Burtas

In the 1380s or earlier at least part of them settled in Temnikov Principality.{{cite journal |last=Акчурин |first=М. М. |title=Буртасы в документах XVII века |trans-title=The Burtas in Documents of the 17th Century |journal=Этнологические исследования в Татарстане [Ethnological research in Tatarstan] |year=2012 |issue=VI |pages=43–48 |language=ru}} The Tatar-speaking Burtashi ethnic group is sometimes mentioned in forums.{{Cite web |title=Исчезнувший народ - буртасы |trans-title=Disappeared People – Burtas |url=https://autogear.ru/article/354/589/ischeznuvshiy-narod---burtasyi/ |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=autogear.ru |language=ru}}

The ethnic identity of the Burtas is disputed, with several different theories ranging from them being a Uralic tribal confederacy (probably later assimilated to Turkic language), and therefore perhaps the ancestors of the modern Moksha people.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Буртасы |trans-title=Burtas |encyclopedia=Great Soviet Encyclopedia |volume=4 (Брасос — Веш) |page=600 |editor-first=А. М. |editor-last=Прохоров |date=1971 |language=ru}}{{cite book |last=Новосельцев |first=А. П. |title=Хазарское государство и его роль в истории Восточной Европы и Кавказа |trans-title=The Khazar State and its Role in the History of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus |url=http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/Rest/rest0301.htm |pages=186–187fn |language=ru}}

Some scholars maintain that the Burtas are supposed to be Turkic-speaking and ethnically related to the Volga Bulgars.{{cite journal |last=Халиков |first=А. Х. |title=К вопросу об этнической территории буртасов во второй половине VIII — начале Х вв |trans-title=On the Question of the Ethnic Territory of the Burtas in the Second Half of the 8th to the Beginning of the 10th Century |journal=Советская этнография [Ethnographic Review] |issue=5 |date=1985 |pages=161–164 |language=ru}}

Recently some scholars have suggested that the Burtas were Alans or another Iranian ethnolinguistic group. An Alanic (Sarmatian) origin would also explain their name as furt/fort ('big river' in Middle Iranian language or 'beehive' in Turkic language){{cite journal |last=Афанасьев |first=Г. Е. |title=Буртасы и лесостепной вариант салтово-маяцкой культуры |trans-title=Burtases and the Forest-Steppe Variant of the Saltov–Mayak Culture |journal=Советская этнография [Ethnographic Review] |year=1985 |issue=5 |language=ru}} and the Alanic endonym as.{{cite book |last=Галкина |first=Е. С. |title=Русский каганат. Без хазар и норманнов |trans-title=Russian Khaganate. Without Khazars and Normans |date=2012 |isbn=978-5-4438-0164-3 |publisher=Алгоритм |location=Moscow, Russia |language=ru}}

Some Soviet and modern Russian historians such as A.E Alikhova and A.N.Gren connected the Burtas to the Chechens and noted that their neighbour Avars call them "Burti".{{Cite web |last=Тесаев |first=Амин |title=Chechen–Bulgar Contacts |url=https://chechenlaw.ru/?p=2100 |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=Чеченское национальное право [Chechen national law] |date=17 January 2020 |language=ru-RU}}

Nikolai Ashmarin believed that the word Mordas - i.e. Mordvins - comes from the ethnonym Burtas since they divide themselves into Erzya and Moksha. The transition took place through a linguistic transition typical for Bulgars (Ogurs) and Oguzes, where the typically Kypchak "M" turns into "B" and "P": the word "I am" (oguzes and ogurs) even in ancient times, they pronounced Bӓ(n), and kipchaks – Mӓn. Tat. men, chuv. pin, turk. bin - "thousand"; tat. milәsh, chuv. pilesh - "mountain ash"; tat. mәçә, chuv. pĕşi, pĕşuk - "cat"; tat. mich., chuv. pichev - "harness, harness", etc. In Tatar, even in Russian borrowings, instead of the initial sound "p" is "m": oven - pech > mich, barrel - bochka > michke. The Volga Bulgarian word "Burtas" passed through the Tatars to Mordas, then to Mordva, where the word bort < mord, as in the word Udmort (Udmurt) means a person, sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति (tri mūrti) and as - a tribe. In the European part of Russia there are quite a lot of surnames "Mordasov" and "Burtasov", as well as the names of the settlements of Burtasy and Mordasy, Mordasovo.{{Cite book |last=Ashmarin |first=Nikolai |title=Thesaurus linguae tschuvaschorum |publisher=Народный комиссариат по просвещению Чувашской Автономной Советской Социалистической Республики. |year=1928–1950 |location=Kazan |language=Russian}}

• Temnikov Principality — Medieval Turkic and Finnic state

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Brook |first=Kevin Alan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69332028 |title=The Jews of Khazaria |date=2006 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=0-7425-4981-X |edition=2nd |location=Lanham, Maryland |oclc=69332028}}
• {{TES|Бортаслар}}

Category:Historical ethnic groups of Russia

Category:History of Penza Oblast

Category:History of Ulyanovsk Oblast

Category:History of Saratov Oblast

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