L’affaire d’un chargé? Ghuzz <kwḏrkyn> ‘deputy (of any ruler or chieftain)’ ≠ Qarluq/Uyγur Kül Erkin ‘epithet of a supreme ruler’

Abstract

The author strongly criticises the medieval explanation of Mahmud Kashgari’s interpretation of the Qarluq royal title Kül Erkin as ‘intelligence collected like a full pond’, calling it utter nonsense. He also argues against the claim that this Qarluq title is the same as the Ghuzz title recorded by Ibn Faḍlān. The equation of the two titles lacks evidence and reason, since was not a royal title but a title for a subject. He suggests that the title may have been derived from küḏär ‘to wait for, to look after, to take care of’ (&lt; kǖd- ‘to wait for, to look after, to take care of’) combined with äg-gin or äg-in meaning’ who has bent, bowed’ or ‘one who bends’, possibly referring to a servant who looked after state affairs or carried the weight of state affairs. They discuss parallels from other cultures, including the Khazars, where titles reflected the holder’s role in society. The Khazars appear to have developed a triarchy before the collapse of their empire, with a separate office for the ‘king’ in Jewish sources, reflecting a deliberate attempt to parallel the history of Israel’s judges.