Tamga

The word “tamga” is of Turkic origin and had several meanings: “brand”, “brand”, the main meaning - “seal”. During the period of the Golden Horde, this term became widespread in the countries of Central Asia , Eastern Europe , the Near and Middle East, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, where, besides the former, it acquired new meanings - “document with Khan's seal”, “(money) tax”. The word " customs " also comes from the word "tamga". The obvious popularity of this term in the Turkic languages, from which it was borrowed into other languages ​​(including Russian ), can be considered proof of the Turkic origin of tamgas as a fundamentally new sign system that differs, for example, from writing. Meanwhile, tamgas, due to the specifics of their main use (as signs of tribal or tribal affiliation), undoubtedly belong to the category of the most important historical sources. The scientific study of tamga and tamgoo-shaped marks has been going on for more than two centuries, and although the progress achieved is unmistakable, this topic and many problems associated with it are still far from being resolved.

In different languages ​​has the following names: Kirg. tamga , kaz. there , tour. tamga , uzb tamg'a , turk . temga , tat. tamga , bash there , Crimean Tat. tamğa mong tamga

According to the available ethnographic data, the prototype for the tamga was simple geometric figures (circle, square, triangle, corner, etc.), sacral pictograms, birds and animals, household objects, tools, weapons and horse harness , sometimes letters of different alphabets. Perhaps the prototypes of many signs were totemic animals or other symbols, dating back to the tribal relations. Therefore, the graphemes of many (especially simple) signs could be simultaneously or sequentially used in several geographically, culturally and chronologically unrelated societies at once. At the same time, the pictograms were subjected to a certain stylization, which was inevitable when a mark was applied to a selected surface with a heavy tool (chisel, knife, adze, etc.). The main requirements for the tamga-like sign are graphic expressiveness and laconism, as well as the presence of potential variation within the framework of the existing pictorial scheme. So, it was probably taken into account that the constant use of the sign by applying it on different surfaces (stone, leather, wood, etc.) will be the easier, the simpler the mark of the sign itself.

The Kazakh tamgas partially coincide with the Bashkir ones - this is due to the complex ethnogenesis of these kindred Kypchak peoples . Some ancient Turkic tribes could take part in the ethnogenesis of several peoples at once; so, the Tabynians joined the structure of both the Kazakhs and the Bashkirs. As a result, these peoples' tamgas could also be similar or partially coincide.

Medieval tamgas in Ingushetia.

The Ingush medieval tamgas (clan mark), (tamaga) are still relatively poorly understood. Sources collected in recent years (archaeological, ethnographic, written, folklore, and figurative) already allow us to draw some conclusions about them. Firstly, in the Middle Ages, tamgas only existed among local Ingush genera, who must have their own tower castle complex , a religious building (temple, sanctuary, sacred grove), burial crypt tomb and mountain peak. As a rule, they also had a significant number of well-armed and trained warriors, ready at any moment to stand up not only for their specific clan, but for the whole society. And each such Ingush clan had a common distinctive tamga, which was a kind of "calling card" of the nobility of society (as, for example, in the villages of Kharp, Erzi, Egikal , Hamkhi , Leimi , Targim , Barakh, Yevloy, Pyaling , Niy , etc.). among the largest Ingush branches, (in particular, Yevloy , Ozdoy, Hamkhoy), which gradually formed a number of new tower settlements, several tamgas are already appearing on a family basis (D. Chakhkiev). Secondly, tamgas were usually neatly knocked out with linear equipment on the facade walls of tower complexes. The elders or chiefs of the clans also had signet rings with the image of tamgas. ^[five]

Recently ritual bowls (made of silver and wood) with the image of tamgas, once belonged to the inhabitants of the villages of Targim and Yevloy, have become known. ^[6]

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  Tamga Geraev

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  Tamga Mengu-Timur , minted on the Golden Horde coins.

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  Wima tako

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  Kanishka I

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  Tamga Tamerlana

• Drachuk V.S. Signs of the Northern Black Sea Coast: Tamgo-shaped signs of the North Pontic periphery of the ancient world of the first centuries of our era . - Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1975. - 176, [48] p. - 10 000 copies (in the lane., supersubl.)
• Drachuk, V.S., Millennium Roads: What the letters told us. K., 1982.
• Olkhovsky V.S. Historical and Archaeological Almanac, No. 7, Armavir, 2001. - “Tamga (to the function of the mark)”
• Kudaev M. Ch. Karachay-Balkarian ethno-choreography and symbolism. - Nalchik: Elbrus, 2003.

• Abkhazian tamgas
• Rocks with petroglyphs-tamgas in the Belaya Valley
• Kazakh tamgas
• Tamgas and ethnic names (The contribution of tamga signs in the ethnogenesis of the Tatars).
• Kazakh tamgas - signs of the tribe, or Seals of time (inaccessible link)
• Karachay-Balkarian tamgas
• Osman Akchokrakly. Tatar tamgas in Crimea