A Wordlist Added to the Manuscript of Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā by Ata-Malik Juvayni

Abstract

Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā by Ata-Malik Juvayni was written in the thirteenth century. A critical edition of this book was published at the beginning of the twentieth century in Europe. The same book was published recently in Tehran. This text is in Persian, but contains many Turkic and Mongolian words. The study of these words has recently become a linguistic issue in Iran. A number of people have studied the Turkish words in this text in an idiosyncratic folk etymological manner. This article deals with a brief critical review of these studies. Also treated here are some linguistic aspects of the Turkish words in the text and there is a translation of an extract from the book about the old Uygurs and an old inscription on a rock. A new manuscript of Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā from the Iranian National Parliament Library is then introduced. It is different from previous manuscripts in having as a supplement a glossary of Turkish and Mongolian words in the manuscript. The words in this glossary are copied, transcribed and their definitions translated from Persian into Turkish.