The Cumans or Kumans were a TurkicRobert Lee Wolff: "The 'Second Bulgarian Empire'. Its Origin and History to 1204". Speculum, Volume 24, Issue 2 (April 1949), 179. "Thereafter, the influx of Pechenegs and Cumans turned Bulgaria into a battleground between Byzantium and these Turkish tribes ..." 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 (Polovtsy) 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
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 (as well as most Muslim sources) called the Cumans some variant of "Qipchaqs", while Armenians called them "Xartesk'ns". Qumans were primarily used by Byzantine authors (and a few Arab sources), 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 (i.e. cream tones are found among Central Asian breeds such as the Akhal-Teke); a traditional water vessel, known as a quman; or a Turkic word for "force" or "power".Imre Baski, "On the ethnic names of the Cumans of Hungary", Kinship in the Altaic World: Proceedings of the 48th Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Moscow 10–15 July 2005 (eds Elena V. Boikova, Rosislav B. Rybakov) Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 48, 52.
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 ("Polovčinu menem Kunui", Vásáry considers this a corruption of Kunu, Russian dative of 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 (1281–1349) 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 (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian) the Cumans are known as the , 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 (половъ) "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.Dobrodomov I. G., 1978, 123
However, according to O. Suleymenov polovtsy may come from a Slavic word for "blue-eyed", i.e. the plȃv (пла̑в) means "blue", but this word also means "fair, blonde" and is a cognate of the above; cf. Eastern Slavic polovŭ.Rick Derksen, Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Brill: Leiden-Boston, 2008), 412. 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.Pletnyova, S. A. Kipchaks (1990). p. 35 An alternative etymology of is also possible: the Slavic root *pȍlje "field", which would therefore imply that 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" (> English "fallow"). 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 (presumably) the Kangli/Kankalis (possibly connected to three Pecheneg tribes known collectively as Kangars) 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.Julian Baldick, Animal and Shaman: Ancient Religions of Central Asia , p.55. Németh points to the Siberian qıpčaq "angry, quick-tempered" attested only in the Siberian Sağay dialect.Golden, Peter B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. p. 271 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".Golden, Peter, B. The Turkic world of Mahmud al-Kashgari , p. 522
Tribes Kievan Rus', Mamluk, Hungarian, and Chinese sources preserved the names of many Cuman-Kupchak tribal groupings:
Altun-oba Arslan-opa Ay-opa Badač Barat ~ Beret ~ Baraq, Baya(w)ut, Burčoğlı (R. Burchebichi; Hg. Borcsol), B.zângî ~ B.zânrî (< ? *Buranlı "stormy"), Jğrâq ~ Jğrât ~ Jqrâq < Čağraq? ~ Čoğraq? ~ Čağraq? ~ Čoğrat? (< čoğrat- "to boil"),Clauson. ED. p. 411; cited in Golden, Peter B. (1995–1997) Cumanica IV: The Cumano-Qıpčaq Clans and Tribes. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9. p. 111 Čenegrepa (< Mong. čengkir "light blue, bluish"), Čitey(oğlı) (R. Chitѣyebichi), Čirtan ~ (*Ozur) Čortan (Hg. Csertan), Dorut ~ Dörüt ~ Dört, Enčoğlı ~ İlančuglı (Hg. Iloncsuk), İt-oğlı, Qitan-opa, Knn ~ Kyt (either corrupted from Köten, R. Kotianъ, Hg. Kötöny; or from Turkic tribal name Keyit, meaning "to irritate, to annoy"), Küčeba ~ Küčoba (R. Kouchebichi < küč "strength"),Clauson. ED. p. 693; cited in Golden, Peter B. (1995–1997) Cumanica IV: The Cumano-Qıpčaq Clans and Tribes. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9. p. 114 Küčet (< küčet- "to urge to seize"),Clauson. ED. p. 695-696; cited in Golden, Peter B. (1995–1997) Cumanica IV: The Cumano-Qıpčaq Clans and Tribes. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9. p. 115 Kor ~ Qor (H. Kór), Qara Börklü, Qay-opa (R. Kaepiči),Golden, Peter B. (1990). "The peoples of the south Russian steppes". In Sinor, Denis (ed.). The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 280 of pp. 256–284 Qol-oba ~ Qul-oba (R. Kolobichi ~ Kulobichi, Ibn Xaldun: Qᵘlabaoğlı), Qmngû/Qumanlu, Qonğuroğlı (H. Kongur), Mekrüti ~ Bekrüti ~ Bekürte (< bekürt- "заставлять, укрепить, усилить")Radloff, V.V. (1893–1911). Opyt slovarja tjurkskix narečij; cited in Golden, Peter B. (1995–1997) Cumanica IV: The Cumano-Qıpčaq Clans and Tribes. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9. p. 116, Mingüzoğlı, Orunqu(t) (< Mong. oroŋğu "small, brown-colored gazelle"), Ölberli(ğ) ~ Ölperli(ğ) (Ar. al-b.rlū ~ al-b.rlī, R. Olperliu(i.e.)ve, Olbѣry, Olьbery, Ch. Yuliboli (玉里伯里), Lt. reges Uilperitorum, from Mg. ölöbür "ill, infirm" or Tk. *alp-erlü),Golden, Peter B. "The Polovci Dikii" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies Vol. 3/4, Part 1. pp. 296–309 Ören ~ Uran ~ Oyren ( < cognate ören "bad, wicked, evil" or Mong. oyren "artist, craftsman"Lessing p. 879; cited in Golden, Peter B. (1995–1997) Cumanica IV: The Cumano-Qıpčaq Clans and Tribes. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9. p. 118), Pečeneg, Shanmie gumali (苫滅古麻里), Tarğıl (R. Targolove < tarğıl- "of cattle or other animals, 'striped'."),Clauson. ED. p. 536; cited in Golden, Peter B. (1995–1997) Cumanica IV: The Cumano-Qıpčaq Clans and Tribes. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9. p. 119 Tarew (R. Tarьevskyi), Terter ~ Teriter-oba (R. Terьterobichi), Toqsoba (R. Toksobichi), Tğ Yšqût (*Tağ Bašqurt? or Tuğ Bašqurt), Ulašoğlı (R. Ulashebichi; Hg. Olás), Urus-oba (R. Ourusoba; from endonym *Aoruša of Turkicized Alans, compare Greek: ΑορσοιAkhmetova, Zhanculu et al. "Kipchak Ethnoyms in the 'Tale of Bygone Years'" in International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 06, 2020. p. 1195 or from Turkic root urus- "to fight," i.e. "soldier" Altheim, Franz. (1959) Geschichte der Hunnen (Berlin), I. Berlin. pp. 278-279; cited in Golden, Peter B. (2003) Nomads and Their Neighbours in the Russian Steppe: Turks, Khazars and Qipchaqs. Routledge. p. 42 (cf. Middle Turkic uruş "quarrel, fight, battle, war"Clauson, Gerard (1972). An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-13th Century Turkish. Oxford University Press. p. 239)), Yimek ~ Yemek (R. Polovtsi Yemiakove), Yete-oba (R. Yetebichi), Yuğur,Golden, Peter B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. p. 278–279 Moguty, Tatrany, Revugy, Shelьbiry, Topchaki, Elьborili, Bekoba, Quyçı (R. Куичия, Kuichiya, meaning "shepherd"), etc.
Seven Cuman tribes eventually settled in Hungary, namely:"On the Ethnic Names of the Cumans of Hungary". In: Kinship in the Altaic World. Proceedings of the 48th PIAC, Moscow 10–15 July 2005. Ed. by E. V. Boikova and R. B. Rybakov. Harrasowitz Verlagh, Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 43–54.