Word Origins | Kut

“Türk Tanrısı, Türk milletinin adı sanı yok olmasın diye babam kağan ile anamı tahta oturttu. Ben de Tanrı irade ettiği için, Kut’um olduğu için kağan oldum. Öte yandaki milletleri nizama soktuk. Tanrı güç verdiği için Türk askerleri kurt gibi, düşmanları koyun gibiydi.” Bilge Han

“Turkish God, enthroned my father and my mother so that the name of the Turkish nation would not be destroyed. I became a khan because God willed, because I have Kut. We put the nations on the of order. Because God gave strength, Turkish soldiers were like wolves and their enemies were like sheep.” Bilge Khan

Kut; Sacred energy, life force in Turkish, Mongolian and Altaic shamanism and folk belief. Also called Hut, Kud, Gut. The Mongols call it Kutag, Hutag. Kutan or the words Kıtan, Kotan, Koton in different dialects mean heron bird. In some Turkish languages, it means Pelican.  It is a blessed animal mentioned in the myths of Creation. Diving into endless waters, he removed the mud and thus the earth was formed. Its name is often associated with “Kögön” (wild duck) in legends. Mongolian as Hoton, Hungarian as Gödeny. Literally means the bearer of the kut.

Mavi Boncuk |

kut: OldTR   abundance, cornucopia, fortune, (God’s) grace, blessing. EN[1]

kutsal, kutlu: Mesut, mebrûr, merhum, mukbil, talihli.

1. Uğur, baht, tâlih: Yine Çin târihlerinde tesâdüf edilen en eski Türkçe sözlerden biri “kut”tur (İbrâhim Kafesoğlu – Ö.T.S.).

2. Mutluluk, saâdet: Bezedi şol ağaçları çiçekleri dahi otu / Havası hoş yeri yumşak firâvan ni’met anda çok / Müyesser eylemiş ol Hak bulara dirliği kutu (Kul Mes’ud).

3. from oldTR İlâhî feyiz, ilâhî tecellî, ilâhî lutuf: Kut, varlığa ve insana mâhiyetini kazandıran Tanrı tecellîsinin zuhûra çıkmasıdır; kut doğrudan doğruya Tanrı vergisidir, Tanrı’dandır (Sait Başer).

(ﻗﻮﺕ) i. fromARḳūt Yaşamak için gerekli yiyecek, rızık: Kim anın buyruğu-durur câna kūt (Süleyman Çelebi). Erip zât-ı ahaddan kūt u kuvvet / Habîbin hürmetine ver mahabbet (Aziz Mahmud Hüdâyî). Eğilip doğrularak fâsılasız / Topluyor kūt-ı maîşet yerden / Toprağın verdiği nîmetlerden (Tevfik Fikret).

 Kūt lâ-yemut: Çok az, ancak ölmeyecek kadar yiyecek: Ve ol vech ile kūt lâ-yemut taayyüşe râzı olmuşlar idi (Sâlim Tezkiresi). Ticâretin birçok kuyut ve şurut altında icrâsına müsâade olunması, müntesiplerinin dıyk-ı maîşet sâhibi ve pek âciz kimseler olmasını ve onların da ancak kūt lâ-yemut geçinebilmesini intaç ettirmiştir (Mec. Um. Bel.).

Oldest Source: [Orhun Yazıtları, 735] umay teg ögim ḳatun ḳutıŋa [Umay misali anam Hatun'un kutu sayesinde]; [Kaşgarî, Divan-i Lugati't-Türk, 1073] kut: ad-dawla wa'l-cadd [şans, talih] (...) ḳutaldı [bahtı açıldı] (...) ḳutlıġ [bahtlı, mübarek] (...) ḳutsız [bahtsız]; [Ahmed Vefik Paşa, Lehce-ı Osmani, 1876]

 [1] Psalm 84:12, “O LORD of hosts, blessed (happy) is the man that trusteth in thee.”

abundance (n.) Origin and meaning of abundance"copious quantity or supply," mid-14c., from Old French abondance and directly from Latin abundantia "fullness, plenty," abstract noun from abundant-, past participle stem of abundans "overflowing, full," present participle of abundare "to overflow"

cornucopia (n.) "horn of plenty," ancient emblem of fruitfulness and abundance, 1590s, from Late Latin cornucopia, in classical Latin cornu copiae "horn of plenty," originally the horn of the goat Amalthea, who nurtured the infant Zeus. See horn (n.) and copious.

grace (n.) late 12c., "God's unmerited favor, love, or help," from Old French grace "pardon, divine grace, mercy; favor, thanks; elegance, virtue" (12c., Modern French grâce), from Latin gratia "favor, esteem, regard; pleasing quality, good will, gratitude" (source of Italian grazia, Spanish gracia; in Church use translating Greek kharisma), from gratus "pleasing, agreeable" (from PIE *gwreto-, suffixed form of root *gwere- (2) "to favor").

Sense of "virtue" is early 14c., that of "beauty of form or movement, pleasing quality" is mid-14c. In classical sense, "one of the three sister goddesses (Latin Gratiæ, Greek Kharites), bestowers of beauty and charm," it is first recorded in English 1579 in Spenser. In music, "an embellishment not essential to the melody or harmony," 1650s. As the name of the short prayer that is said before or after a meal (early 13c.; until 16c. usually graces) it has a sense of "gratitude." As a title of honor, c. 1500.

fortune (n.) c. 1300, "chance, luck as a force in human affairs," from Old French fortune "lot, good fortune, misfortune" (12c.), from Latin fortuna "chance, fate, good luck," from fors (genitive fortis) "chance, luck," possibly ultimately from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry," also "to bear children," which is supported by de Vaan even though "The semantic shift from 'load' or 'the carrying' to 'chance, luck' is not obvious ...." The sense might be "that which is brought."

Sense of "owned wealth" is first found in Spenser; probably it evolved from senses of "one's condition or standing in life," hence "position as determined by wealth," then "wealth, large estate" itself. Often personified as a goddess; her wheel betokens vicissitude.

blessing (n.) Old English bletsunga, bledsunge, verbal noun from bless. Meaning "a gift from God, temporal or spiritual benefit" is from mid-14c. In sense of "religious invocation before a meal" it is recorded from 1738. Phrase blessing in disguise is recorded from 1746.

bless (v.) Old English bletsian, bledsian, Northumbrian bloedsian "to consecrate by a religious rite, make holy, give thanks," from Proto-Germanic *blodison "hallow with blood, mark with blood," from *blotham "blood" (see blood (n.)). Originally a blood sprinkling on pagan altars.

This word was chosen in Old English bibles to translate Latin benedicere and Greek eulogein, both of which have a ground sense of "to speak well of, to praise," but were used in Scripture to translate Hebrew brk "to bend (the knee), worship, praise, invoke blessings." L.R. Palmer ("The Latin Language") writes, "There is nothing surprising in the semantic development of a word denoting originally a special ritual act into the more generalized meanings to 'sacrifice,' 'worship,' 'bless,' " and he compares Latin immolare (see immolate).

The meaning shifted in late Old English toward "pronounce or make happy, prosperous, or fortunate" by resemblance to unrelated bliss. Meaning "invoke or pronounce God's blessing upon" is from early 14c. No cognates in other languages.

Tengri and Kut 

Spelling of tengri in the Orkhon script (written from right to left).

Mavi Boncuk |

Tengri or Tengger (Old Turkic:  ; Mongolian: Тэнгэр, Tenger; Chinese: 腾格里, Mandarin:  Ténggélǐ, Hungarian: Tengri,  Turkish: Tanrı, Bulgarian: Tangra (Тангра) is a sky god, formerly the chief deity of the early Turkic peoples, including the Xiongnu, Huns, Bulgars,  Magyars and Xianbei.

Because of his importance to their religion, it is sometimes  referred to as Tengriism. The core deities of Tengriism were the Sky Father and  Earth Mother (Yer Tanrı). Its practice involved elements of shamanism, animism,  totemism and ancestor worship.

Tengri  was the main god of the Turkic pantheon,  controlling the celestial sphere. The Turkic sky god Tengri is strikingly  similar to the Indo-European sky god, *Dyeus, and the structure of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion is closer to that of the early Turks  than to the religion of any people of Near Eastern or Mediterranean antiquity.

In Turkic mythology,Tengri is a pure, white goose that flies constantly over an endless expanse of water, which  represents time. Beneath this water, Ak Ana ("White Mother") calls  out to him saying "Create". To overcome his loneliness, Tengri  creates Er Kishi, who is not as pure or as white as Tengri and together they set up the world. Er Kishi becomes a demonic character and strives to mislead people and draw them into its darkness. Tengri assumes the name Tengri Ülgen and withdraws into Heaven from which he tries to provide people with guidance through sacred animals that he sends among them. The Ak Tengris occupy the fifth level of Heaven. Shaman priests who want to reach Tengri Ülgen never get further than this level, where they convey their wishes to the divine guides. Returns to earth or to the human level take place in a goose-shaped vessel.

According to Mahmud Kashgari, Tengri was known to make plants grow and the lightning flash. Turks used the adjective tengri which means "heavenly, divine", to label everything that seemed grandiose, such as a tree or a mountain, and they stooped to such entities.

A pyramidal peak  of the Tian Shan range between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, is called "Khan Tengri." The Tian Shan itself is known in Uyghur as the Tanri Tagi. ‘Wolf Totem’ a best-selling Chinese novel by Lu Jiamin describing worship of Tengger among the people of Inner Mongolia. The Chinese word for "sky" 天  (Mandarin: tiān) may also be related, possibly a loan from a prehistoric  Central Asian language. The connection was noted by Max Müller in Lectures on the Science of Religion (1870). Axel Schüssler (2007:495): "Because the  deity Tiān came into prominence with the Zhou dynasty (a western state), a  Central Asian origin has been suggested, note Mongolian tengri 'sky, heaven,  heavenly deity'" (Shaughnessy Sino-Platonic Papers, July 1989, and others,  like Shirakawa Shizuka before him)."