A People Emerged as a Result of Historical Turkic - Armenian Contact: The Armeno- Kipchaks or Gregorian Kipchaks

Introduction and Aim of Study It does not seem possible to determine the outset of Turkic – Armenian contacts in history. Perhaps the most important reason among others for this situation is the impossibility of specifying the homeland of both peoples. Nevertheless historical sources record that Turkic peoples and Armenians have been in contact since the Hunnic period and this contact reoccurred throughout history up until modern times. This recurrent Turkic – Armenian confrontations include Kipchak – Armenian encounters, which took place at least twice in history; first in Transcaucasia and Eastern Anatolia, and later in Crimea. As a consequence Armeno – Kipchaks, a Turkic-speaking people who lived in Crimea, Ukraine and Poland between 13th and 17th (perhaps 18th) centuries, emerged and took their place in history. However, the ethnic origin of the Armeno – Kipchaks is a matter of debate. One of the claims is that Armenians contributed ethnically and religiously whilst Kipchaks contributed linguistically to the formation of the Armeno – Kipchaks, in other words they are linguistically Turkicized Armenians. Another assertion is that Armenians contributed only religiously whilst Kipchaks contributed ethnically and linguistically and therefore they are Kipchaks, who converted to Armenian Christianity. The aim of this study is to find an answer to this debate by examining sociolinguistic, onomastic and celestial data. Methodology Historical data pertaining to Turkic – Armenian contacts have been examined with sociolinguistic, ethno-linguistic and religio-linguistic perspectives. Special attention is given to Turkic conversions to Christianity in Armenian cultural sphere. Particular consideration is given to Kipchak contacts with Armenians and their conversion to Armenian Christianity. The Armeno- Kipchak linguistic data is examined in the context of contact linguistics and with comparison to Turkic (namely Uzbek) – Tajik contact. Additionally Armeno – Kipchak month and day names on top of antroponyms have been viewed with intend to find clues to the ethnic origins of Armeno – Kipchaks. Lexical content of Armenian – Armeno-Kipchak dictionaries is also tackled with sociolinguistic point of view. Findings and Discussion Kipchak interest in almost every monotheist religion they have encountered, namely Greek Orthodoxy, Russian Orthodoxy, Georgian Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Islam and Judaism (Gökbel 2000: 265-342; Ahincanov 2009: 268-276), could be regarded as evidence to the possibility of their conversion to Armenian Christianity in Crimea. Records of Kipchak conversion to Armenian Christianity in Transcaucasia and Eastern Anatolia corroborate this possibility even further. Presence of an Armenian village named Kipchak in Gumry and a monastery in the same village named Hpçahavank / Kıpçak-a Vank “Kipchak Monastery” (Grousset 1947: 26-30; Gökbel 2000: 310; Gökbel 2002: 514-15; Aynakulova 2005: 829) are evidences that Kipchaks converted to Armenian Christianity in Transcaucasia. The fact that builders of this monastery are Kipchaks are confirmed by the epitaph of the building (Alasania 2013: 131). Likewise another Armenian village, which was vacated in 1918, in Ighdir in Eastern Anatolia named Kuchakh (Gökbel 2000: 311; Gökbel 2002: 515; Aynakulova 2005: 829) is another evidence pointing into the same direction. The language of Armeno – Kipchaks resembles the language of Codex Cumanicus, which was compiled in the 13th century, and particularly that of Karaims. It is seen that the differences between Armeno – Kipchak and Karaim are based on religious reasons. The speakers of the Karaim language are followers of a Jewish sect and therefore their language is written with the Jewish alphabet and their religious terminology is copied from Hebrew. On the other hand Armeno – Kipchaks believe in Armenian Christianity and therefore their language is written with the Armenian alphabet and the religious terminology in their language is c

Keywords

Kipchaks, Armenians, language contact, Armenian Religion (Gregorianism), Kipchak Turkic