The Earliest States of Eastern Europe

State Academic University of the Humanities

Financing: state assignment of the Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education of the Russian Federation: topic FZNF-2020-0001 “Traditions and values of society: mechanisms of formation and transformation in the context of global history” (at the State Academic University for the Humanities).

For citation: Shchavelev, Aleksei S. Pecheneg Archon ‘Kourkut’: His Name and Image in the Treatise De administrando imperio by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus // Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy (The Earliest States of Eastern Europe). 2021: Eastern Europe and the World of Islam. In honor of Tatjana M. Kalinina. Editors of the volume B.E. Rashkovskiy, E.V. Litovskikh, E.A. Melnikova. Moscow: Dmitry Pozharsky University, 2021. S. 530–535.

DOI: 10.32608/1560-1382-2021-42-530-535

Abstract: The article suggests a recons truction of the nominative form of the name of the Pechenegs archon Κουρκοῦτας. According to the treatise De administrando imperio, a man named Kourkout was one of the most significant leaders (archons) of the Pecheneg people in the Black Sea region. His group of Pechenegs was a part of the privileged community of the Kangars. He led a province called Gyla, which was located in the west of the Pechenegs’ territory and adjacent to the land of the Magyars (Hungarians). It is possible that Kourkout bore the title Gyla (Turkic *yula), which means “judge” or “exegete”. It is likely that he was named in honor of the epic hero, who was the prototype of the legendary personage of the Oghuz literary epic texts and Turkic folklore “grandfather / father Qorqut”.

Keywords:

Pechenegs, Oghuzes, Uzes, Turks, Kourkout, De Administrando Imperio, onomastics

References

Аникеева Т.А. Предания Коркута. Огузский героический эпос как источник по истории тюркских народов Центральной Азии IX–XI вв. М., 2018. [Anikeyeva T.A. Predaniya Korkuta. Oguzskiy geroicheskiy epos kak istchonik po istorii tyurkskikh narodov Tsentral’noy Azii IX–XI vv. (Tales of Korkut. The Oghuz Heroic Epic as a Source on the History of Turks in Central Asia in the 9^th–10^th Centuries). Moscow, 2018.]

Жирмунский В.М. Тюркский героический эпос. Л., 1974. [Zhirmunskiy V.M. Tyurkskiy geroicheskiy epos (Turkic Heroic Epos). Leningrad, 1974.]

Коновалова И.Г. Печенежское досье Константина Багрянородного // ВЕДС. Вып. XXI. Автор и его источник: Восприятие, отношение, интерпретация. М., 2009. С. 139–146. [Konovalova I.G. Pechenezhskoye dos’ye Konstantina Bagryanorodnogo (Constantine Porphyrogenitus’s Pecheneg’s Dossier) // Vostochnaya Evropa v drevnosti i srednevekov’ye. Vol. XXI. Avtor i yego istochnik: Vospriyatiye, otnosheniye, interpretatsiya. Moscow, 2009. S. 139–146.]

Кононов А.Н. Способы и термины определения стран света у тюркских народов // Тюркологический сборник 1974 / Отв. ред. А.Н. Кононов. М., 1978. С. 72–89. [Kononov A.N. Sposoby i terminy opredeleniya stran sveta u tyurkskikh narodov (The Methods and Terms of the Detection of the Cardinal Points of Turkic Peoples) // Tyurkologicheskiy sbornik 1974 / Ed. by A.N. Kononov. Moscow, 1978. S. 72–89.]

Короглы Х. Шаман, полководец, озан (эволюция образа деде Коркута) // Советская тюркология. 1972, № 3. С. 48–62. [Korogly Kh. Shaman, polkovodets, ozan (evolyutsiya obraza dede Korkuta) (Shaman, Military Leader, Singer (The Evolution of the Image of Grandfather Korkut) // Sovetskaya tyurkologiya. 1972, № 3. S. 48–62.]

Тохтасьев С.Р. Язык трактата Константина VII Багрянородного ‘De adminstrando Imperio’ и его иноязычная лексика. СПб., 2018. [Tokhtas’yev S.R. Yazyk traktata Konstantina VII Bagyarnorodnogo ‘De adminstrando Imperio’ i yego inoyazychnaya leksika (The Language of the Treatise by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ‘De Administrando Imperio’ and Its Foreign Lexicon). St.-Petersburg, 2018.]

Щербак А.М. Печенежский язык // Языки мира. Тюркские языки. М., 1997. С. 107–110. [Shcherbak A.M. Pechenezhskiy yazyk (Pecheneg’s Language) // Yazyki mira. Tyurkskiye yazyki. Moscow, 1997. P. 107–110.]

Bernardini M. The ‘Kitab-i dede Qorqut’ as an Historical Source (Review Article) // Eurasian Studies. 2002. Vol. I (2). P. 289–296.

Clauson G. An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteen-Century Turkish. Oxford, 1972.

Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Administrando Imperio. Vol. I. Greek Text and English Translation / Ed. by R.G.H. Jenkins & Gy. Moravcsik. Washington D.C., 1967. 341 p.; Vol. II. Commentary / Ed. by R.G.H. Jenkins. Washington D.C., 1962. 221 p.

Constantine Porphyrogennnetos. The Book of Ceremonies (De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae) / Transl. & Annot. by A. Moffatt, M. Tall. Vol. I–II. Book 2. Canberra, 2012.

Liddell H.G., Scott R. A Greek-English Lexicon / With a Revised Supplement. Oxford, 1996.

Menges K. Etymogical Notes on Some Päčänäg Names // Byzantion. 1944–1945. Bd. XXIV (1). P. 256–262.

Moravcsik Gy. Byzantinoturcica. Bd. II. Sprachreste der Türkvölker in den Byzantinischen Quellen. В., 1983.

Rásonyi L., Baski I. Onomasticon Turcicum. Turkic Personal Names (Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 172 (1)). Bloomington (Indiana), 2007.

Shchavelev A. Treatise De Administrando Imperio by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus: Date of the Paris. gr. 2009 Copy, Years of Compiling of the Original Codex, and a Hypothesis about the Number of Authors // Studia Ceranea. Journal of the Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe. 2019. № 9. P. 681–704.

Zimony I. Muslim Sources on the Magyars in the Second Half of the 9^th Century. The Magyar Chapter of the Jayhānī Tradition. Leiden; Boston, 2016.