20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Kipchak Turkic as a part of the Balkans and Eastern Europe... 535Turkic grammar and dictionaries written in Arabic in Egypt, a few religiousand secular texts compiled in Khawarezmia and Golden Horde, are theother Kipchak documents belonging to the Islamic period. However, thesedocuments are generally in a mixed language, Oghuz/Kipchak. In theseworks, it is often disputable whether the elements given in Kipchak arereally in Kipchak. 4 The chronicles, religious and juridical documentsof the Armenian-Kipchaks who are from the Gregorian communion ofChristianity, are the texts representing the real Kipchak written language.As it was in the past, the speakers of Kipchak varieties, the autochthoninhabitants of East and South-eastern Europe, still constitute an interestingcomposition in terms of their faith today. Even though the Turkic languagesspeakingcommunities, who are united under the name of Kipchak, havedifferent religions such as Islam, Judaism, or Christianity, they are quiteclose to each other apart from small differences in their languages, religiousterminology, and syntax.3. The Armenian-Kipchaks and Armeno-KipchakWith the collapse of the Armenian Bagrationi Empire in the 11 thcentury, the Armenian people started to immigrate to Crimea and theyhad already established a large colony there by the 13 th century. TheKipchak-Armenian theme, starting in that century at the latest, developedthrough the neighbourhood relationships and commercial affairs. Whilesome Armenians became the speakers of Turkic, some Kipchak speakerscommitted themselves to the Armenian Church. Therefore, a complexethnic-religious group occurred (See Pritsak 1979: 131-140; Clauson1971: 8-9; Lewicki; Kohnowa 1957: 153-165). The Armenian-Kipchaks and Armeno-Kipchak are interesting examples of the partnershipof languages and religions.The Armenian-Kipchaks settled down in the Kamenets-Podolsk andLviv region of today’s Ukraine with the Ottoman conquest of Caffa at thelast quarter of the 15 th century. Armeno-Kipchak, which had been usedas the spoken and religious language until the 16 th century, reached sucha level that it could inherit an important written heritage between the 16 thand 17 th centuries. Scientists such as Grunin (1967), Deny (1957),Tryjarski (1968-1972), Schütz (1998), Garkavets (2002)and so forth published Armeno-Kipchak texts, and Tryjarski preparedwork. Similarly, it is necessary to focus on books that combine languages and civilizationssuch as Codex Cumanicus in institutional and international levels.4Among the dictionaries and grammar books, written in Egypt-Mamluk zone, Ettuhfetü’z-zekiyyefi’l-lügati’t-Türkiyye is the work that reflects Kipchak features most (SeeAtalay 1945).