Mahmud al-Kashgari wrote his dictionary of the Turkic languages in the 1070s.[1] It is a source for the eleventh century and not for the Göktürk age. The entries below stand in the first volume of the English translation, which covers the first half of the dictionary.[2] The dictionary glosses words and does not describe workshops. Its entries still show which materials a Turkic household worked, and with which tools. The metals have their own article.

Felt

Kidiz is felt.[3] Wool that is prepared for making felt is kidizlik yün.[4] Felt that is prepared for making a raincoat is kädüklük kidiz.[5] The felt cap is kädük.[6] A board, batγa, serves to cut felt and goat’s-hair cloth for caps.[7]

Felt was also decorated. Esrilä- is the verb of the work: “he embroidered the felt with a leopard-skin pattern”.[8] Kimiškä is an embroidered felt of Kashgar.[9] The carpet is köwiz.[3]

Felt lay under the saddle and around the tent. The saddle felt that is put under the saddlecloth is tärlik.[10] The saddle pad, ädrim, is the leather and felt beneath both sides of the saddletree.[11] A coil of woven wool wound around a tent is called quršaγ, or äw quršaγı, the coil of the tent.[12] In the kitchen a felt cloth served to wrap boiled wheat that was kneaded with a barley leaven and left in a warm place to mature.[8] The felt article treats the material in the older sources.

Cloth and the loom

The loom has two entries. Čäčgä is the weaver’s reed.[13] Küzük means in a loom the knotted threads by which the upper warp is separated from the lower, and it also names the man who weaves brocade or other cloth.[6] Tösäklik barčin is brocade, or other cloth, that is to be made into bedding.[5]

Two entries name garments of wool. Qars is a robe of camel hair or sheep’s wool.[14] Čäkräk is a single-layered gown of wool, worn by slaves.[10]

Leather

Qoγuš is leather, tanned or untanned.[15] Ärük is anything used in tanning skin, and täri ärükläd i means “he tanned the skin”.[16] Leather was made into containers. Käsürgü is a leather bag, and sarnič is a leather milking pail.[17] The dictionary does not name the tanning agent that ärük stands for.[16]

Wood and glue

Kärki is the carpenter’s axe, and körgä is a plate made of wood, in the Känčäk dialect.[13] A piece of wood called talγuč is inserted between the bundle on an animal and its rope, and the rope is twisted with it several times so that the load is stretched taut and does not go awry.[18] A branch that is to be made into a blowgun for shooting small birds has a word of its own, tüwäklik.[5]

Surquč is a resin that is used to glue the tangs of swords and knives into their handles.[18] Kiriš is the bowstring.[15] The composite bow of the steppe is treated in its own article.

Silences of the dictionary

The dictionary does not say who made felt, cloth or leather goods, whether they were made in the household or by specialists, or how they were traded.[19]

References

  1. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk
  2. ^ al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074
  3. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 282
  4. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 375
  5. ^ a b c Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 376
  6. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 299
  7. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 321
  8. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 255
  9. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 364
  10. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 355
  11. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 136
  12. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 348
  13. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 325
  14. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 272
  15. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 285
  16. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 110
  17. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 364, 341
  18. ^ a b Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 341
  19. ^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074

Sources

Literature

  • Maḥmūd al-Kāshgharī, Dīwān Lughat al-Turk (1072–1074)

Related

What links here2

Institutions and Titles
Wood and Woodworking
Customs & Pastimes
Culture of the Turkic Peoples

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Felt, Cloth, Leather and Wood in Kashgari's Dictionary.” Turkic Atlas, revised 7 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/institutions/cloth-leather-and-wood-in-the-diwan/

Last revised: 7 November 2026