The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual of the Middle Ages, presumably designed to help Catholic missionaries to the Kipchaks. It is currently housed in the Library of St. Mark, in Venice (Cod. Mar. Lat. DXLIX).

Origin and Content

The Codex likely developed over time. Mercantile, political and religious leaders, particularly in Hungary, sought effective communication with the Cumans from the time of their ascendency in the mid-eleventh century CE. As Italian city-states such as Genoa began to establish trade posts and colonies along the Black Sea coastline, the need for tools to learn the Kipchak language sharply increased.

The earliest parts of the Codex are believed to have originated in the 1100's or 1200's. It was likely added to substantially over time. The copy preserved in Venice is believed to date from the early 1300's. The Codex consists of a number of independent works that were ultimately combined in one cover. Historians generally divide it into two distinct and independent parts. The first is a practical handbook of the Kipchak tongue, containing glossaries of words in vulgar Italo-Latin and translations into Persian and Kipchak. This section has been styled the "Italian Part" or the "Interpretor's Book" of the Codex. The second part is a collection of various religious texts (including a translation of the Lord's Prayer) and riddles in Kipchak and translated into Latin and Eastern Middle High German. This part of the Codex is referred to as the "German" or "Missionary's Book" and is believed to have been compiled by German Franciscans.

Whether the Persian parts came through Kipchak intermediaries or whether Persian was a lingua franca for Mediterranean trade well-known in Western Europe is a matter hotly debated by scholars.

Accuracy

The Codex is generally regarded as accurate, but it differs slightly from other sources on Kipchak language. For example, the Codex Paternoster reads:

"Atamiz kim kte sen. Algisli bolsun sening [ating, kelsin] xanliging bolsun sening tilemeging necik kim kkte alay yerde. Kndegi tmekimizni bizge bun bergil daxi yazuqlarimizni bizge bosatgil necik biz bosatirbiz bizge yaman etkenlerge" ("Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us out sins as we forgive those who have done us evil")

The same text in the Hungarian Cumania document reads: "bezen attamaz kenze kikte, szenleszen szenadon, dsn szenkklon, nicziegen gerde ali kekte, bezen akomazne oknemezne ber bezge pitbtr kngon..."

Riddles

The "Cuman Riddles" (CC, 119-120; 143-148) are a crucial source for the study of early Turkic folklore. Andreas Tietze referred to them as "the earliest variants of riddle types that constitute a common heritage of the Turkic-speaking nations."

Among the riddles in the Codex are the following excerpts:

• Aq kmening avzu yoq. Ol yumurtqa

"The white- vaulted structure has no mouth (opening). That is the egg."

• Kecak ut(a)hi kegede semirrir. Ol huun.

"my bluish kid (tied) at the tethering rope, grows fat, The melon."

• Olturganim oba yer basqanim baqir canaq. Ol zengi.

"Where I sit is a hilly place. Where I tread is a copper bowl. The stirrup."

References

• Dr. Peter B. Golden on the Codex
• Dr. Peter B. Golden on the Codex