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Maḥmūd al-Kāšġarī محمود الكاشغري
Born	1005 Kashgar, Qara-Khanid Khaqanate
Died	1102 Upal, southwest of Kashgar, Qara-Khanid Khaqanate
Residence	Kashgar
Fields	Linguistics, Lexicography, Turkology

Mahmud ibn Hussayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari (Uyghur: مەھمۇد قەشقىرى, Turkish: 'Kaşgarlı Mahmut', Arabic: محمود بن الحسين بن محمد الكاشغري‎ - Maḥmūd ibnu 'l-Ḥussayn ibn Muḥammad al-Kāšġarī, ) (Mahmûd Qašqarî) was an 11th century Turkic scholar and lexicographer of Turkic languages from Kashgar.

His father, Hussayn, was the mayor of Barsgan and related to the Qara-Khanid ruling dynasty.

Al-Kashgari studied the Turkic dialects of his time and wrote the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, the Dīwānu l-Luġat al-Turk (Arabic: "Compendium of the languages of the Turks") in 1072. It was intended for use by the Caliphs of Baghdad, the new, Arabic allies of the Turks. Mahmud Kashgari's comprehensive dictionary contains specimens of old Turkic poetry in the typical form of quatrains (Persio-Arabic رباعیات rubāiyāt; Turkish: dörtlük), representing all the principal genres: epic, pastoral, didactic, lyric, and elegiac. His book also included the first known map of the areas inhabited by Turkic peoples.

Mahmud al-Kashgari died in 1102 at the age of 97 in Upal, a small city southwest of Kashgar, and was buried there. There is now a mausoleum erected on his gravesite. He is remembered as a prominent Uyghur scholar.

See also

Map from Kashgari's Diwan, showing the distribution of Turkic tribes.

• Yusuf Balasaghuni

References

• Svat Soucek, A History of Inner Asia, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

External links

• Kashgari's world map
• Divanu Lugat'it-Turk's Index (in Turkish)
• In Marco Polo's Footsteps by John F. Burns of New York Times