Cuman language

Cuman (also Kuman, ISO 639-3: <tt>qwm</tt>) was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Kipchaks, also known in the Greek annals as Cumans, in the west as Kumans, undiscriminative Polovetses in the Slavic and Rus annals, and Kuns in the Hungarian annals, the language was similar to the today's Crimean Tatar language. The Kipchak language is documented in medieval works, including the Codex Cumanicus, and it was a literary language in the Central and Eastern Europe that left a rich literary inheritance.

The Cuman Kipchaks were nomadic people that lived in the steppes of Eastern Europe, north of Black Sea before the Golden Horde. Many Cumans were incorporated into other Turkic peoples including the Crimean Tatars, Karachays, and Kumyks.

They later had an important role in the history of Hungary, Rumania (see, for example, the Besarab dynasty), Moldavia and Bessarabia.

The Cuman language became extinct in early 17th century in the region of Cumania in Hungary, which was its last stronghold. Today, Gagauz people of modern Moldavia speak a close variation of Cuman Turkish. Turks of Turkey can also read and understand old Cuman texts. From Codex Cumanicus book,

Cuman Turkish

Atamız kim köktesiñ. Alğışlı bolsun seniñ atıñ, kelsin seniñ xanlığıñ, bolsun seniñ tilemekiñ – neçikkim kökte, alay yerde. Kündeki ötmegimizni bizge bugün bergil. Dağı yazuqlarımıznı bizge boşatqıl –...
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