Yarmaq was name for

Khazar Khaganate The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a Nomadic empire, nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukra ...

currency. The term for silver coin was '' sheleg'' (it might have direct connection to the term

shekel A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wo ...

. The currency was mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years as tribute money for

Vyatichi The Vyatichs or more properly Vyatichi or Viatichi () were a tribe of Early East Slavs who inhabited regions around the Oka River, Oka, Moskva River, Moskva and Don (river), Don rivers. The Vyatichi had for a long time no princes, but the soci ...

and other Khazar subjects . Shelegs were probably minted in Kabir ( Moxel,

client state A client state in the context of international relations is a State (polity), state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, ...

of Khazar Kaghanate) since approximately 5th c AD. The term for the gold coin might be oka, as they were minted in the same place and called oka ()

Etymology

The term meant since at least early Middle Ages, no other meanings had been attested.

Other versions

Ar- or yar- evolved from the verb "to cut longitudinally, to split", Turkish verb is also co-originating with the

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 ...

word ır- or yır- which means the same. The name is similar to Mongolian language word "yaarmag" meaning "market," especially outdoor ones that sell wide variety of goods.

Resources

* Roman K. Kovalev. "What Does Historical Numismatics Suggest About the Monetary History of Khazaria in the Ninth Century? – Question Revisited." ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi'' 13 (2004): 97–129. *Roman K. Kovalev. "Creating Khazar Identity through Coins: The Special Issue Dirhams of 837/8." ''East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages'', ed. Florin Curta, pp. 220–253. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005. * * *

References

Currencies of Europe Currencies of Asia Medieval currencies Khazars {{Coin-stub

Etymology

Other versions

Resources

See also

References