Khazars

At 20:33 -0400 on 19.9.1998, Steg Belsky wrote:

[snip]

> This doesn't really have to do with Hungary, but since people've been
> talking about the history of that entire area, does anyone happen to know
> what language the Khazars spoke, what language family it's in, etc.?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Stephen (Steg)
The Khazars spoke a Turkic language, and their descendants, known as
Kara'ite Jews still do.  It is notable for having replaced the vowel
harmony of other Turkic languages with a cnsonant harmony, i.e. words that
originally had front rounded vowels now have back vowels, but all
consonants in these words are palatalized, while the words that originally
had back vowels have unpalatalized consonants.  (The Khazars found
themselves caught between a rock and a hard place when the Byzantine
Emperor demanded that they should acknowledge the One God and adopt
Christianity, and the Arab Caliph at the same time demanded that they
should acknowledge the One God and adopt Islam; they cut the knot by
acknowledging the One God and adopt Judaism! :)

/BP (acknowledging the Oneness of all by being a Buddhist! :)


B.Philip. Jonsson <bpj@...>

Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant (Tacitus)
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