Cuman (Kuman) was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the Kipchak-Cuman 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.[1] It was a literary language in Central and Eastern Europe that left a rich literary inheritance. The language became the main language (lingua franca) of the Golden Horde.[2]

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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, Karachays, Kumyks, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks and Balkars are descended from the Cumans. Today, the speakers of these various languages belonging to the Kipchak-Cuman branch speak variations closely related to the Cuman language.

The 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 was István Varró [fr], a resident of Karcag (Hungary) who died in 1770.

The Cuman-Kipchaks had an important role in the history of Kazakhstan, Russia, Georgia, Hungary, Romania (see, for example, the Besarab dynasty), Moldavia, Bessarabia and Bulgaria.[3]

Sample

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

Atamız kim köktesiñ. Alğışlı bolsun seniñ atıñ, kelsin seniñ xanlığıñ, bolsun seniñ tilemekiñ – neçik kim kökte, alay [da] yerde. Kündeki ötmegimizni bizge bugün bergil. Dağı yazuqlarımıznı bizge boşatqıl – neçik biz boşatırbız bizge yaman etkenlerge. Dağı yekniñ sınamaqına bizni quurmağıl. Basa barça yamandan bizni qutxarğıl. Amen![4]

See also

• Khazars
• Pechenegs
• Kipchaks

References

Sources

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

External links

• Texts in Ukrainian Cuman
• Lord's Prayer in Hungarian Cuman
• Kipchak Middle Age literature

На других языках

[es] Idioma cumano

[fr] Couman

[it] Lingua cumana

[ru] Половецкий язык