The Elegest inscription is a Yenisei Kyrgyz inscription. It was found by J. R. Aspelin in 1888 on the left bank of the river Elegest, Tuva.[1]
| Old Turkic original text: quyda qunǰuyïm a äsizim a ayït a özdä oγlïm äsizim a adrïltïm a ayït a yüz är qadašïm uyurïn üčün yüz ärin älig öküzin […] kök täŋridä kün ay äsiz ärmiš ayït a äsizim a adrïltïm a qanïm elim a äsizim a ayït a […] bökmädim qanïm elim a ayït a adrïltïm körtlä qan[2] al uruŋu altunlïγ käšig […] bäldä […] toquz säkiz on yašda uruŋu külig toq bögü tärkän a qaŋïm bäg ärdäm üčün […] qara bodunïm qatïġlanïŋ el törösin ïdmaŋ ayït a äsiz älim qanïm elim uγrïnta sü bolïp […][3] yoq […] säkiz är […] elim […] buŋ baŋa […] bat ärmiš öldim ayït a äsizim a […] tört adaq yïlqïm säkiz adaqlïγ barïmïm[4] buŋïm yoq ärdim qadašïm a äkenim a adrïltïm a ayïta qara bodunïm a adrïltïm ayït a män | English translation: O my consort in the secluded place! O my sorrow | May thou say! O my son in the valley | O my sorrow! O, I departed. May thou say | Because of the capability of my hundred kinsmen […] with hundred kinsmen and fifty oxen. Both the Sun and the Moon in the blue sky were weighed down in sorrow. May thou say! O my sorrow | O, I departed. O my khan, o my realm! O my sorrow | May thou say! […] I did not get fully satiated. My khan, my realm | May thou say sorrow! I departed. [I am] Körtlä khan, the Al Uruŋu. […] a golden quiver […] round my waist. I was seventy nine. O Uruŋu Külig Tok Bögü Tärkän | Because of the merit of my father, the beg […] Exert yourself my common people! Do not repudiate the unwritten law of the realm | May thou say, my sorrowful people and khan! My realm set up an army in the right time […] eight men […] My realm […] The grief was […] to me. I died. May thou say, o my sorrow | […] My four legged livestock, my eight legged properties. I did not get grief. O my kinsmen, o my progeny! I departed. May thou say | O my common people! I departed. May thou say |
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| English translation: I left ownerless my wife at hearth, my children orphans in steppe. I lost you, my orphans. Under the decision of hundred my relatives, a hundred men have filled fifty bulls. The sun and the moon ownerless in blue Tengri . I left (my people). To my father, to people, my ownerless orphans... I parted from my father, people, my ownerless orphans. I tied a belt bow in gold quiver from Kürtel-khan Al Urung at the age of seventy nine. My father Urung Külüg Toq Bögü Terikin, in the name of valor lords, came together. My people, be firm. The governor of people has left. Deserted people, ownerless relatives. I had not allowed soldiers to fall for my people fortune. I had captivated eight soldiers being in board. For sake of victories of my people, making... The grief for me was on hundred horses. I have died. My ownerless orphan horses. My four best horses, my eight-legged house, I had no grief (before). I parted from relatives, my ownerless common people, the orphans. |
The phrase " " in the first sentence of the fifth line could be either read as "Kört äl kan" "Kürt el kan", literally meaning "the inn of the Kurdish province". This caused some researchers to believe in theories speculating the Turkic origin of Kurds. Later, some local and foreign researchers working on Turkic history accepted this reading and interpretation, and came to the possibility that the Kurds once had a relation with Turkic tribes.[6]