Kashgari on the Beliefs and Superstitions of the Turks

78
Journal of the American Oriental Society 95.1 (1975)
In the entry timiir, "iron," Kasgari reports the
following (182,6): "The Qirqiz, Yabaqu, Qifcaq,
and others, when they make a person swear an
oath or become party to a covenant with him
(ida hallaffi insanan aw axadu 'anhu mitaqan),57
place an unsheathed sword crosswise before him
and say the following: bu k6k kirsiin qizil ciqsizn,
which means, 'May this iron go in blue and come
out red'-that is to say, 'bloody'-if you break
this treaty. This means that he will be killed by
iron, so that the iron be avenged upon him; for
they regard iron as possessing great power (yu'azzimfna
1-h.adid)."58
Qumldq (239,8)-which is hops (ED, 628)-is
defined as follows: "a plant similar to bindweed
(lablab) which grows in the Qiffaq regions, and
is used in preparing a drink mixed with honey.
When this plant is brought on board ship, the
sea becomes agitated (yamuiju), and the passengers
nearly drown." There is perhaps here a fanciful
connection with qom, "wave"; or else a reflection
of the effect of beer.
Two love potions are mentioned, one a plant,
the other the bones of a bird. Sigun oti (206,10),
literally "stag plant," is mandrake (P. istarang);
the definition is: "a certain plant whose root is
shaped like a man and which is used as a remedy
53, Delhi, n. d.), p. 82-83. "They claim," says Birfini,
"that it protects from the evil eye and from lightning
and thunderbolts. As for evil eye, this is an old wives'
tale (hadit 'ammi). As for lightning, I saw someone
try to prove it by passing a thin cloth over the surface
of some jade and then placing a live coal on top of it,
and it did not burn; but this is not a property special to
jade-steel mirrors will do the same thing. As for thunderbolts,
they are not at all resisted by it, in fact they
melt it...."
57 "Oath" (al-halif) is and (33,11). Cf. Inan, op. cit.
317-330; E. Esin, "'And': The Cup Rites in Inner-Asian
and Turkish Art," Forschungen zur Kunst Asiens (In
Memoriam Kurt Erdmann, Istanbul, 1969). "Covenant"
(al-mitaq, al-'ahd) is bifig (186, 14) bic!ds (231,1).
58 Cf. Snesarev, op. cit., Part II (vol. 9, Spring, 1971),
p. 345; H. Serruys, "A note on arrows and oaths among
the Mongols," JAOS 78 (1958), 279-294. When a Mamluk
sultan had his emirs swear on the Qur'an that they
would not betray him, "they were made to pass under
two crossed swords, after the custom of the Turks, who
regard this as a most sacred oath" (Ibn lyis, An Account
of the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt, tr. W. H. Salmon,
London, 1921, p. 36).
for impotence .... It is found as male and female:
the male is for men, the female for women." The
kdkiik (409,13), or hawk-eagle (zummaj), is "a bird
whose bones are used for incantations, lovecharms,
or spells (fi n-nayrinjiyat wa-l-juyyat waruqyatiha)."
Another animal part with magical properties is
xutu (541,3),59 which is walrus horn or narwhal
ivory. It is defined thus: "the horn of a sea fish,
imported from Sin; it is also said to be the root
of a tree. Knife handles are made from it. It is
used to test for poison in food by shaking it up
with broth, or the like, in a bowl; the food boils
up without a fire (if it is poisoned); or else this
horn is placed on top of a bowl and it runs with
water, but without steam (if poison is present)."
Information about several animals in the Diwin
is drawn from bestiary lore, not from experience.
Of toya the tiger (605,6), for example, we read:
"it is the one that kills the elephant." The bird
kiizkiink (263,17) "resembles the saker falcon and
the warren lizard ('azayah), and lives on wind."
Similarly the wolf, bori (317,6), "fasts one week
in each month and during this period lives on
wind"-this explains the gnashing of wolves'
teeth. Another bird, kok topulgdn (259,4), or
mountain swallow (samam), "is said to have steel
in its feathers and to bore through mountain peaks
to the other side. I was told this," KaSgar
remarks, "by someone to whom I am beholden
for some favors." A third semi-fabulous bird is
the togril (242,11): "a bird of prey; it kills a thousand
geese and eats one."60
Ka?gari probably never saw a crocodile (timsaih)
or a dragon (tubain), but several animal names
are defined with these words in his dictionary.
Of the two words defined "crocodile"-alavan
(82,4) and nag (513,3)-the second at least is
known to be of foreign origin (Skr. naga; ED,
776). The Turks used nag only in the calendar;
59 Read thus; see Robert Dankoff, "A note on khutu
and chatuq," JAOS 93.4 (1973), pp. 542-4.
60 Cf. A. Cafero,lu, [Abfi Hayyan] Kitdb al-Idrdk li-lisdn
al-Atrdk (Istanbul, 1931), p. 64 (Arabic text): fogrul, "a
well-known bird; when it is dispatched against cranes it
tears apart one after another, finally killing them all,
but then eats only the first." According to RaSid ad-
Din the tofrul is a fabulous bird, like the 'anqa'of the
Maghrib; its beak and claws ale hard as steel, and with
one thrust it kills two to three hundred birds (cited in
Doerfer, op. cit., Vol II, heading no. 1345).
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