An Oguz by Any Other Name...

Mavi Boncuk |

Oguzes of the historical records.


It is possible to date the name “Oguz” to the earliest times. In the Chinese sources of the 2-nd c. BC is mentioned a tribe O-Kut (there was no name “Türk” at that time). It is a Chinese version of the tribal name, which in Türkic is called Ogur, because some Türkic tribes came to pronounce the sound ‘z’ as ‘r’. The areas Tarbagatai and Kobdo, where the Chinese sources placed the O-Kut settlements, are known as Türkic territory.


The name “Oguz” comes from a word “Ok” = arrow, “Ok” in Türkic also means “tribe”. In those times this word was translated to Chinese as “tribe” (for example: On-Oki = ten tribes). According to this, the word “Oguz” is formed by connection to “Ok” of an ending “z”, the plural ending in the Old Türkic language. The word “Oguz” was not an ethnic name, and meant directly “Türkic tribes”.


In the Türkic texts, the name “Oguz” is used for the first time in the first inscription found on the bank of the Barlyk river (Ulu-Kem = runs into Yenisei). It said “Six Oguz tribes”. The inscription referred to the six Oguz tribes that joined into one union confederation. These inscriptions were referring to Beys, indicating that in the preceding time, Oguzes lived in this valley and formed a union.


The Orkhon inscriptions do not make a distinction between Oguzes and Kok-Türks, moreover, Oguzes were a main component of the Kok-Türk Kaganate. The word 'Türk” is a political term. The Kok-Türks belonged to the same ethnic group of a Türkic origin as Oguzes, Oguzes and Kok-Türks are of the same kin. In that respect, the Oguzes and Kok-Türks are the same. The origin of the Türks of the 6-7 centuries, Kok-Türks, from this group of Oguzes is noted in the Chinese sources.


In the documents of the period of rule Tang (after 618, annual chronicles Tang-Sy and Kiu Tand Shu with four different translations), the Nine Tribes, called in the inscriptions “Nine Oguzes”, sometimes “Nine Türkic Tribes (Kok-Türks)” are mentioned as “Türks of Nine Tribes (Kok -Türks)”, and sometimes as ”Nine Toles Tribes”, Nine Toles Oguzes means the same, as Nine Kok-Türk Oguzes. The roots of Kok-Türks are The Oguz tribes.


In the Chinese sources of the period of the Kok-Türkic Kaganate the Oguzes are mentioned not independently (that is as ”Oguzes”) but as ”Nine Tribes” (Kui-Sin), and the translation of the word ”Oguz” is given as Tu-Kue (= Türk), which shows the absence of a necessity to call this group by another name. An absence in the monuments of the period of the First Kok-Türkic Kaganate of the uses of the name ”Oguz” testifies to it too.


No Oguz tribe carried a name “Türks”. The word “Türk” was a political name. The Kok-Türk state was created by the ancient ruling Türkic dynasty Ashina, with the help of the Türkic groups surrounding it, organized into a union of tribes (i.e. Oguzes).


The confusion that arose as a result of a mention in the Islamic sources of Uigurs as ”Nine Oguzes”, is eliminated after an exact definition of Uigur tribe and that of the Kok-Türk Nine Oguzes.