Арғын | |
---|---|
Regions with significant populations | |
Akmola, Karaganda, Kostanay, North Kazakhstan, and Pavlodar Regions | |
Languages | |
Kazakh | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Middle jüz |
The Argyn ( Kazakh: Арғын) tribe (or clan) is a constituent of the Kazakh ethnicity. The Argyn are a component of the Orta jüz (Орта жүз; " Middle Horde" or "Middle Hundred"). Kazakhs historically consisted of three tribal federations: the Great jüz (or Senior jüz), Middle jüz, and Little jüz (or Junior jüz). Karakhanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari glossed Arghu as "ravine between two mountains", because the Arghu country was located between Tiraz and Balasagun. [3]
Argyns are of mixed origin. A historical bilingual, yet steadily Turkicizing, people, Basmyls, [4] [5] likely contributed to the ethnogenesis of Argyns because both Basmyls and Argyns occupied roughly the same geographic location, [6] in Beiting Protectorate, where Basmyls made their first recorded appearance [7] [8] and which is now in western China, and still home to a Kazakh minority. Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote that Basmyls spoke their own language besides Turkic. [5]
They are handsomer men than the other natives of the country, and having more ability, they come to have authority; and they are also capital merchants." [9] Kashgari mentioned an urban Argu people who spoke Middle Turkic with "a certain slurring (rikka)", like people of Sogdak and Kenchek; [10] Golden proposes that the Arghu were Iranian speakers undergoing Turkicization. [11]
A 2013 study on Argyns' genetics identifies twenty Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups: of these, G1a-P20 constitutes 71% of 2186 samples; R1a*-M198(xM458) 6%, C3c-M48 5%, C3* - M217(xM48) 3%; and other haplogroups represent less than three percent. The authors noted that "Tribe Argyn took on graph an isolated position, demonstrating the absence of genetic links with other Kazakh tribes." [12]
The name of the Argyns probably corresponds to that of the "Argons" mentioned by Marco Polo in a country called "Tenduc" (around modern-day Hohhot) during the 13th century. [9] Polo reported that this clan who had "sprung from two different races: to wit, of the race of the Idolaters of Tenduc and ... the worshippers of Mahommet.