Tatar is a term whose meaning varied throughout history. The

Orkhon inscriptions The Orkhon inscriptions are bilingual texts in Middle Chinese and Old Turkic, the latter written in the Old Turkic alphabet, carved into two memorial steles erected in the early 8th century by the Göktürks in the Orkhon Valley in what is modern- ...

, a group of 8th-century

Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...

texts, include the first instances of the term (''otuz tatar'', ''toquz tatar''), where it most probably referred to a group of

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

-speaking tribes. Certain western groups of these tribes were later associated with Turkic tribes. Although the

Tatar confederation The Tatar confederation (; ; ) was one of the five major tribal confederations (''khanlig'') in the Mongolian Plateau in the 12th century. Name and origin The name "Tatar" was possibly first transliterated in the ''Book of Song'' as 大檀 ''D ...

was a long-time archenemy to

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

and his ancestors, later sources employed the term for most

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

conquerors, the reason for which remains unclear. Within the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, the term gained the new meaning of “court messenger” replacing , coinciding with the undated establishment of Tatar Corps (), which is known to have undergone reorganization in 1775. Several contemporary travelers and modern historians associated the rise of the term with the potential employment of Crimean Tatar refugees by the Ottoman government.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last1=Vàsàry , first1=Istvàn , title=Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365 , date=24 March 2005 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=9781139444088 , oclc=750757219 Words and phrases Ethno-cultural designations Exonyms