Cuman language

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Extinct West Kipchak Turkic language

title: "Cuman language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["agglutinative-languages", "languages-extinct-in-the-18th-century", "medieval-languages", "cuman-language", "extinct-languages-of-asia", "extinct-languages-of-europe"] description: "Extinct West Kipchak Turkic language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuman_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct West Kipchak Turkic language ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Cuman
altname	Kuman, Kipchak, Polovcian
states	Cuman–Kipchak Confederation, Golden Horde
region	Cumania
ethnicity	Cumans, Kipchaks, Tatars
extinct	In Kunság: 1770, with the death of
speakers2	Other regions: evolved into Kipchak-Cuman languages
familycolor	Altaic
fam1	Turkic
fam2	Common Turkic
fam3	Kipchak
fam4	Kipchak–Cuman
script	Latin
iso3	qwm
linglist	qwm
glotto	cuma1241
glottorefname	Cuman
nativename	Tatar til
imagecaption	Codex Cumanicus, 14th century
image	Codex Cumanicus 001.jpg
map	File:Cumania_(1200)_eng.png
mapcaption	Map of territory occupied by the Cumans around 1200
::

Cuman or Kuman (also called Kipchak, Qypchaq or Polovtsian, self referred to as Tatar (tatar til) in Codex Cumanicus) was a West Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the West Kipchak branch. Cuman is documented in medieval works, including the Codex Cumanicus, and in early modern manuscripts, like the notebook of Benedictine monk Johannes ex Grafing.

History

The Cumans were nomadic people who lived on the steppes of Eastern Europe, north of the Black Sea, before the Golden Horde. Many Turkic peoples including the Crimean Tatars, Nogais, Karachays, Kumyks, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks and Balkars, Manavs are descended from the Cumans. Today, the speakers of these various languages belonging to the Kipchak branch speak variations closely related to the Cuman language.

The literary Cuman language became extinct in the early 18th century in the region of Cumania in Hungary, which was its last stronghold. Tradition holds that the last speaker of the Cuman language in Hungary was István Varró, a resident of Karcag (Hungary) who died in 1770. The Cuman language in Crimea, however, managed to survive. The Cuman language is considered the direct ancestor of the current language of the Crimean Tatars with possible incorporations of the other languages in the region, like Crimean Gothic.

By a preponderance Cumanian population of the Crimea acquired the name "Tatars", embraced Islam, and retained the Quman-Qipchaq Turkic language, and the process of consolidating the multi-ethnic conglomerate of the Peninsula began, which has led to the emergence of the Crimean Tatar people.

The Cuman-Kipchaks had an important role in the history of Anatolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Hungary, Romania (see, for example, the Basarab dynasty), Moldavia, Bessarabia and Bulgaria.

Radlov believed that among the current languages Cuman is closest to the Mishar dialect of the Tatar language.

Sample

From the book known as the Codex Cumanicus, a Cuman Kipchak Turkic Pater Noster (transcribed in the Common Turkic Alphabet):

::quote

References

Sources

Güner, Galip (2013), Kıpçak Türkçesi Grameri, Kesit Press, İstanbul.
Mustafa Argunşah, Galip Güner (2015), Codex Cumanicus, Kesit Yayınları, İstanbul.

References

"The Kuman Language". [[Linguist List.
Melnyk, Mykola. (2022). "Byzantium and the Pechenegs".
[https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/cuma1241 Glottolog entry for Cuman]
Florin Curta. (2007). "The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans".
(2010). "The Earliest Vocabulary of Romani Words (c. 1515) in the Collectanea of Johannes ex Grafing, a student of Johannes Reuchlin and Conrad Celtis". [[Romani Studies (journal).
Yilmaz, Adil. (2018). "Bızans'in Anadolu'ya Yerleştırdığı Son Türkler". Eski̇çağ Araştirmalari Dergi̇si̇.
"YALAKOVA'DAN YALOVA'YA Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık Anısına Yalova Tarihi Araştırmaları".
"Anadolu'ya yerleştirilen Kumanlar (Manavlar)".
Acar, Kenan. (January 2022). "GAGAVUZ TÜRKÇESİ İLE KOCAELİ YERLİ (MANAV) AĞIZLARI ARASINDAKİ PARALELLİKLER, 2022, VI. Uluslararası Türklerin Dünyası Sosyal Bilimler Sempozyumu, PARALLELS BETWEEN GAGAVUZ TURKISH AND KOCAELİ NATİVE TURK (MANAV) DİALECTS, Kenan Acar, 2022, VI. International Turkish World Social Sciences Symposium". VI. Uluslararası Türklerin Dünyası Sosyal Bilimler Sempozyumu.
István Vásáry (2005) Cumans and Tatars, Cambridge University Press.
Stearns(1979:39–40).
"Crimean Tatar proper, called the 'central dialect', belonged to the West Kipchak subbranch as a descendant of Kuman." (Lars Johanson, Turkic, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pg. 62)
Vozgrin, Valery [http://kitap.net.ru/vozgrin1.php "Historical fate of the Crimean Tatars"] {{Webarchive. link. (11 July 2006)
Sun, Kevin. (2019-04-07). "Sun Language Theory, Part 2: The Steppes of Tartary (Tatar, Bashkir, Kazakh, Kyrgyz)".
Ayönü, Yusuf. (August 2012). "Bati Anadolu'dakı Türk Yayilișina Karși Bızans İmparatorluğu'nun Kuman-Alan Topluluklarini Balkanlardan Anadolu'ya Nakletmesi". Turkish Historical Society.
Rustam M. Shukurov. "Latent Turkification of Byzantium (ca. 1071–1461)". Dumbarton Oaks.
Dimitri Korobeinikov. (2015). "The Cumans in Paphlagonia". Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi.
"Публикация ННР О языке куманов: По поводу издания куманского словаря".
(1880). "Codex cumanicus, Bibliothecae ad templum divi Marci Venetiarum primum ex integro editit prolegomenis notis et compluribus glossariis instruxit comes Géza Kuun". XLIX.

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