On the Earliest Mention of the Ethnonym ‘Oghuz’ in Western Turkestan

Abstract

The appearance and earliest use of the ethnonym Oghuz occurs in the Kök Türk realm; a group of tribes with that name was influential during the interregnum (630-682) and second periods of the Türk Empire (682-744). Later associated with the Uyghurs, they were merely neighbours of the Türk tribe in the Selenga basin. A great union of the Oghuz then appeared in Western Turkestan in the 9th century. Their ties with the synonymous eastern tribes are not clear, and no certain account of an east-west migration exists. On the other hand, sources describing the ethnic situation of Western Turkestan during the 8th and 9th centuries are very scanty. Early Islamic records speak of a great formation of the Oghuz to the east of Sir Darya and Aral. Given the lack of necessary data, their ethnogenesis is open to many speculations. It is customary to suppose that the Türgesh union, derived from the On Ok union of the Western Türk Kaghanate turned to be the core of the Oghuz. However, when and why the name Oghuz replaced Türgesh and when and why the latter disappeared needs explanation. Based on two unusual attestations of the name in the Türk inscriptions, this paper suggests that the name Oghuz was crucial among the western tribes of the Türks synchronically with, or even before, the name Türgesh.