Cumans


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 in Rus' chronicles, as "Cumans" in Western sources, and as "Kipchaks" in Eastern sources.
Related to the Pechenegs, they inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea and along the Volga River known as Cumania, from which the Cuman–Kipchaks meddled in the politics of the Caucasus and the Khwarazmian Empire. The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian Steppe who exerted an enduring influence on the medieval Balkans. They were numerous, culturally sophisticated, and militarily powerful.
Many eventually settled west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Kievan Rus', the Galicia–Volhynia Principality, the Golden Horde Khanate, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Moldavia, the Kingdom of Georgia, the Byzantine Empire, the Empire of Nicaea, the Latin Empire, and Wallachia, with Cuman immigrants becoming integrated into each country's elite. The Cumans played a role in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
After the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in 1237, many Cumans sought asylum in the Kingdom of Hungary, as many of them had already settled there in the previous decades. The Cumans also played an important role in the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Nicaea Empire's Anatolia.
The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages. The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.

Names and etymology

Cuman

Cuman appears in ancient Roman texts as the name of a fortress or gate. The Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder mentions "a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lay beyond" while describing the "Gates of Caucasus". The Greek philosopher Strabo refers to the Darial Gorge as Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana.
The original meaning of the endonym Cuman is unknown. It is also often unclear whether a particular name refers to the Cumans alone or to both the Cumans and the Kipchaks, as the two tribes often lived side by side.
Most other Turkic-speaking people called the Cumans some variant of "Qipchaqs", while Armenians called them "Xartesk'ns". Qumans were primarily used by Byzantine authors, while the name used in Rus' tended to be "Polovtsian".
In Turkic languages qu, qun, qūn, quman or qoman means "pale, sallow, cream coloured", "pale yellow", or "yellowish grey". While it is normally assumed that the name referred to the Cumans' hair, Imre Baski—a prominent Turkologist—has suggested that it may have other origins, including:
  • the color of the Cumans' horses ;
  • a traditional water vessel, known as a quman; or
  • a Turkic word for "force" or "power".
Observing that the Hungarian exonym for Cumans—i.e. Kun, Kunok—appeared as Cunus, Cuni in the chronicles and was applied to earlier nomads such as Pechenegs or Oghuzes, György Györffy derived Kun from Huns, instead of Qun, which he kept separate from Kun. However, István Vásáry rejected Györffy's hypothesis and contended that "the Hungarian name of the Cumans must go back to one of their self-appellations, i.e. to Qun." In the Hypatian Codex, a certain individual is called Kuman, while in the parallel account of the Laurentian Codex he is called Kun.

Cumania

Even after the Cumans were no longer the dominant power in their territory, people still referred to the area as Cumania. The Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta said of Cumania: "This wilderness is green and grassy with no trees, nor hills, high or low ... there is no means of travelling in this desert except in wagons." The Persian historian Hamdallah Mustawfi wrote that Cumania has a cold climate and that it has excellent pasturage and numerous cattle and horses. The 14th-century Travels of Sir John Mandeville, note that Cumania

Polovtsy

In East Slavic languages the Cumans are known as the Polovtsy, derived from the Slavic root *polvъ "pale; light yellow; blonde". Polovtsy or Polovec is often said to be derived from the Old East Slavic polovŭ "yellow; pale" by the Rus' people—all meaning "blond". The western Cumans, or Polovtsy, were also called Sorochinetses by the Rus'—apparently derived from the Turkic sary chechle "yellow-haired". A similar etymology may have been at work in the name of the Śārī, who also migrated westward ahead of the Qun.
However, according to O. Suleymenov polovtsy may come from a Slavic word for "blue-eyed", i.e. the plȃv means "blue", but this word also means "fair, blonde" and is a cognate of the above; cf. Eastern Slavic polovŭ. Blonde individuals likely existed among the Kipchaks, yet anthropologically speaking the majority of Turkic peoples had East Asian admixture and generally Kimeks–Kipchaks were dark-haired and brown-eyed. An alternative etymology of Polovtsy is also possible: the Slavic root *pȍlje "field", which would therefore imply that Polovtsy were "men of the field" or "men of the steppe" in contrast to the Lipovtsi.
The Polish term Połowcy was directly borrowed from the neighbouring East Slavic languages, though the term Kumanowie is also common. Both are used interchangeably in Polish-language sources.

Folban, Vallani, Valwe

In Germanic languages, the Cumans were called Folban, Vallani or Valwe—all derivatives of Proto-Germanic root *falwa- meaning "pale". In the German account by Adam of Bremen, and in Matthaios of Edessa, the Cumans were referred to as the "Blond Ones".

Kipchak

As stated above, it is unknown whether the name Kipchak referred only to the Kipchaks proper, or to the Cumans as well. The two tribes eventually fused, lived together and probably exchanged weaponry, culture and languages; the Cumans encompassed the western half of the confederation, while the Kipchaks and the Kangli/Kankalis encompassed the eastern half. This confederation and their living together may have made it difficult for historians to write exclusively about either nation.
The Kipchaks' folk-etymology posited that their name meant 'hollow tree'; according to them, inside a hollow tree, their original human ancestress gave birth to her son. Németh points to the Siberian qıpčaq "angry, quick-tempered" attested only in the Siberian Sağay dialect. Klyashtorny links Kipchak to qovï, qovuq "unfortunate, unlucky"; yet Golden sees a better match in qïv "good fortune" and adjectival suffix -čāq. Regardless, Golden notes that the ethnonym's original form and etymology "remain a matter of contention and speculation".

Tribes

, Mamluk, Hungarian, and Chinese sources preserved the names of many Cuman-Kupchak tribal groupings:
  • Altun-oba
  • Arslan-opa
  • Ay-opa
  • Badač
  • Barat ~ Beret ~ Baraq,
  • Bayaut,
  • Burčoğlı,
  • B.zângî ~ B.zânrî,
  • Jğrâq ~ Jğrât ~ Jqrâq < Čağraq? ~ Čoğraq? ~ Čağraq? ~ Čoğrat?,
  • Čenegrepa,
  • Čitey,
  • Čirtan ~ Čortan,
  • Dorut ~ Dörüt ~ Dört,
  • Enčoğlı ~ İlančuglı,
  • İt-oğlı,
  • Qitan-opa,
  • Knn ~ Kyt,
  • Küčeba ~ Küčoba,
  • Küčet,
  • Kor ~ Qor,
  • Qara Börklü,
  • Qay-opa,
  • Qol-oba ~ Qul-oba,
  • Qmngû/Qumanlu, Qonğuroğlı,
  • Mekrüti ~ Bekrüti ~ Bekürte ,
  • Mingüzoğlı,
  • Orunqu,
  • Ölberli ~ Ölperli ve, Olbѣry, Olьbery, Ch. Yuliboli,
  • Ören ~ Uran ~ Oyren,
  • Pečeneg,
  • Shanmie gumali,
  • Tarğıl,
  • Tarew,
  • Terter ~ Teriter-oba,
  • Toqsoba,
  • Tğ Yšqût,
  • Ulašoğlı,
  • Urus-oba,
  • Yimek ~ Yemek,
  • Yete-oba,
  • Yuğur,
  • Moguty,
  • Tatrany,
  • Revugy,
  • Shelьbiry,
  • Topchaki,
  • Elьborili,
  • Bekoba,
  • Quyçı,
  • etc.
Seven Cuman tribes eventually settled in Hungary, namely:
  • Toqsoba,
  • Borcsol,
  • Csertan,
  • Olás,
  • Kór ~ Kól,
  • Iloncsuk, and
  • Koncsog.
Baskakov thought that the Moguty, Tatrany, Revugy, Shelьbiry, and Topchaki belonged to the Chorni Klobuky.

History

Origins

The original homeland of the Cumans is unknown before their eventual settlement in the Eurasian steppe's western part.

Qun

Chinese authors mentioned a Tiele tribe named 渾 located north of the Tuul River. The writings of al-Marwazi state that a Turkic "Qun" people came from the northern Chinese borders—"the land of Qitay". After leaving the lands of the Khitans, the Qun entered the territory of the Śari people, whom the Quns expelled. Marwazi wrote that the Qun were Nestorian Christians.
Golden surmises that these Quns might have sprung "from that same conglomeration of Mongolic peoples from which the Qitañ sprang"; however, Golden later suggests that the Quns were Turkic. Despite this, it is possible that certain tribes forming a part of the Cuman–Kipchak conglomerate were of Mongolic origin. Golden considers the Ölberli to have originally been Mongolic-speaking and argues that they were pushed westwards as a result of socio-political changes among the Khitans.
The Syrian historian Yaqut also mentions the Qun in The Dictionary of Countries, where he notes that " begins where the meridian shadow of the equinox is seven, six-tenths, and one-sixth of one-tenth of a foot. Its end exceeds its beginning by only one foot. It begins in the homeland of the Qayi, Qun, Khirkhiz, Kimak, at-Tagazgaz, the lands of the Turkomans, Fārāb, and the country of the Khazars." The Armenian historian, Matthew of Edessa, also mentioned the Cumans, using the name χarteš, meaning "blond", "pale", "fair".