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Primary sources in Turkish on Medieval Turks

1. Pre-1300 Medieval Turkish Books


Yusuf Khass Hajib, {c. 1070} Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A
Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes, (1983) (wiki)
[An Islamic “Mirror for Princes” guide for kingship.]
Book of Dede Korkut {c. 15C} (Korkut Ata; Oghuz-nameh) (wiki)
[The earliest surviving Turkish epic, reflecting the nomadic martial
ethos.]
Lewis, G. (tr.), The Book of Dede Korkut, (1974)
Amazon
Sumer, F.. A. Uysal and W. Walker (trs.), The Book of Dede Korkut: A
Turkish Epic (1972)
Amazon
Kashghari, Mahmud {c. 1070}: R. Dankoff and J. Kelly, (trs.) Compendium
of the Turkic Dialects (Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk), 3 vols. (1982).
Online: vol. 1; vol. 2; vol. 3
[English translation of Arabic dictionary of medieval Turkish
language and dialects, containing extensive information on medieval
Turkish society.]

2- Anthologies of non-Turkic Sources about the Medieval Turks


Arabic Sources (Anthology)
•Frenkel, Y. (Tr.), The Turkic Peoples in Medieval Arabic Writings
(2014)
[English translation of medieval Arabic texts mentioning Turks.]
Byzantine Sources (Anthology)
Moravcsik, Gyula, Byzantinoturcica, 2nd ed. 2 vols. (Berlin 1958)
[German translation of medieval Greek and Slavic sources mentioning
Turks.]
Chinese Sources (Anthology)
Chavannes, E. Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) Occidentaux. (1903)
Online [French translation of Chinese documents on medieval Turks]
Ibn Fadlan
Lunde, P. (tr.), Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travelers in
the Far North (2012) (Amazon)
[English translation of Arab geographers on Turks, Russia and
Scandinavia]
Frye, R. (tr.), Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler
from Baghad to the Volga River, (2009) (Amazon)

3- Old Turkic (Göktürk) Runic Inscriptions (Orkhon Inscriptions)


[Pre-Islamic Turkish runic inscriptions from Inner Asia: wiki]
Orkhon Inscriptions (wiki)
Online edition and translation (online)
Denison, R. The Orkhon Inscriptions: Being a Translation of
Professor F. Thomsen’s Final Danish Rendering. (1930) online
Erdal, M. A Grammar of Old Turkic, (2004) (online)

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Reichl, K. “Medieval Turkish Epic and Popular Narrative” in K. Reichl,
(ed.), Medieval Oral Literature (2012), 681-700.

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