2025, vol. 13, no. 2. Akhiezer G.

2025, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 460-474

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2025-13-2.460-474

EDN: https://elibrary.ru/YBNQYY

    ETHNONYMS DESIGNATING TATARS IN JEWISH SOURCES
OF THE 13th–19th CENTURIES AND THEIR MEANINGS
IN THE CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Golda Akhiezer
Ariel University
Ariel, Israel
agolda@ariel.ac.il

Abstract. Research Objectives: The aim of this article is to analyze the ethnonyms used in Jewish texts in relation to Tartars and some other groups of the Muslim population. The article intends to present the differences in the use of these terms, as well as the factors behind their emergence and their evolution. These ethnonyms will be considered both in their linguistic and cultural-historical contexts, as these dimensions add frequently specific connotations to some of these terms.
Research Materials: This study is based on specific examples of the use of terms in Jewish sources, written in Hebrew, from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century. These include texts on Jewish religious law and Kabbalah, as well as travelogues and historical chronicles written in the Crimean Khanate between the 17th and 19th centuries. Chronographic texts reflect everyday contacts and relations between Jews and Tatars, and therefore contain rich material for the study of ethnonyms.
Results and Novelty of the Research: The ethnonyms used in Jewish texts in relation to the Tartars have never been studied, except regarding an explanation of the meaning of individual terms. The present research is not only about a selection of words and their etymology. The ethnonyms found in Jewish sources, related to Tartars and some other groups of the Crimean Muslim population, reveal a broader picture. They reflect some cultural and religious concepts and stereotypes towards the Tartars, as well as a view on the interethnic relations as perceived by the authors of these texts and their immediate environment.

Keywords: Ethnonyms, Jews, Tatars, Jewish written sources, the Crimean Khanate

For citation: Akhiezer G. Ethnonyms designating Tatars in Jewish sources of the 13th–19th centuries and their mea­nings in the cultural and historical context. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2025, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 460–474. https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2025-13-2.460-474 (In Russian)

Acknowledgments: The author expresses her sincere gratitude for the important comments to Prof. Peter Golden (Rutgers University), Dr. Iskander L. Izmailov (Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences), and Dr. Roman Hautala (University of Oulu, Finland).

REFERENCES

  1. Akhiezer G. The Conquest of the Crimea by the Russian Empire through the Eyes of Karaite Chroniclers. Moscow-Jerusalem: Gesharim, 2015 (In Russian)
  2. Veselov F.N. Apocalypse of the Thirteenth Century: the First Russian Encounter with the Mongols through the Prism of the Medieval Mind. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2022, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 256–283. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2022-10-2.256-283 (In Russian)
  3. Zaitsev I.V. Crimean Historiographical Tradition of the 15th – 19th Centuries: Ways of Development: Manuscripts, Texts and Sources. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, 2009. 304 p. (In Russian)
  4. Zelenina G. (ed.). Three Jewish travellers. Moscow: Mosty kultury 2004. 332 p. (In Russian)
  5. Izmailov I.L. The social structure of Ulus of Jochi and Turkic-Tatar khanates according to materials of “Jami al-tawarikh” by Kadyr Ali-bek. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2023, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 317–334.  DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2023-11-2.317-334 (In Russian)
  6. Kizilov M. “The Krymchaks: Survey of the History of the Community.” In: G. Akhiezer, R. Enoch and S. Weinstein (eds.), Studies in Caucasian, Georgian, and Bukharan Jewry: Historical, Sociological, and Cultural Aspects. Ariel University: The Institute for Research of Jewish Communities of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Ariel: Ariel University 2014, pp. 218–237 (In Russian)
  7. Matuzova V.I. (transl. and ed.). English medieval sources 9th–13th centuries. Moscow: Nauka 1979. 268 p. (In Russian)
  8. Smirnov V. Khan’s yarliq, Karaimskaya zhizn’. 1912, 10–11, pp. 57–58 (In Russian)
  9. FirkovichA. Collection of Ancient Documents and Laws of the Russian Empire Regarding the Legal Status of the Russian Karaite Citizens. St. Petersburg, 1890, pp. 62–66. 223 p. (In Russian)
  10. Hautala R., From ‘David, the King of Indies’ to ‘Detestable Plebs of Satan’: Anthology of Early Latin Information about the Tatar-Mongols. Iss. 2, Kazan: Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2015. 496 p. (In Russian)
  11. Shastina N.P. (ed.). Travels to the Eastern Lands of Plano Carpini and Rubruc. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo geograficheskoi literatury 1957. 272 p. (In Russian)
  12. Stampfer Sh. “A Reexamination of the Story of the Khazar Conversion.” In: G. Akhiezer, R. Enoch and S. Weinstein (eds.), Studies in Caucasian, Georgian, and Bukharan Jewry: Historical, Sociological, and Cultural Aspects. Ariel University: The Institute for Research of Jewish Communities of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Ariel: Ariel University 2014 (in Russian), pp. 173–211. 362 p.
  13. Abulafia A. Otzar ’Eden Ganuz, Amnon Gross (ed.), Jerusalem 2000, p. 184. 378 (In Hebrew)
  14. Aescoly A.Z. Even-Shmuel Y. (eds.), Idel M. (intr.). Jewish Messianic Move­ments, 2nd ed., Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1987, pp. 212–214. 439 p. (In Hebrew)
  15. Afendopolo C. Patshegen ktav ha-dat. Ramle 1977. 149 p. (In Hebrew)
  16. Akhiezer G. “Hebrew Manuscripts and Scribes in the Crimean Golden Horde (Solkhat),” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 2019, vol. 72, no. 3, pp.333–354.
  17. Akhiezer G. Historical Consciousness, Haskalah, and Nationalism among the Karaites of Eastern Europe. Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2018, pp. 165–179. 369 p.
  18. Akhiezer G. “The Events Which Occurred during the Reign of Şahin Giray Khan: The Historical Chronicle of the 18th Century by Rabbi Azariah ben Eliya the Karaite from the Crimea.” Qoveṣ ʿal-Yad.  2011, vol 20, Iss. 30, pp. 281–385. (In Hebrew)
  19. Amitai R. Mongol Raids into Palestine (AD 1260 and 1300). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1987, vol. 119, Iss, 2, pp. 236–255.
  20. Ben-Dor Z. The Ten Lost Tribes: A World history, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 9+302 p.
  21. Ben-Naeh Y., Shapira D., and Tutian A. Debar Śepatayim: An Ottoman Hebrew Chronicle from the Crimea (1683–1730). Written by Krymchak Rabbi David Lekhno. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2021. 262 p.
  22. Boyle J.A. The Mongol World Enterprise, 1206–1370. London: Variorum, 1977.
  23. Gökbilgin Ö. Tarih-i Sahib Giray Han. Ankara: Atatürk Universitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi, 1973.
  24. Golden P. “Qıpčaq”. In: Demir N., Karakoç B., Menz A. Turkology and Linguistics: Éva Á. Csató Festschrift. Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2014, pp.183–203.
  25. Fisher A. The Russian Annexation of the Crimea 1772–1783. Cambridge: University Press 1970. 16+180 p.
  26. Fisher A. The Crimean Tatars. Stanford 1978. 264 p.
  27. Idel M. “Mongol Invasions and Astrology: Two Sources of Apocalyptic Elements in 13th Century Kabbalah,” Hispania Judaica Bulletin. 2014, vol. 10, Iss. 1, pp. 145–168, esp. 147.
  28. Jackson P. Mongols and the West 1221–1410. London: Routledge, 2018. 426 p.
  29. Ohanna-Arom N. “Hebrew sources”, in Michal Biran and Hodong Kim (eds.). The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire. Vol. 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023, pp. 1261–1272.
  30. Polliack M. (ed.). Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources, Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2003. 981 p.
  31. Pow S. “Nationes que se Tartaros appellant”: An Exploration of the Historical Problem of the Usage of the Ethnonyms Tatar and Mongol in Medieval Sources. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2019, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 545–567. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2019-7-3.545-567
  32. Pritsak O. Das Karaimische. Philologiae Turcicae Fundamentae. Vol. 1 Edited by Jean Deny et al., Aquis Mattiacis apud Francisum Steiner, Wiesbaden, 1959, pp. 318–340.
  33. Rachewiltz Igor, The Secret History of the Mongols. In 2 volumes. Vol. 1, Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2006. 1346 p.
  34. Spuler B. Die goldene Horde: die Mongolen in Russland, 1223–1502. Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz 1943. 16+556 p.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Golda Akhiezer – Ph.D. (History), Associate Professor at the Department of Jewish History, Ariel University (Kiryat Hamada 3 Str., IL-40700 Ariel, Israel); ORCID: 0000-0002-9789-1043. E-mail agolda@ariel.ac.il

Received 13.08.2024
Revised  11.03.2025
Accepted  29.05.2025