The Old Tatar language was a literary language used by some ethnic groups of the Idel-Ural region (

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

and

Bashkirs The Bashkirs ( , ) or Bashkorts (, ; , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a Republics of Russia, republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of B ...

) from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

until the early 20th century. Old Tatar is a member of the Kipchak (or Northwestern) group of

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

, although it was derived from the ancient

Bulgar language Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is the extinct Oghur Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars. The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mi ...

. The first poem, considered to be written by Qul Ghali in Volga Turki dates back to the period of

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate) was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now Europea ...

. It included many Persian and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

loans. In its written form, the language was spelled uniformly among different ethnic groups, speaking different Turkic languages of the Kipchak sub-group. The pronunciation differed from one people to another, approximating to the spoken language, making the written form universal for different languages. The language formerly used the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...

and its later updated alphabets of İske imlâ and Yaña imlâ. Old Tatar language was a language of Idel-Ural poetry and literature. With the

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

, Azeri,

Cuman The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as " ...

, Khaqani TurkicOutstanding examples of the Uighur Middle Age literature are Yusuf Balasaghuni '' Qutatqu Bilik'' (''Wisdom Of Royal Glory'') (1069–70) and Mahmut Kashgari '' Divan-i Lugat-it Türk'' (''Dictionary of Turkic Dialects'') (1072) and Chagatai, they were the only Turkic literary languages used in the Middle Ages. It was actively used in publishing until 1905, when the first Tatar and Bashkir newspapers begun to be published in modern Tatar and

Bashkir language Bashkir ( , ) or Bashkort (, ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak languages, Kipchak branch. It is official language#Political alternatives, co-official with Russian language, Russian in Bashkortostan. Bashkir has ap ...

Alphabet

References

Bibliography

See also