Goodbye ＂local chicken＂, the English name of Turkey will be changed from Turkey to Turkey？

Original global intelligence agent, global intelligence agent

Turkey changed its English name

Author | Blue Sky and Clear Away

Editor | ｜Thomas

Turkey’s English country name "Turkey" also means "Turkey" in English. The United States has the habit of eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Turkey thinks that its country name is linked to turkey, which affects its national image.

Not only that, Turkey also derives the meaning of "idiot, fool" in English. In Chinese, Turkey also has a nickname called "native chicken".

Turks can’t stand their country name being used as a joke. At the beginning of 2022, Turkish President Erdogan signed a communique to change the spelling of English country names from Turkey to Turkey. The Turkish government indicated that it would register a new English name with the United Nations as soon as possible.

▲ The official Turkish travel website has been renamed.

How did Turkey’s English country name "Turkey" come into being? Why is it linked to "turkey"?

▲ Eating "turkey" becomes a Thanksgiving ceremony in the United States.

First, the "trouble" guinea fowl

In modern Turkish, Turkey is written as Türkiye (Land of Turks). The country name of Turkey evolved from the word Turk, which means "brave" in Turkic, and Turks also consider themselves direct descendants of Turks.

In the 3rd century BC, Huns first occupied the Mongolian Plateau. After the Han Dynasty weakened the Huns, Xianbei and Rouran successively occupied the Mongolian Plateau from the 2nd century to the 5th century. At the same time, there were other nomadic countries in Central Asia, and Turkey believed that its history was inextricably linked with these nomadic countries.

▲ The troubles of Sui and Tang empires.

In the 6th century A.D., Rouran’s Turkic tribe defeated Rouran and established the Turkic khanate in the Mongolian Plateau. However, under the attack of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Turkic khanate was split in two.

A large number of Turks migrated from Central Asia to West Asia, and the Turkic ministries who moved to West Asia converted to Islam and became an important political force in West Asia.

In 1299, Osman I, the leader of Kaye tribe of Ugus, a branch of Turkic, established political power in Asia Minor Peninsula, namely the Ottoman Empire.

In 1453, the Ottoman Empire occupied Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, and the Roman Empire, which lasted for thousands of years, died. After the annexation of the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire launched several rounds of invasions on Central Europe, and the imperial army became the nightmare of the Christian kingdom in Europe.

▲ Osman I

The word Turkey was originally transliterated from the Latin Turcae, referring to the nomadic people along the Black Sea. After the Turkic people came into contact with Europe, this word began to be used in a series of Turkic countries.

As early as before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, the Byzantine Empire (395- 1453 AD, the common language was Greek) once called the Seljuk Empire, another regime established by Turks in West Asia, Tourkia.

▲ Seljuk Empire was once the overlord of West Asia.

Since the Middle Ages, Europeans used to refer to the Muslim areas of the Ottoman Empire as "Turchia" or "Turquia", which means the land of Turks and Turks. These words can be found in the Book of the Duchess published by the British poet geoffrey chaucer in 1369.

After development, at the latest in 1719, the English spelling of "Turkey" was solidified into Turkey. Correspondingly, the ruling people of the Ottoman Empire were called "Turks". The Ottoman Empire is often called the "Turkish Empire". Since the Ottoman Empire is the core of the Islamic world, Europeans also use "Turkey" to refer to the Islamic world.

▲Turkey is a "common name" given by Europe to the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire likes to use the title of "Ottomans", but the title of "Turkey" is not popular.

Although there are many ethnic groups in the territory, the Ottoman Empire is more accustomed to roughly dividing its subjects into Muslims and non-Muslims based on religion. In 1517, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamluk dynasty that ruled Egypt and extended its rule to North Africa.

▲ Mamluk dynasty that once ruled around Egypt (red)

The Ottoman Empire controlled the trade routes from North Africa to Europe, and many products had to go through the Ottoman Empire to reach Europe, which inevitably led Europeans to have a misunderstanding-the Ottoman Empire was the origin of goods, and Guinea fowl was one of many misunderstandings.

▲ Guinea fowl

There are about 10 different species of guinea fowl, most of which live in sub-Saharan Africa. Its meat quality is drier and tougher than that of domestic chickens, with less fat and rich in protein.

After the Ottoman Empire conquered North Africa, Guinea fowl followed the footsteps of African businessmen and crossed the Sahara desert to North Africa, where it was transported to Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, via Arab or Greek businessmen in West Asia.

▲ Ottoman Empire before 1878

As the core of a huge empire, Istanbul is also a commercial center of the empire. Since the 16th century, people can see all kinds of guinea fowl in the bustling bazaar (market) in the city. These African-born birds are huge, their feathers are dotted with spots, and they are also very conspicuous in the bazaar.

Guinea fowl comes from far away sub-Saharan Africa, which is not the territory of the Ottoman Empire, but British businessmen in the Ottoman Empire still call it "turkey cock" or "turkey coq", that is, Turkish cock.

▲ Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire

From the 16th century, guinea fowl came to western Europe from the ports of North Africa with merchant ships. People in Britain and France did not deliberately explore which tribe the merchants bought these species from. The British people also imitated the merchants and called the guinea fowl "Turkish cock".

Compared with the British who try to save trouble, France, the Netherlands and other countries are more strict in naming. They know that the Ottoman Empire is not the origin of guinea fowl, but the "shrewdness" of countries such as France and Holland will stop here. They think that guinea fowl comes from distant India, and the French guinea fowl is called "Lepoulet indien" (Indian chicken).

It is precisely because of the British "trying to save trouble" that the guinea fowl originated in Africa has inexplicably become "made in Turkey". This misunderstanding became more and more serious. With the rise of the European colonial empire, Turkey was finally bound to turkey in the process of spreading English.

Second, in the name of Turkey

After the Ottoman Empire controlled the Middle East and North Africa, the traditional trade routes were controlled by it. Encouraged by opening up new trade routes to the East and spreading Christian beliefs to the outside world, Europeans ushered in the era of "great geographical discovery".

In 1492, although Columbus didn’t reach the East where he wanted to go, he let Europeans first touch the American continent. Countries such as Spain, Portugal, Britain and France have successively launched colonial activities in America.

▲ new route opening

In September 1620, a sailboat named "Mayflower" carried 102 passengers from England to Virginia Colony. Because the ship deviated from the course, may flower was forced to dock in today’s Massachusetts, which was far less developed than Virginia.

In order to survive, people decided to build a new town in Massachusetts and named it New Plymouth after the sailing place.

▲ Come to the New World

There is a widely spread story that neighboring Indians lend a helping hand to British immigrants. They sent all kinds of food, including turkey, and taught British immigrants how to fish and build houses.

In the autumn of 1621, New Plymouth ushered in a bumper harvest. In order to show gratitude, British immigrants invited Indians to celebrate together. Indian leader Massasso led his people to a banquet, and people sang and danced for three days, which was the embryonic form of Thanksgiving.

▲ Thanks to the Indians

In fact, there is no record of this carnival in the diaries of the first immigrants from New Plymouth. On the contrary, in 1637, john winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts, launched a war against Indian tribes. After killing hundreds of Pecots, Winslow announced to British immigrants that "this day should be a Thanksgiving Day. Thank God, we conquered Pecots".

The origin of Thanksgiving Day is not as beautiful as the legend, but the turkey was indeed obtained from the association between British immigrants and Indians. Before the arrival of European colonists, Indians had raised turkeys for hundreds of years.

▲ Winslow

In the eyes of British immigrants, turkey and guinea fowl are the same species. With a fat body and a colorful head, the name of the Turkish rooster was put on the turkey. Since then, the name "turkey fowl" has come into being.

Turkey, with its plump meat, soon became an important food for the colonial people in North America. The name of the turkey is also simplified, and the fowl (bird) used to indicate the attribute is omitted, and only the name of "origin" is retained (even if the turkey has nothing to do with Turkey).

"Turkey" has become the official name of turkey, and there is no difference between them except the case of the first letter.

▲ Turkey (left) and Guinea fowl (right)

The name of Turkey in English changed from guinea fowl to turkey, and so did the name of "Indian chicken" in French.

In addition to foreign countries, Polish, Hebrew, Catalan and other languages also call turkey "Indian chicken".

After the great geographical discovery, turkeys also appeared in the markets of the Ottoman Empire along with commercial activities. The Ottomans knew that this kind of chicken had nothing to do with themselves, so they learned from the French that turkey was called "hindi" (Indian chicken). India, however, was ruled by Britain in modern times. In local languages, most turkeys are called "Turkish chickens" like English.

▲ The Ottoman Empire in the 19th century

This story is somewhat similar to the fact that the Dutch bean in China population becomes China bean in the Dutch mouth, and the charm and fun of language are contained in it.

Looking at the essence of the problem, turkeys originating in North America have many names among the Indian population, meaning mostly "big bird". However, Indians have no right to speak, but Britain and the rising United States spread the name "turkey" all over the world with colonial expansion and cultural export.

▲ The British navy is strong.

Third, we are not "native chickens"

Almost every language has polysemy, and it is not surprising that country names have the same names as other things. "China" means porcelain, but few people compare China with porcelain.

However, turkey, as a necessary food for Thanksgiving in North America, is not only a little too ordinary, but also represents the meaning of being "eaten" by human beings, which cannot reflect the "sense of power" of the Ottoman Empire.

In the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire began to decline and became the target of aggression by European powers. At the same time, the colonial people in North America started the war of independence, and Britain was forced to recognize American independence in 1783.

▲ Thanksgiving Day

After 1800, turkey gradually became a regular dish on Thanksgiving Day. In 1863, President Lincoln set the date of Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November. In English, the name of turkey solidified into turkey. Because the first impression of turkey seems to be not very smart, Turkey also extended "idiot, straw bag".

Britain is developing colonies all over the world, and the national strength of the United States is also booming. With the spread of English, turkey is known by more and more people, but most people know the word through turkey, and the original meaning of the word "Turkey" is not so important.

On the other side of the globe, the Ottoman Empire has indeed gone from bad to worse, becoming a "straw bag" bullied by the great powers.

▲ Russia invaded the Ottoman Empire.

By the end of the 19th century, Austria and Russia had turned the land of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans into their sphere of influence. Britain, France and Italy carved up the North African territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the weak Ottoman Empire really became a turkey in front of the big powers’ knives.

With the increasing influence of the west in the Ottoman Empire, the way that westerners equate "Turkey" with "Ottoman" also affected the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire began to accept the word "Turkey".

But until the end of 19th century, "Turkey" still had no meaning of modern nation or country. In the Ottoman Empire, "Turkey" has a certain derogatory meaning, usually referring to farmers in plateau mountainous areas.

The upper classes still call themselves "Ottomans" (Ottomans). The "Turkish" in the European and Ottoman populations do not refer to the same group of people.

▲ subjects of the empire

The great powers’ carve-up frenzy gave the Ottoman Empire a deep sense of crisis. From the end of 19th century to the beginning of 20th century, a "pan-Turkic" ideological trend rose in West Asia, advocating the union of turkic peoples and the leading role played by the Ottoman Empire in it, driving turkic peoples to become self-reliant, and Turkey began to become the representative of the Turkic nation.

This collided with another trend of thought at that time, "Ottomanism" (revitalizing the Ottoman Empire and highlighting Ottoman identity). Ottoman (Ottoman), Turkey (Turkey) and Islam (Islam) together constituted the identity of the empire.

In 1914, the Ottoman Empire put all its eggs in one basket and joined the First World War against the background of alliance with Germany and Austria. As a result, the Allied Group was defeated in World War I, and the Ottoman Empire was forced to sign the harsh Treaty of Sevres.

The Arab settlements controlled by the Ottoman Empire were ceded to Britain, France and other countries, and even the western part of Asia Minor Peninsula, where the main ethnic group Turks lived, was ceded to Greece.

▲ Autumn in Danger

The Ottoman Empire slipped to the brink of national subjugation, and young officers headed by Kemal organized a resistance struggle. Kemal said that "the independence of the Ottoman nation should be maintained".

During the war, there was a wave of referring to the country as "Turkey" in the Ottoman Empire. Amir Pasha, a government official, opposes the use of Turkey to address a country or a nation.

He said, "We have established the caliphate system in the name of Islam … We are not just gathered here in the name of Turks. It is more appropriate to say Muslims or even Ottomans than Turks. In our hometown, there are Caucasians, Chechens, Kurds and other Muslims. The use of Turkish appellations will exclude (these groups). "

▲ The Last Sultan of the Empire

After more than two years of life-and-death fighting, Kemal defeated the invading army headed by Greece and re-signed the fairly Lausanne Treaty with western countries. The core territory of the former Ottoman Empire was preserved, and the Turks became the absolute subject nation of the qualified new country. After the victory of the war, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was expelled and the empire came to an end in 1922.

In order to make a thorough cut with the Ottoman Empire and break the state system of the integration of politics and religion that lasted for hundreds of years, Kemal initiated the secularization reform, and the importance of religion in social life decreased greatly. He argued that "Turkey" should be the name of the new country. "Turkey" has changed from a vague political term to the name of a country, but it is still written in Arabic characters during the Ottoman Empire.

▲ Kemal, who is honored as the father of Turkey.

During the secularization reform, Turkey established a representative democracy by learning from the West, Latin letters replaced the original Arabic writing system, and Türkiye ("Turkey" in Turkish) became a new way to write country names.

After the establishment of the brand-new Turkey, Turkey has developed into an important country in West Asia from the 20th century to the 21st century. By 2020, the country’s GDP totaled 720 billion US dollars, ranking 19th in the world and 1st in West Asia. The standing army of more than 600,000 makes Turkey a NATO country second only to the United States in terms of strength.

However, with the stagnant economic situation in Turkey in recent years, nationalism has begun to rise. Especially since the current Turkish President Erdogan took office in 2014, the strengthening of religious forces has also worried the outside world that Turkey will have a wave of "anti-secularization".

In addition, Turkey is also actively involved in the affairs of surrounding areas. Under the background of national strength, many Turks express their dissatisfaction with the English spelling of country names. How can the country name be associated with the food on the table? Moreover, this name has been ridiculed by the world from time to time, and serious country names should not be regarded as the object of playing tricks.

▲ The Turkish army entered Syria

In 2021, Turkey launched the English country name adjustment action. In January 2022, Erdogan signed a decree to change the English spelling of the name of Turkey from Turkey to Turkiye(Türkiye). Turkey has also launched a publicity and public relations campaign called "HelloTürkiye" on social networks and TV media at all costs.

▲ Renaming activities

In addition to adopting relevant resolutions at home, changing the English spelling of country names needs the cooperation of the international community. Turkish officials said that they would apply to the United Nations to urge the international community to accept new English names as soon as possible.

There are many precedents for changing foreign translation names, and most of the reasons are to erase colonial marks (for example, Ivory Coast is changed to C? te d ‘Ivoire); Promote national unity (for example, Myanmar has changed Burma with great Burmese color into Myanmar that can refer to all ethnic groups); Pronunciation in line with the national language (for example, South Korea changed Seoul to Seoul).

But like Turkey, the name is changed because the name is tied to poultry, but it is unique in the world.

However, modern Turkish is also spelled with Latin letters. The so-called change of English country name is only the transplantation of Turkish spelling into English. "Turkey" in English and "Türkiye" in Turkish actually sound almost the same, which is difficult to distinguish in spoken English. It also makes people suspect that renaming will not actually achieve results.

In the eyes of some people, Turkey’s change of English-speaking countries is more about service politics. At present, Turkey’s economy is in recession, the Turkish lira has depreciated sharply, and domestic inflation has risen sharply. The Turkish domestic opposition criticized Erdogan for "putting on a show" and accused him of using the name change to stir up national sentiment to divert people’s attention to the economic downturn and shift the accusation of his ineffective governance.

▲ In Turkey, money is becoming less and less valuable.

Supporters believe that it is necessary for Turkey to correct Türkiye’s name, and they praise the government for showing Turkish culture and values in the best way. After all, having the same name as "Turkey" is detrimental to the national image, and they think their country name should be respected.

Long-term author | Blue sky and clear distance

A veteran lover of history

Editor in charge | ｜Thomas

Graduate of London School of Economics and Political Science | Editor-in-Chief of Global Intelligence

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Original title: "Goodbye" Chicken "! The English name of Turkey will be changed from Turkey to Turkey? 》

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