9 I, commander 'All (and) I, Ahmad
10 Arslan have sold Master Ishaq a piece of
11 land in Rabul for 800 yarmaqs.
12 The half of this amount is 400 yarmaqs.
13 We have sold this land, with its four boundaries,
14 Master Ishaq. There will, after us, be
15-16 no litigation or legal trick by our sons, our daughters, our wives, our family or by anybody.
17 Whoever, not being satisfied, starts litigation,
18 (that) is null and his witnesses are false. The first [boundary] of this land is
19 the land which Bughra bäg sold; the second
20 boundary is the mill-race; the third boundary
21 is the land of B. tuthun; the fourth boundary
22 is Bughra ögä's (?) [land.
23                 In the year 473,
24 in a mouse year, in the month of rabi' al-ākhir, this
25 document was drawn up. For the contents of this document
26 I, Master Hasan the tall one, am witness. I, Mūsā
27 the son of 'Alī Muhammad-či, am witness. I, Ya'qūb the son
28 of Yūsu[f] the ferry-man, am witness. Hasan the son
29 of Elig Mura[d] (?) am witness. I, ['A]lī  the sond of Yahudi
30 (?) Yalu, am witness. 'Alī, the younger brother of MasterSäli the cotten-carder, am
31 witness. Muhammad, the younger brother of Master Säli,
32 I, 'Alī the Persian, ... of Ahmad, am witness
33                          ... am witness.
34            ... the sond of ... am
35                ... witness ... the son of ...
36            ... am witness.
Uighur: Private Collection, Erdal I (Turki 4 + 5): Folio (recto)
Images courtesy of Private Collection