Basmyls

Article summary

The Basmyls (Basmyl; Basmals, Basmils, , , Middle Chinese ZS: *bˠɛt̚-siɪt̚-miɪt̚/mˠiɪt̚/miᴇ; or as 弊剌 Bìlà, MC *bjiej H -lat) were a 7th- to 8th-century Turkic nomadic tribe who mostly inhabited the Dzungaria region in the northwest of modern-day China. Originally a forest people, the Basmyls eventually grew in importance and played a prominent role in the Turkic politics from the 6th century. Basmyl supreme leaders were the first to use the term Ydyk-kut, which replaced khagan; Qocho Uyghur rulers of Turpan likewise titled themselves Ydyk-kuts. The title contains two components: the first component Ïdïq/Ydyk means "[heaven]-sent, sacred"; the second component kut/qut in the title is often found in Old Turkic onomastics and titulature and has the lexical meaning "grace" or "blessing". In 720 CE, the dynastic Basmyl clan were reported to be concentrated at Beiting Protectorate, near Gucheng (Qitai), in the Bogda Shan range, and to be Ashina Turks (Ch. 突厥 pinyin Tu-jue). Mahmut Kashgari, an 11th-century historian, lists the Basmyls as one of ten prominent Turkic tribes and enumerates the locations of the Turkic polities from the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire to the borders of China in the following sequence: # Bäčänäk; # Qifčāk; # Oğuz; # Yemēk; # Bašğirt; # Basmyl; # Qāi; # Yabāqu; # Tatār; # Qirqiz.…

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