Compendium of The Turkic Dialects, Part 1

by Kâşgarlı Mahmud (Mahmud al-Kashgari )

The Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (Arabic: ديوان لغات الترك, lit. 'Compendium of the languages of the Turks') is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled in 1072–74 by the Turkic scholar Mahmud Kashgari who extensively studied the Turkic languages of his time.

Mahmud al-Kashgari's comprehensive dictionary, later edited by the Turkish historian, Ali Amiri, contains specimens of old Turkic poetry in the typical form of quatrains of Persian literature (Azerbaijani: dördəm, Persian رباعیات ruba'i; Turkish: dörtlük), representing all the principal genres: epic, pastoral, didactic, lyric, and elegiac.

416 pages, Unknown Binding

First published February 10, 1074

About the author

Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari[a] was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar.

Al-Kashgari studied the Turkic languages of his time, and in Baghdad,[2] he compiled the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (English: "Compendium of the languages of the Turks") in 1072–74.

It was intended for use by the Abbasid Caliphate, the new Arab allies of the Turks. Mahmud Kashgari's comprehensive dictionary, later edited by the Turkish historian, Ali Amiri,[7] contains specimens of old Turkic poetry in the typical form of quatrains (Persio-Arabic رباعیات, rubā'iyāt; Turkish: dörtlük), representing all the principal genres: epic, pastoral, didactic, lyric and elegiac. His book also included the first known map of the areas inhabited by Turkic peoples. This map is housed at the National Library in Istanbul.