TURK. Among the Arabs this word has been as vaguely applied as the word Scythian was among the Greeks. Turk, applied to an Osmanli, is deemed derogative ; but this name is given by the Tamil and Telugu people as the usual desio. nation for all 3Iuhammadans, as Turka-kara an'd Turka-vadu, and their language the Turka-pesh and Turka-bhasha or Turka-mata. Arabs and Persians when alludino. to their northern neigh bours, a'lvvays style tliem Turk, applying that term as loosely as Europeans do the word Tartar.
The word Turk has the same root as that of Turan, the country of the restless, horse-riding, nomade tribes, the great Turanian and Mongolian family, in contradistinction from the Aryan, Iranian, or Indo-European race; and it is derived from the root To-ar, to fly.
Vambery divides the Turk into Burnt, black or pure Kirghiz ; Kirghiz, properly-Kazak ; Kara kalpak, Turkoman, and Uzbak.
The region inhabited by Turkish races at the present time comprises two distinct tracts of country, one stretching southwards from the icy shores of the Arctic Ocean to the Hindu Kush, tbe other eastwards from: the Adriatic, both merging, into each other in the eastern portion of Asia, known as the desert of Gobi. The Turk in the furthest east claims relationship with his brethren in the extreme west. The simplest Turkonian iS aware of the existence of kinsmen about Diarbekir.
Many of the Turk tribes of High Asia retained their pagan names when accepting Islam. Seljuk is said to have been a convert, but his sons were called Michael, Israil, Musa, and Yunus. His celebrated grandson, however, retained the name of Toglirul, and Toghrul's son was Alp Arselan. The names of most Turkish tribes and families are taken from animals: Mang-it means sick dog; Kira-it, grey dog ; Oytir-at or Oir-at, grey horse ; Kungr-at or Kinghur-at, chesnut horse.
Many-wt.—The most ancient name by which the Turk and other of the tribes of Central Asia were known to the Chinese, was Hiung-nu. These Biting-nu founded an empire (n.c. 20G) comprising a large portion of Asia west of China. Engaged
in frequent wars with the Chinese, they were at last defeated in the middle of the 1st century' after Christ. Thereupon they divided into a northern and southern empire ; and after the Southern Hiung-nu had become subjects of China, they attacked the Northern Hiung-nu, together with the Chinese, and, driving them out of their seats between the rivers Amur and Selenga and the Altai mountains westward, they are supposed to have given the first impulse to the inroads of the barbarians into Europe. In the beginning of the 3d century, the Mongolic and Tungusic tribes, who had filled the seats of the Northern Biting nu, had grown so powerful as to attack the Southeni Iliung-nu, and drive them from their territories. This occasioned a second migration of Asiatic tribes towards the west. Another name by which the Chinese designate these Hiung-nu or Turk tribes is Tu-kiu. This Tu-kiu is supposed to be identical with Turk ; and although the tribe to which this name was given was originally but small, it began t,o spread in the Gth century from the Altai to the Caspian, and it was probably. to them that, in 569, the emperor Justinian sent au ambassador in the person of Scmarchos. The empire of the Tu-kiu was destroyed in the 8th century by the Hui-he (Chinese Kao-che). This tribe, equally of Turk origin, maintained itself for about a century, aud was then conquered by the Chinese, and driven back from the northern borders of China. Part of the Hui-he occupied Tangut, and, after a second defeat by the Mongolians in 1257, the remnant proceeded still farther west, and joined the Uigur, whose tents were pitched near the towns of Turfan, Kashgar, Hamil, and Akan. These facts, gleaned chiefly from Chinese his torians, show from the very earliest times the westward tendency of the Turk nations. In 568, Turk tribes occupied the country between the Volga and the Sea of Azof, and numerous rein forcements have since strengthened their position in those parts.