Chagatai

Central Asian realm

Chagatai refers to a Turkic literary language that flourished across Central Asia from the 14th to early 20th centuries, serving as the prestige written language of educated Muslims from the Caucasus to western China.

Named for Chagatai Khan, son of Genghis Khan, whose domain encompassed this region.

The language produced major works of poetry and history, including the writings of Navoi and Babur.

Also spelled Chaghatai or Jagatai.

Modern Uzbek and Uyghur descend from it.

Mongol

Genghis Khan

Mongol Empire's founder

  • hordeDisorganized, overwhelming crowd
  • steppeTreeless Eurasian grassland
  • nomadsUnsettled, roving people

yurt · Mongol Empire · succession · apanage · Ilkhanate · princes · lineage · inheritance

historical

Central Asia

Continental interior between Russia and Iran

Sufism · Mughal Empire · madrasas · caravanserai · Islamic culture · medieval · decline

literature

poetry

Metrical literary composition

  • divanArmless, backless seating
  • epicsLong heroic narratives
  • proseUnversified language

manuscripts · masnavi · versification · anthology · romances · allegory · narrative · didactic · elegies · court poetry

Turkic

Uzbek

Central Asian Turkic speaker

  • UyghurTurkic Muslim ethnic group
  • KazakhCentral Asian ethnicity
  • KyrgyzCentral Asian Turkic people

Turkmen · Tatar · agglutinative · lingua franca

language

Arabic script

Semitic consonantal alphabet

phonology · classical · written · literary · manuscripts · scribes · calligraphy · dictionaries · bilingual · translation

Categories
Opposites
mongol successor khanates

ChagataiIlkhanate

Mongol successor state in Persia

central asian literary languages

ChagataiPersian

Of or from Iran

Arabic · Mongol

Familiarity
Top 2,000,000