The Kyrgyz people are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia. They primarily reside in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A Kyrgyz diaspora is also found in Russia, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. They speak the Kyrgyz language, which is the official language of Kyrgyzstan. The earliest people known as "Kyrgyz" were the descendants of several Central Asian tribes, first emerging in western Mongolia around 201 BC. Modern Kyrgyz people are descended in part from the Yenisei Kyrgyz that lived in the Yenisey river valley in Siberia. The Kyrgyz people later established Kyrgyz khanate in the 15th century.
Etymology There are several theories on the origin of ethnonym Kyrgyz. It is often said to be derived from the Turkic word kyrk ("forty"), with -iz being an old plural suffix, so Kyrgyz literally means "a collection of forty tribes". It also means "imperishable", "inextinguishable", "immortal", "unconquerable" or "unbeatable", as well as its association with the epic hero Manas, who – according to a founding myth – unified the 40 tribes against the Khitans. A rival myth, recorded in 1370 in the History of Yuan, concerns 40 women born on a steppe motherland.
The earliest records of the ethnonym appear to have been the Chinese transcriptions Gekun (鬲昆, LH *kek-kuən < Old Chinese: *krêk-kûn) and Jiankun (堅昆, LH *ken-kuən < OC: *kên-kûn). Those suggest that the original ethnonym was *kirkur ~ kirgur and/or *kirkün, and another transcription Jiegu (結骨, EMC: *kέt-kwət) suggests *kirkut / kirgut. Yury Zuev proposed that the ethnonym possibly means 'field people, field Huns' (cf. Tiele tribal name 渾 Hún < MC *ɣuən). Peter Golden reconstructs *Qïrğïz < *Qïrqïz< *Qïrqïŕ and suggests a derivation from Old Turkic qır 'gray' (horse color) plus suffix -q(X)r/ğ(X)r ~ k(X)z/g(X)z. Besides, Chinese scholars later used a number of different transcriptions for the Kyrgyz people: these include Gegu (紇骨), Jiegu (結骨), Hegu (紇骨), Hegusi (紇扢斯), Hejiasi (紇戛斯), Hugu (護骨), Qigu (契骨), or Juwu (居勿), and then, during the reign of Tang Emperor Wuzong, Xiajiasi (黠戛斯), said to mean "red face". Edwin G. Pulleyblank surmises that "red face" was possibly a folk etymology provided by an interpreter who explained the ethnonym based on Turkic qïzïl ~ qizqil, meaning 'red'. By the time of the Mongol Empire, the ethnonym's original meaning had apparently been forgotten – as was shown by variations in readings of it across different reductions of the History of Yuan. This may have led to the adoption of Kyrgyz and its mythical explanation. During the 18th and 19th centuries, European writers used the early Romanized form Kirghiz – from the contemporary Russian киргизы – to refer not only to the modern Kyrgyz, but also to their more numerous northern relatives, the Kazakhs. When distinction had to be made, more specific terms were used: the Kyrgyz proper were known as the Kara-Kirghiz ("Black Kirghiz", from the colour of their tents), and the Kazakhs were named the Kirghiz-Kaisak or "Kirghiz-Kazak".
Origins
The Kyrgyz are a Turkic ethnic group. It has been suggested Turkic peoples either descended from pastoralist or farming populations in Altaic (re-labelled as Transeurasian) hypothesis, and the Altaic hypothesis has been widely rejected. Turkic urheimat has been suggested to be placed somewhere between Transcaspian Steppe and Manchuria; Amur or Northeast China also are amongst the suggestions along with South Siberia. By the early 1st millennium BC, these peoples had become equestrian nomads. In subsequent centuries, the steppe populations of Central Asia appear to have been progressively Turkified by an East Asian dominant minority moving out of Mongolia. The oldest notes about a definite mention of the Kyrgyz ethnonym originate from the 6th century. The Kyrgyz as an ethnic group are mentioned quite unambiguously during the time of Genghis Khan's rule (1162–1227), when their name replaces the former name Khakas.
18th-century Qing administrators referred to the Kyrgyz by the name Bulute.
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