Toquz Oghuz

The Toquz Oghuz (Lit. "''Nine Clan"'') was a political alliance of nine Turkic Tiele tribes in Inner Asia, during the early Middle Ages. The Toquz Oghuz was consolidated and subordinated within the First Turkic Khaganate (552–603) and remained as a nine-tribe alliance after the Khaganate fragmented.

Oghuz is a Turkic word meaning "community" and ''toquz'' means "nine". Similarly the Karluks were possibly known as the ''Üç-Oğuz'' – ''üç'' meaning "three". The root of the generalized ethnic term "oghuz" is ''og''-, meaning "clan, tribe"; which in turn, according to Kononov, descends from the ancient Turkic word ''ög'' meaning "mother" (however, Golden considered such a further derivation impossible). Initially the ''oguz'' designated "tribes" or "tribal union", and eventually became an ethnonym.

The Toquz Oghuz were perhaps first mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions written in the 730s. The nine tribes were named in Chinese histories as the ''Huihe''/Uyghur (回纥), ''Pugu'' (仆骨), ''Hun'' (浑), ''Bayegu/'' (拔野古), ''Tongluo'' (同罗), ''Sijie'' (思结), ''Qibi'' (契苾), ''A-Busi'' (阿布思) and ''Gulunwugusi'' (骨仑屋骨思). The first seven named – who lived north of the Gobi Desert – were dominant, whereas the ''A-Busi'' and ''Gulunwugu(si)'' emerged later and were accepted on an equal footing with the others some time after 743. The ''A-Busi'' apparently originated as a sub-tribal group within the ''Sijie'' and the ''Gulunwugu(si)'' as a combination of two other tribes.

Latter Gōktürk Khagan Bilge considered the Toquz Oghuz " isown people". It is also mentioned in Kul Tigin inscriptions that the Göktürks and Toquz Oghuz were fighting five times in a year.

𐱃𐰸𐰆𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣:𐰚𐰤𐱅𐰃:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣𐰢:𐰼𐱅𐰃:𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃:𐰘𐰃𐰼:𐰉𐰆𐰞𐰍𐰴𐰃𐰤:𐰇𐰲𐰇𐰤:𐰖𐰍𐰃:𐰉𐰆𐰡𐰃
''Toquz Oγuz budun kentü budunïm erti teŋіri jer bolγaqïn üčün yaγï boltï.''

"Nine Oguz people were my own people. Because of the sky being jumbled up with the earth, they became an enemy."

Likewise, foreign sources suggested the political association of some Toquz Oghuz tribes to Göktürks. A Khotanese Saka text about Turks in Ganzhou mentioned ''saikairä ttūrkä chārä'' (< OTrk. *''sïqïr türk çor''). The Sïqïr Türks were identified with the ''Sikāri'' in Sogdian documents as well as the ''Sijie'', who were mentioned as ''Tujue Sijie'' 突厥思結 in Zizhi Tongjian. Among the Eastern Turkic tribes who dwelt south the Gobi Desert, Tang Huiyao listed the ''Sijie'' (erroneously rendered as ''Enjie'' 恩結), who dwelt in the Lushan military governorate 盧山都督府, and ''Fuli'', who dwelt in the same jimi province of Dailin as the Sijie's splinter tribe A-Busi. The ''Fuli(-yu)'' (匐利 ��, or ''Fuli(-ju)'' (伏利 ��, were identifiable as the ''Fuluo'' (覆羅) in other Chinese sources and the ''Bökli-Çöligil'' (OTrk. 𐰋𐰇𐰚𐰲𐰃:𐰲𐰇𐰠𐰏𐰠), who appeared on Kül-tegin inscription and were proposed to have originated from Tungusic Mohe, Koreans, or ethnic Turkic peoples. Kenzheakhmet (2014:297-299) links the ''Sijies splinter-tribe ''Abusi'' (< OTrk. *''Abïz'') to the ''Fuli'' (< OTrk. *''Bükeli'' < ''büke'' "snake, dragon" + coordinating conjunctive suffix ''-li'', possibly).

Another list of nine names - '' Yaoluoge'' (藥羅葛) (< OTrk. 𐰖𐰍𐰞𐰴𐰺‎ ''Yaglaqar''), ''Huduoge'' (胡咄葛), ''Guluowu'' (啒羅勿), ''Mogexiqi'' (貊歌息訖), ''A-Wudi'' (阿勿嘀), ''Gesa'' (葛薩), ''Huwasu'' (斛嗢素), ''Yaowuge'' (藥勿葛), & ''Xiyawu'' (奚牙勿)- appeared in the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang. According to Haneda (1957), Toquz Oğuz were the Yaglaqar-led group of nine clans included in the Uighur tribe. In contrast, Golden (1992) proposed that Toquz Oğuz were the Tang Huiyao's nine-tribe group led by the Uyghur, which in turn comprised the nine subtribes led by Yaglaqar. The Shine Usu inscription mentioned that the Yağlaqar ruled over the ''On-Uyğur'' "Ten TribesUyghur" and ''Toquz Oğuz'' "Nine TribesOghuz". Meanwhile, Hashimoto, Katayama, and Senga propose that the Tang Huiyao's list (led by Uyghur) contained the names of the Toquz Oghuz tribes proper, while each name in the two lists (led by Yağlaqar) in the Books of Tang recorded each surname of each of nine subtribal chiefs (e.g. ''Uyghur'' chief's surname is ''Yağlaqar''; ''Sijie'' chief's surname is ''Gesa'', etc.).

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References

{{Turkic peoples

Turkic peoples of Asia
Uyghurs
Former countries in Chinese history
Nomadic groups in Eurasia
Extinct Turkic peoples
Tribes of the Göktürks