Mahmud al-Kashgari

Mahmūd ibn al -Husayn ibn Muhammad al- Kāschgharī (Arabic: محمود بن الحسين بن محمد الكاشغري, DMG Mahmud bin al -Husayn bin Muhammad al - Kāšġarī; * 1008, † 1105) was a Turkish scholar and lexicographer of the 11th century.

Mahmūd al - Kāschgharī is said to have originated in Barsghān on the southern shore of Lake Issyk -Kul, from a noble, the Qarakhanid -knit family, but information about his life fragmented and exclusively in his own works have survived. Neither birth nor death year are secured.

The main work of al - Kāschgharīs, the " collection of dialects of the Turks" ( Diwan Lughat at- Turk ), built in the years 1072-1094 in Baghdad. It is a particularly important work for the study of Turkic languages ​​, culture and history of the Middle Ages. However, the reported facts always need a modern critical review; al - Kāschgharī took over, for example, legendary myths of origin. He described a progenitor Türk, who was a son of Japheth and grandson of Noah.

The " collection of dialects of the Turks" is Bilig next to the Kutadgu the most important work of the Central Turkish period. Al- Kāschgharī dedicated his work to the Caliph al - Muktadi in Baghdad. Baghdad was since 1055 part of the Seljuk Empire. In addition to the function of a Turkish - Arabic dictionary that works with many important historical, folkloric and geographic details and a world map. The work also counts on 21 - Oğuz Turkish tribes and is one of the historical sources of the Oğuz. Most Oğuz strains are centuries later in Ottoman Anatolia to find. In the introduction to his work indicates al - Kāschgharī, credible informants, according to the Prophet Muhammad had said: " Learn the language of the Turks because their rule will last a long time! "

The pride and the sense of superiority of the Nomads against the sedentary ( which, conversely, just as was the case ) it is clear from al - Kāschgharīs writings. The purity of the spoken Turkish dialect in particular with regard to the debate and the absence of external linguistic influences was considered elegant. Al- Kāschgharī the debate of those who speak only one language as the most elegant of all dialects. Those who speak two languages ​​or mixed with the urban population, had slurred speech.