Two Turkic sources speak of play for a stake. Mahmud al-Kashgari’s dictionary of the 1070s has a group of words for wagering.[1] The Irk Bitig is a book of omens of probably the ninth century. One of its omens concerns a man who puts his sons and women up as a stake.[2] Scholars dispute how this omen is to be read.[3]

In the dictionary

Öčäš is a wager. The example is “he made a wager with me over something”.[4] Ut- means to defeat someone “in the game, or other”. A verse uses it for winter and summer, each wishing to defeat the other.[5] Its passive utsuq- has the example “some dirhams were wagered”, that is, lost in the game.[6]

Kashgari also states a rule of the language.[7] A verb ending in -läš- names whatever is put up as the stake in gambling.[7] His first example is “the emir played with him with a house as the stake”.[7] His second is “he had a polo contest with him with trousers as the stake”.[7]

The stakes in these entries are a house, a pair of trousers and dirhams.[8] The dictionary does not say which games were played for a house. It does not say who played them or how a winner was decided.[7]

Omen 29 of the Irk Bitig

The omen has the form of all the others: a short scene and a verdict.[2] In the translation of the edition, a man whose work is to hollow out slaughtered animals stakes his sons and womenfolk. He goes to hollow out the internal organs and intestines. Instead of losing his household, he wins ninety loose sheep.[2] His household rejoices, and the verdict is good.[2] The glossary of the edition gives tutug as “stake”. It glosses ut- and utuz-, which stand in the omen, as to win and to lose at gambling or betting.[9]

Scholars dispute how to read the first words.[10] Oyma är may be a gambler, from the verb that gives oyun, game.[11] The same words may mean a man who makes holes, from oy-, to hollow out. This suggests games played by putting pebbles or counters into holes.[12] The edition understands him instead as a man skilled in hollowing out the entrails of slaughtered animals. This man took part in a contest in which the contestants hollowed them out as fast as they could.[13] On this interpretation, the omen is not about gambling.[14]

Even on the third interpretation, the omen still has a stake, a win and a loss.[15] The dispute concerns the game, not the wager. The dictionary’s entries on knucklebones and on the game of “Fourteen” mention no stake.[16]

The sources therefore leave a vocabulary of wagering in an eleventh-century dictionary and an omen of probably the ninth century. Both have a stake, and the game in the omen is uncertain.

References

  1. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 104, 179, 215, 216
  2. ^ a b c d Irk Bitig; Tekin 1993, p. 17
  3. ^ Irk Bitig; Tekin 1993, p. 17, 36–38
  4. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 104
  5. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 179
  6. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 216
  7. ^ a b c d e Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 215
  8. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 215, 216
  9. ^ Irk Bitig; Tekin 1993, p. 65–66
  10. ^ Irk Bitig; Tekin 1993, p. 36–38
  11. ^ Tekin 1993, p. 36
  12. ^ Tekin 1993, p. 36–37
  13. ^ Tekin 1993, p. 37–38
  14. ^ Tekin 1993, p. 38
  15. ^ Tekin 1993, p. 17, 65–66
  16. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 265, 364

Sources

Literature

  • Talat Tekin, Irk Bitig: The Book of Omens (1993)
  • Maḥmūd al-Kāshgharī, Dīwān Lughat al-Turk (1072–1074)

Related

What links here2

Customs & Pastimes
Knucklebones · Polo

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Stakes and Wagers.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/customs/stakes-and-wagers/

Last revised: 8 November 2026