What are the Tatars called? Tatars (ethnonym). Use of the ethnonym in the Russian Empire

What do modern Tatars call themselves? In the 14th volume of “Soviet historical encyclopedia“We read: “For some of them (Turkic peoples - A.K.) the name Tatars became a self-name.” It follows from this statement that the people known today by this name gave themselves this name themselves or adopted this name as a self-name, at their own discretion and desire, as an ethnonym that corresponds to and reflects its ethnic origin. It turns out that “Tatars” are the true ethnonym of this people. How much such a statement corresponds to the truth, the actual state of affairs, can be found out by turning to the facts of history, to primary sources, as well as to the memory of the people themselves. The country of the Bulgars was called Volga Bulgaria. Under this name, the country and its people were known not only in Rus', but also in the far East, in southern countries, and in Europe. Despite the fact that they are now called Tatars, many peoples still know them not as Tatars, but under other names, for example, the Udmurts, their neighbors, and now call them “Bigers” - i.e. Bulgars, and the Kazakhs “Nugai” "or the northern Kipchaks. The Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan, who visited Volga Bulgaria in 922, writes that poets and scientists lived here, who added to their names, as a surname, the name of their country - Bulgari. According to the testimony of Ibn Fadlan and other eastern travelers, historians Yakub ibn Nogman al-Bulgari, Ahmed al-Bulgari, philosopher Hamid ibn Haris al-Bulgari and others worked here back in those days. A literary monument from the period of the Volga Bulgaria “Nahj al-Bulgari” has reached us. Faradis" (written in 1357) by Mahmud ibn Gali Bulgari. By historical essay“Tavarihi Bulgaria” (History of Volga Bulgaria), written in the 18th century, was also written by Khisametdin Muslimi al-Bulgari. The poet of the same era, Mavlya Kuli, had the pseudonym Bulgari. In the 19th century, when printing became widespread in Kazan Tatar books, one after another, works by Tatar authors appear, many of whom call themselves Bulgari. This phenomenon continues at the beginning of the 20th century. During this period, textbooks, dictionaries, and the alphabet of the native language began to be published, which are already called works on the “Turkic” language, although, along with this, we also encounter the use of the name “ Tatar language" The fact is that the authors of their works addressed to the Russian reader, the so-called self-teachers, dictionaries of the native language, are forced to call them “Tatar” because the Russians by that time had already forgotten the names “Bulgars”, they already knew them as “Tatars”. A prominent Tatar educator of the second half of the 19th century, Kayum Nasyri, his textbooks on native language also calls “Tatar” precisely on the basis of this situation, and in his historical, ethnographic, archaeological works he says that the “Tatars” are direct descendants of the Bulgars, and deduces his origin from the Bulgars according to the genealogy of his ancestors. Forced to reckon with the common name “Tatars” among Russians, many authors, against their will, used this name in their works, noting that this name does not correspond to their self-name and their origin. The Bulgars had an unwritten law - to know their ancestors orally, their pedigree up to the ninth generation. Many families also kept such a genealogy in writing, passed down from generation to generation. These genealogies, compiled systematically, show the direct connection of modern Tatars with the Bulgars. “The names “Bulgar”, “Bulgari”, “Bulgarlyk” were used from the 12th to the 19th centuries (we would say: from the 8th-9th centuries. - A.K.) - hundreds of old Tatar authors, which could be proven on the basis of a dozen approved documents" - genealogies, which speak more clearly about the people’s conscious understanding of their origin and self-name (M. A. Usmanov. Tatar historical sources XVII-XVIII centuries Kazan, 1972, p. 139-140). The fact that the people clearly distinguished themselves from the Mongols, whom the Bulgars, like other peoples, knew as “Tatars”, and did not confuse themselves with them, is preserved vivid evidence both in the memory of the people and in their poetic oral creativity. In the folklore of modern Tatars, proverbs and sayings have been preserved and live to this day, in which their attitude towards the Mongols, i.e. “Tatars,” is extremely clearly expressed. Here are some of them: “Tatar atasyn satar” - “Tatar and own father will sell"; “Tatar ture bulsa, chabatashsh ture ele” - “If a Tatar becomes an official, he will hang his bast shoes in the red corner (in a visible place)”; “Tatar atka mense, atasyn tanymas” - “The Tatar on a horse has no father (When mounted on a horse, the Tatar does not notice his father)”; “Tatar akyly teshten son” - “The mind of a Tatar awakens in hindsight”; “Tatar ashar da kachar” - “The Tatar will get drunk and leave, and won’t even say thank you”; “Tatar belan caberen, yaneshe bulmasyn” - “Get rid of the neighborhood with a Tatar in the next world”, etc. It is unlikely that history knows examples of people being able to ridicule themselves so viciously, sharply and inventing such “flattering” proverbs about themselves and sayings. It would be unnatural. This assessment, given verbally folk art"Tatars", more and more clearly than any scientific treatises, characterizes the attitude of the people towards the "Tatars". After this, to claim that the name “Tatars” is a self-name, the true ethnonym of modern Tatars, would be, at the very least, ignorant. In Tatar folk tales, myths and legends, songs we often come across the image of mountain “Kaf” ( Caucasus Mountains), in which these mountains are presented as a place of hostile forces and evil spirits, a place of battles. In our opinion, this is also a trace in the memory of the people about their distant past, what they experienced back in the regions North Caucasus before their relocation to the Middle Volga region. Russian scientists who were directly involved in studying the past of the “Tatars” clearly saw that identifying them with the Mongols was a mistake. The 18th century historian P. Rychkov, author of “The Kazan Experience of the History of Ancient and Middle Ages” (St. Petersburg, 1767) wrote that the Kazan people are not Tatars, that this name in relation to them is a historical misunderstanding. This work, written according to Russian chronicles, was the first attempt to establish the truth about the origin of the people, an attempt to put an end to the identification of the Tatars with the Mongols that had begun to obtain citizenship in Russian historiography. In his work, he gives many examples to prove his position, among them the following fact: “The famous Bashkir rebel Batyrsha, inciting the Bashkirs to revolt, in his letter called all the local Mohammedans the Bulgarian people” (P. Rychkov. Decree, rab., p. 18-19). The famous Russian orientalist, prominent Turkologist V. V. Grigoriev, who gave high praise ethnographic research Kayuma Nasyri, back in 1836, also emphasized that “the current Kazan and Siberian Tatars, carrying robes along the streets of Russian cities, call themselves “Bulgarlyk”, “Bulgarism” (V. Grigoriev. Volga Tatars “Library for reading”, 1836, t . XIX, section III, p. 24), that is, they are proud of their origin and know their ethnicity. In 1909, on the pages of “Russian Thought,” G. Alisov, giving an answer to the growing fabrications about the origin of the Tatars, noted that if you ask a Tatar “about his nationality, he will not call himself a Tatar and ethnographically he will be partly right, since this name is a historical misunderstanding.” (G. Alisov. The Muslim Question in Russia. - Russian Thought, 1909, No. 7, p. 39). Russian scientists who studied and were interested in the origin of modern Tatars according to primary sources never confused them with the conquerors. We could cite the statements and observations of many of these scientists, but we will limit ourselves to only one observation and conclusion. The great Russian revolutionary democrat N. G. Chernyshevsky, who knew well the history, culture, life, customs of the Tatars, spoke the Tatar language and writing, and studied their history from Tatar sources, emphasized that “of the current Crimean, Kazan and Orenburg Tatars there is hardly one a person who descended from Batu’s warriors, that today’s Tatars are the descendants of those tribes that lived in these places and were conquered by Batu, just as the Russians were conquered. (N.G. Chernyshevsky. Anthropological principle in philosophy. -In the book: Selected philosophical works. T. 3, M., 1951, p. 245-246), and Western European scientists who knew the Tatars not only from literature, but directly, emphasize that the views existing in their countries on the origin of the Tatars have nothing to do with the actual state of affairs, that they are Bulgars, a people of Turkic origin. German scientist and traveler Adam Olearius, who visited in the 30s years XVII century Volga region, calls them “Bulgar Tatars” (A. Olearius. Description of the journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back. St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 408). Sigismund Herberstein, a Polish diplomat who knew the Tatars personally even before the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to the Moscow state, wrote: “If anyone wants to describe the Tatars, he needs to describe many tribes. For they bear this name by faith: and these are different tribes, far from each other” (S. Herberstein. Notes on Moscow Affairs. St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 138). The great Alexander Humboldt, who visited Russia in early XIX century, was also interested in the origin of the Tatars. He had conversations about this with the Tatars themselves. I became friends with the Tatar scientist and geographer S. Seifullin, whose works and observations I used in describing the eastern outskirts of Russia. In his work, Humboldt emphasizes that, using the name “Tatars,” he follows only the tradition of Western literature, and by “Tatars” he means, “like the Russians, not the Mongols, but the people of the great Turkish (Turkic - A.K.) tribe.” (A. Humboldt. Travels of Baron Alexander Humboldt, St. Petersburg, 1837, pp. 18-19). In contrast to such scientists who visited the Tatars and knew them firsthand, other Western European authors, knowing about the Tatars only from literature, identify them with the Mongols and consider them fragments of the Mongols. Unfortunately, statements of this kind also dominate in Russian pre-revolutionary “official-patriotic” literature. Unlike Western-phile authors, outstanding Russian historians Karamzin, Soloviev, Klyuchevsky and others do not confuse “Tatars” with Mongols, they consider them descendants of the Bulgars. We see the same thing in the works of Russian Turkic linguists and historians who studied the language, culture, and ethnography of the “Tatars” directly. Thus, in the “Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary” (Volume with the letters “S - P - T”), which summarizes the results of the research of Russian Turkologists, it is clearly emphasized that “there is no Mongolian element in the current remnants of Turkish (Turkic - A.K.) tribes and trace." Another encyclopedia also says: “Tatars. (Historical). This term, as the name of a people, has a historical rather than ethnographic meaning. Tatars, like separate people, does not exist". ( encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron. St. Petersburg, 1901, t. 64, p. 671). “Turko-Tatars” or Turkish-Tatar peoples, a term synonymous with the next word. “Turks”... Even to this day, especially in the West, the word “Tatars” or “Tartars” is understood as a collection of peoples completely different in language and racial characteristics.” Further we read: “In science, to this day, the name Tatars has been completely refuted when applied to the Mongols and Tunguzes and is reserved only for those Turkic-language nationalities, which are almost entirely now part of Russian Empire, for whom it was preserved due to a historical misunderstanding, in contrast to other Turkic peoples who bear an independent historical name (Kyrgyz, Turkmens, Sarts, Uzbeks, etc.) “(Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. St. Petersburg, 1902, vol. 67 , p. 347). The beginning of the conscious identification of Tatars with the Mongols in Russian historical literature received citizenship especially from the 18th century and intensified in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. All this began to bear negative fruit. Under these conditions, Tatar scientists tried to explain the falsity of such a statement by appealing to the facts of the history of their people. But much of what was written did not see the light of day due to persecution by tsarist censorship. In the 19th century, the tsarist censorship missed, one might say, the only work on this issue, namely the work of the Tatar encyclopedist Shigabutdin Mardzhani, and only because it was written, one might say, in Arabic, which was not accessible to the censor. Sh. Marjani is the author of a six-volume volume of a historical and bibliographic dictionary of almost all outstanding figures Muslim East from the rise of Islam to mid-19th century. This is a major work, constituting an encyclopedia of the East, written based on the study of a huge number of Eastern manuscripts stored in Central Asia, Arab countries ah, Turkey, in Kazan. He is also the author of many monographic studies on the history of the Uyghurs, Seljuks, Khorezmians, and other Turkic peoples. The deep knowledge of the history of the eastern peoples, the scrupulous care and scientific integrity of this scientist make his works a valuable source on the history of many peoples of the Volga region, Central Asia, Anatolia, and Arab countries. Academician V.V. Radlov, who personally knew the author and was familiar with his works, at the IV Archaeological Congress in Kazan in 1877, personally presented the results of one of the works of Sh. Marjani and called this research a new step in the truthful coverage of the history of the “Tatars”. Sh. Mardzhani gave a detailed analysis of the history of the Bulgars, showing, using a wealth of factual material, the direct, immediate continuity of modern Tatars with the ancient Bulgars. In one of his works dedicated to the history of Volga Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate, “Moetafadel akhber fi ehvali Kazan ve Bulgar” (In 2 volumes. Volume I, Kazan, 1885) based on the study of ancient eastern sources and in the light of new ethnographic and Other documents Marjani showed the direct continuity of the culture, language, and ethnic group of modern Tatars with the Bulgars. (Unfortunately, many of the scientist’s works to this day remain only in manuscript. And the published part of his works is practically inaccessible to historians who do not speak Arabic and the language of the high style of the Tatar language of the past.) An outstanding historian of our days, who is subject to both domestic and eastern and western sources, L. N. Gumilyov, speaking about the roots of the kinship of the peoples of Russia, touched upon the issue of relationships ancient Rus' and the Bulgar Turks and the origin of the name “Tatars”, which are fully consistent with the provisions we present here. He writes that “a thousand years ago two largest states of Eastern Europe - Kievan Rus and Volga Bulgaria concluded a peace treaty, which, despite the fact that the Slavs accepted the Christian faith and the Turks still revered Islam, had a beneficial effect on relations between peoples for almost 250 years, until Batu’s defeat. By the way, the descendants of these Bulgarians, who make up a significant part of the population of the Middle Volga region, ironically are called the name “Tatars”, and their language is called Tatar” (emphasis added by us - A.K.). Although this is nothing more than camouflage! (L. Gumilyov. The roots of our kinship. - Izvestia, 1988, April 13). At the beginning of the 20th century, especially after the first Russian revolution, new works on the history of the “Tatars” began to appear, which before that were practically impossible to publish, because the tsarist censorship considered any work on the history of the Turkic peoples to be harmful, leading to the awakening of the national self-awareness of the oppressed peoples. Among the works of this period, we point out “The History of the Bulgar People” (Bolgar Tarikh. Kazan, 1910) by the democratic historian Gainutdin Akhmerov, which specifically examines the history of the origin of modern Tatars. Based benchmarking life, language, beliefs, rituals, ornament, art, new archaeological and paleographic monuments, the author once again proves the complete continuity of the Bulgar ethnic group with the “Tatars”. The strengthening of identifications of “Tatars” with the Mongol conquerors in Russian official literature gave rise to a lively discussion among scientists in the Tatar periodicals about the origins of the people, especially on the pages of the magazine “Shura”, partly “Eng” and in others. The overwhelming majority of the discussion participants, based on materials, facts and sources, and expert testimony, once again proved the reliability of Sh. Marjani’s views on the origin of modern Tatars and raised the question of the need to abandon the name “Tatars” imposed on them and accept the self-name “Bulgars.” Another part of the historians, fully supporting the origin of the “Tatars” from the Bulgars, but based on the fact that the name “Bulgars” resembles the ethnonym of the Danube Bulgars, proposed taking the ethnonym “Turks” as a self-name (not to be confused with the ethnonym “Turks”, as sometimes happens among some authors). The adoption of the name “Turks,” in their opinion, is justified, because this name emphasizes the closeness and kinship of the “Tatars” with the Turkic peoples and the term “Turks” is more understandable to other peoples than the name “Bulgars.” Among the discussion participants there were also individuals who sought to find Mongolian origins in the formation of modern Tatar people and at the same time, as proof of their “theories,” they referred to the Russian official historical literature, where the Tatars are identified and considered descendants of the Mongols. Supporters of such views were bourgeois nationalists who, defending the name “Tatars,” sought to “exalt” themselves with the deeds of the Mongol conquerors. These proposals, reeking of obvious nationalism and built on sand, did not find any significant support. And the petty-bourgeois historians themselves did not have unanimity on the question of the origin of the Tatars. One of them, Khadi Atlasi, in his book on the history of Kazan (X. Atlasi. Kazan tarikhs. Kazan, 1910) wrote that “the Tatars are the invaders who destroyed Volga Bulgaria”, that “the Tatars (Kazan - A.K. .) they always called themselves Bulgars, as a last resort, Turkic people"or "on a religious basis - Muslims" (p. 15), so that they would not be identified with the "Tatars", thus opposing the adoption of the name "Tatars".

The Tatars are the second largest nation in Russia after the Russians. According to the 2010 census, they make up 3.72% of the population of the entire country. This people, who joined in the second half of the 16th century, over the centuries managed to preserve their cultural identity, carefully treating historical traditions and religion.

Any nation searches for its origins. The Tatars are no exception. The origins of this nation began to be seriously studied in the 19th century, when the development of bourgeois relations accelerated. The people were subjected to special study, highlighting their main features and characteristics, and creating a unified ideology. The origin of the Tatars throughout this time remained important topic research by both Russian and Tatar historians. The results of this long-term work can be roughly presented in three theories.

The first theory is associated with the ancient state of Volga Bulgaria. It is believed that the history of the Tatars begins with the Turkic-Bulgar ethnic group, which emerged from the Asian steppes and settled in the Middle Volga region. In the 10th-13th centuries they managed to create their own statehood. The period of the Golden Horde and the Moscow State made some adjustments to the formation of the ethnic group, but did not change the essence of Islamic culture. In this case, we are mainly talking about the Volga-Ural group, while other Tatars are considered as independent ethnic communities, united only by the name and history of joining the Golden Horde.

Other researchers believe that the Tatars originate from Central Asians who moved to the west during the Mongol-Tatar campaigns. It was the entry into the Ulus of Jochi and the adoption of Islam that played the main role in the unification of disparate tribes and the formation of a single nation. At the same time, the autochthonous population of Volga Bulgaria was partially exterminated and partially forced out. The newcomer tribes created their own special culture and brought the Kipchak language.

The Turkic-Tatar origins in the genesis of the people are emphasized by the following theory. According to it, the Tatars trace their origins back to the great, largest Asian state of the Middle Ages of the 6th century AD. The theory recognizes a certain role in the formation of the Tatar ethnic group of both the Volga Bulgaria and the Kipchak-Kimak and Tatar-Mongol ethnic groups Asian steppes. The special role of the Golden Horde, which united all the tribes, is emphasized.

All of the listed theories of the formation of the Tatar nation highlight special role Islam, as well as the period of the Golden Horde. Based on historical data, researchers see the origins of the people differently. Nevertheless, it becomes clear that the Tatars trace their origins to ancient Turkic tribes, and historical connections with other tribes and peoples, of course, had their influence on the current appearance of the nation. Carefully preserving their culture and language, they managed not to lose their national identity in the face of global integration.

The leading group of the Tatar ethnic group is the Kazan Tatars. And now few people doubt that their ancestors were the Bulgars. How did it happen that the Bulgars became Tatars? The versions of the origin of this ethnonym are very interesting.

Turkic origin of the ethnonym

For the first time, the name “Tatar” was found in the 8th century in the inscription on the monument to the famous commander Kül-tegin, which was erected during the Second Turkic Khaganate - a Turkic state located on the territory of modern Mongolia, but with a larger area. The inscription mentions the tribal unions "Otuz-Tatars" and "Tokuz-Tatars".

IN X-XII centuries The ethnonym “Tatars” spread in China, Central Asia and Iran. The 11th century scientist Mahmud Kashgari in his writings called the space between Northern China and Eastern Turkestan “Tatar steppe”.

Perhaps that is why at the beginning of the 13th century the Mongols began to be called that way, who by this time had defeated the Tatar tribes and seized their lands.

Turkic-Persian origin

The learned anthropologist Aleksey Sukharev, in his work “Kazan Tatars,” published in St. Petersburg in 1902, noted that the ethnonym Tatars comes from the Turkic word “tat,” which means nothing more than mountains, and the word of Persian origin “ar” or “ ir”, which means person, man, inhabitant. This word is found among many peoples: Bulgarians, Magyars, Khazars. It is also found among the Turks.

Persian origin

Soviet researcher Olga Belozerskaya associated the origin of the ethnonym with the Persian word “tepter” or “defter”, which is interpreted as “colonist”. However, it is noted that the ethnonym “Tiptyar” is of later origin. Most likely, it arose in XVI-XVII centuries, when they began to call the Bulgars who moved from their lands to the Urals or Bashkiria.

Old Persian origin

“Tatami the Turks call those who speak Farsi.”

However, the Turks also called the Chinese and even the Uyghurs tatami. And it could well be that tat meant “foreigner,” “foreign-speaking.” However, one does not contradict the other. After all, the Turks could first call Iranian-speaking people tatami, and then the name could spread to other strangers.
By the way, Russian word“thief” may also have been borrowed from the Persians.

Greek origin

From now on, among the peoples of Europe, the Tatars became a generalization of all barbarian peoples living in the east.

To be fair, it must be said that on some old maps of Europe, Tartary began just beyond the Russian border. The Mongol Empire collapsed in the 15th century, but European historians until the 18th century continued to call all eastern peoples from the Volga to China Tatars.
By the way, the Tatar Strait, separating Sakhalin Island from the mainland, is called that because “Tatars” - Orochi and Udege - also lived on its shores. In any case, this was the opinion of Jean François La Perouse, who gave the name to the strait.

Chinese origin

Most likely, it was from China that the name “Tatars” penetrated into Arab and Persian literary sources.

According to legend, the warlike tribe itself was destroyed by Genghis Khan. Here is what Mongol expert Evgeniy Kychanov wrote about this: “This is how the Tatar tribe perished, which, even before the rise of the Mongols, gave its name as a common noun to all Tatar-Mongol tribes. And when in distant auls and villages in the West, twenty to thirty years after that massacre, alarming cries were heard: “Tatars!”, there were few real Tatars among the advancing conquerors, only their formidable name remained, and they themselves had long been lying in the land of their native ulus.” (“The Life of Temujin, Who Thought to Conquer the World”).
Genghis Khan himself categorically forbade calling the Mongols Tatars.
By the way, there is a version that the name of the tribe could also come from the Tungus word “ta-ta” - to pull the bowstring.

Tocharian origin

At the beginning of the 7th century, Tokharistan consisted of 27 principalities that were subordinate to the Turks. Most likely, the local population mixed with them.

The same Mahmud Kashgari called the huge region between Northern China and Eastern Turkestan the Tatar steppe.
For the Mongols, the Tokhars were strangers, “Tatars.” Perhaps, after some time, the meaning of the words “Tochars” and “Tatars” merged, and a large group of peoples began to be called that way. The peoples conquered by the Mongols adopted the name of their kindred aliens, the Tokhars.
So the ethnonym Tatars could also be transferred to the Volga Bulgars.

Given in the book “History of the Mongals, whom we call Tatars,” the ethnonym “Tatar” comes from the name of the river of the same name:

“There is a certain land among the countries of the East, which was mentioned above and which is called Mongal. This land once had four peoples: one was called Yeka-Mongal, that is, the great Mongals, the second was called Su-Mongal, that is, the water Mongals, they called themselves Tatars from a certain river that flows through their country and is called Tatar; the third people were called Merkit, the fourth - Mekrit. All these peoples had the same shape of faces and the same language, although they were divided among themselves according to regions and sovereigns.”

The version of another Franciscan, Benedict, contains additional information:

“Moal [in Tartar] - earth, Mongols - means [name] of the inhabitants of the earth. However, [they] themselves call themselves Tartars from [the name of] a large and swift river that crosses their land and is called Tatar. For tata in their language means [in Latin] “to drag,” and tartar means “pulling.”

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Use of ethnonym

According to the most common version, the old Chinese name 鞑靼, that is, Dada or Dadan, is interpreted as the first mention of the ethnonym “Tatars”. The Song book indicates that another name for the Rourans is "Tatars", who are also called "Tartars" and are one of the aimags of the Xiongnu. Chinese character with the modern pronunciation “datan” the word “Tatar” is marked, and the word “tartar” is written with the hieroglyph “tantan”. Historians believe that the name of the Mongols as Tatars (Tartar) comes from the name of the Tatar Rouran Khan (414-429). These two names, Tatar-khaan and Tatar (Mongol), are written in the same hieroglyphs. Therefore, since the time of the Rouran Khaganate, the Mongols began to be called Mongols, Tatars, Tatar-Mongols or Mongol-Tatars.

In the period from the 12th century, the ethnonym “Tatars” acquired an expanded meaning. In particular, the Chinese began to call Tatars ( yes-tribute) all nomads of the eastern part of the Great Steppe, regardless of their actual ethnicity. In other words, the ethnonym acquires the concomitant meaning of a political and cultural term. At the same time, according to Wang Guowei, in the Khitan Liao Empire the term "Tatars" was considered derogatory. Instead, the word " zubu"(according to Wittfogel, it comes from the Tibetan " cog-po» - shepherds, nomads) .

Use of the ethnonym in the Russian Empire

Use of the ethnonym in Western Europe

Engraving depicting a “Tatar” (Manchu) warrior from the title page of Martino Martini’s book “The Tale of the Devastation of China by the Tatars” ( Regni Sinensis a Tartaris devastati enarratio. Amsterdam, 1661). The drawing is criticized by modern historians (Pamela Crossley, David Mungello) as not corresponding to the content of the book: for example, a Manchu warrior holds a severed head by a braid, although it was the Manchus (and the Chinese they conquered) who wore braids, and not the Chinese still fighting on the side of the Ming dynasty

IN Western Europe They started talking about the “Tatars” already at the First Council of Lyon (1245). From then until the 18th century, and sometimes later, Western Europeans collectively called all Asian nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkic and Mongolian peoples “Tatars” (Latin Tartari, French Tartares).

Until the mid-17th century, Europeans knew little about Manchuria and its inhabitants, but when the Manchus conquered China in the 1640s, the Jesuits there also classified them as Tatars. Most famous book, which informed contemporaries about the victory of the Manchus over

1. Turkic origin of the ethnonym

For the first time, the name “Tatar” is found in the 8th century in the inscription on the monument to the famous commander Kül-tegin, which was erected during the Second Turkic Khaganate - a Turkic state located on the territory of modern Mongolia, but having a larger area. The inscription mentions the tribal unions "Otuz-Tatars" and "Tokuz-Tatars".
In the X-XII centuries, the ethnonym “Tatars” spread in China, Central Asia and Iran. The 11th century scientist Mahmud Kashgari in his writings called the space between Northern China and Eastern Turkestan “Tatar steppe”.
Perhaps that is why at the beginning of the 13th century the Mongols began to be called that way, who by this time had defeated the Tatar tribes and seized their lands.

2. Turkic-Persian origin

The scientist anthropologist Alexey Sukharev in his work “Kazan Tatars”, published in St. Petersburg in 1902, wrote that the ethnonym Tatars comes from the Turkic word “tat”, which means nothing more than mountains, and the word of Persian origin “ar” or “ ir”, which means person, man, inhabitant. This word is found among many peoples: Bulgarians, Magyars, Khazars. It is also found among the Turks.

3. Persian origin

Soviet researcher Olga Belozerskaya associated the origin of the ethnonym with the Persian word “tepter” or “defter”, which is interpreted as “colonist”. However, it is noted that the ethnonym “Tiptyar” is of later origin. Most likely, it arose in the 16th-17th centuries, when the Bulgars who moved from their lands to the Urals or Bashkiria began to be called this.

4. Old Persian origin

There is a hypothesis that the name “Tatars” comes from the ancient Persian word “tat” - this is how the Persians were called in ancient times. Researchers refer to the 11th century scientist Mahmut Kashgari, who wrote that “the Turks call those who speak Farsi tatami.” However, the Turks also called the Chinese and even the Uyghurs tatami. And it could well be that tat meant “foreigner,” “foreign-speaking.” However, one does not contradict the other. After all, the Turks could first call Iranian-speaking people tatami, and then the name could spread to other strangers.
By the way, the Russian word “thief” may also have been borrowed from the Persians.

5. Greek origin

We all know that among the ancient Greeks the word “tartar” meant the other world, hell. Thus, “Tartarine” was an inhabitant of the underground depths. This name arose even before the invasion of Batu’s army in Europe. Perhaps it was brought here by travelers and merchants, but even then the word “Tatars” was associated by Europeans with eastern barbarians.
After the invasion of Batu Khan, Europeans began to perceive them exclusively as a people who came out of hell and brought the horrors of war and death. Ludwig IX was nicknamed a saint because he prayed himself and called on his people to pray to avoid Batu's invasion. As we remember, at this time Khan Udegei died and the Mongols turned back. This only convinced the Europeans that they were right.
From now on, among the peoples of Europe, the Tatars became a generalization of all barbarian peoples living in the east.
To be fair, it must be said that on some old maps of Europe, Tartary began just beyond the Russian border. The Mongol Empire collapsed in the 15th century, but European historians until the 18th century continued to call all eastern peoples from the Volga to China Tatars.
By the way, the Tatar Strait, separating Sakhalin Island from the mainland, is called that because “Tatars” - Orochi and Udege - also lived on its shores. In any case, this was the opinion of Jean François La Perouse, who gave the name to the strait.

6. Chinese origin

Some scientists believe that the ethnonym “Tatars” is of Chinese origin. Back in the 5th century, in the northeast of Mongolia and Manchuria there lived a tribe that the Chinese called “ta-ta”, “da-da” or “tatan”. And in some dialects of Chinese the name sounded exactly like “Tatar” or “tartar” due to the nasal diphthong.
The tribe was warlike and constantly disturbed its neighbors. Perhaps later the name Tartar spread to other peoples who were unfriendly to the Chinese. Most likely, it was from China that the name “Tatars” penetrated into Arab and Persian literary sources.
According to legend, the warlike tribe itself was destroyed by Genghis Khan. Here is what Mongol expert Evgeniy Kychanov wrote about this: “This is how the Tatar tribe perished, which, even before the rise of the Mongols, gave its name as a common noun to all Tatar-Mongol tribes. And when in distant auls and villages in the West, twenty to thirty years after that massacre, alarming cries of “Tatars!” were heard, there were few real Tatars among the approaching conquerors, only their formidable name remained, and they themselves had long been lying in the land of their native ulus” ( "The Life of Temujin, Who Thought to Conquer the World").
Genghis Khan himself categorically forbade calling the Mongols Tatars.
By the way, there is a version that the name of the formidable tribe could also come from the Tungus word “ta-ta” - to pull the bowstring.

7. Tocharian origin

The origin of the name could also be associated with the Tocharians (Tagars, Tugars), who lived in Central Asia starting from the 3rd century BC.
The Tochars defeated the great Bactria, which was once a great state, and founded Tokharistan, which was located in the south of modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and in the north of Afghanistan. From the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. Tokharistan was part of the Kushan kingdom, and later broke up into separate possessions. At the beginning of the 7th century, Tokharistan consisted of 27 principalities that were subordinate to the Turks. Most likely, the local population mixed with them. The same Mahmud Kashgari called the huge region between Northern China and Eastern Turkestan the Tatar steppe.
For the Mongols, the Tokhars were strangers, “Tatars.” Perhaps, after some time, the meaning of the words “Tochars” and “Tatars” merged, and a large group of peoples began to be called that way. The peoples conquered by the Mongols adopted the name of their kindred aliens, the Tokhars.
So the ethnonym Tatars could also be transferred to the Volga Bulgars.