A comparative onomastic analysis of Kudara (百濟) and the “Kök” Türk Empire (commonly referred to as Tujue 突厥 in Chinese sources): A preliminary survey of lexical parallels in Eastern Eurasian imperial nomenclature

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 302 - 312, 18.08.2025

Mehmet Oguz Derin

https://doi.org/10.35236/jots.1762206

Abstract

This preliminary survey presents the first systematic comparative onomastic analysis of the ethnonyms Kudara (百濟, Baekje) and the “Kök” Türk Empire (commonly referred to as Tujue 突厥 in Chinese sources), two briefly contemporaneous Eastern Eurasian polities whose nomenclature remains semantically opaque despite extensive philological attention. While both empires overlapped in lasting Han and Xiongnu cultural-linguistic influence spheres, preceding both empires, no previous scholarship has examined potential structural or semantic parallels between their names. Employing a comparative philological methodology, this study analyzes sources alongside modern etymological proposals, with a particular focus on the initial morphemes. Preliminary findings suggest that both ethnonyms may share a component with a common semantic domain, implying the “greatness” concept. These parallels, while tentative given current evidential limitations, indicate that comparative onomastic approaches for Kudara and “Kök” Türk may illuminate broader patterns of political nomenclature in Eastern Eurasian state formation to address persistent lacunae in linguistics and anthropology.

Keywords

onomastics , comparative linguistics , Kudara (百濟 , Baekje) , “Kök” Türk , Tujue 突厥

Kudara (百濟) ile “Kök” Türk Kağanlığı’nın (Çin Kaynaklarında Yaygın Olarak Tujue 突厥 Şeklinde Anılan) Karşılaştırmalı Adbilimsel Analizi: Doğu Avrasya İmparatorluk Adlandırmalarında Sözcüksel Paralelliklere Dair Ön İnceleme

Abstract

This preliminary survey presents the first systematic comparative onomastic analysis of the ethnonyms Kudara (百濟, Baekje) and the “Kök” Türk Empire (commonly referred to as Tujue 突厥 in Chinese sources), two briefly contemporaneous Eastern Eurasian polities whose nomenclature remains semantically opaque despite extensive philological attention. While both empires overlapped in lasting Han and Xiongnu cultural-linguistic influence spheres, preceding both empires, no previous scholarship has examined potential structural or semantic parallels between their names. Employing a comparative philological methodology, this study analyzes sources alongside modern etymological proposals, with a particular focus on the initial morphemes. Preliminary findings suggest that both ethnonyms may share a component with a common semantic domain, implying the “greatness” concept. These parallels, while tentative given current evidential limitations, indicate that comparative onomastic approaches for Kudara and “Kök” Türk may illuminate broader patterns of political nomenclature in Eastern Eurasian state formation to address persistent lacunae in linguistics and anthropology.

Keywords

onomastics , comparative linguistics , Kudara (百濟 , Baekje) , “Kök” Türk , Tujue 突厥

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