seljuk
/sɛlˈd͡ʒuːk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.95 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Seljuk Bey, the legendary founder of an Oghuz Turk dynasty that ruled an eponymous Sunni Muslim empire in Southwest Asia and numerous successor states, particularly in Anatolia.
name
A unisex given name from Turkish.
adj
Of or related to Seljuk, to his dynasty, to their empire in southwestern Asia, or to the period of their rule from the 11th–14th centuries.
Example Sentences
- "...the House of Seljuk..."
- "Seljuk architecture"
- "The designs, it is true, are more Seljuk than Ottoman (11). But Miletus was never really a Seljuk city, and of course at Constantinople the Ottomans succeeded directly to the Byzantines."
- "Like so many other Anatolian strongholds , Nicaea had become Seljuk without a fight, and almost at Byzantine invitation. The Turks found themselves in possession of a still impressive city."
- "Manisa became Seljuk in 1313 and Ottoman in 1390. The Ottoman sultans Murat II and Murat III were particularly fond of Manisa and happily resided here."
- "It became Seljuk in the 11C and Mongol in the 13C. The important medieval trading centre was used from the 16C as the residence of the 'Begs', Kurdish feudal lords who were able to maintain their independence of the Ottoman Empire ..."
Etymology
From Ottoman Turkish سلجوق (selcuk), ultimately from Old Anatolian Turkish سلجك (sälcük) attested in the Dede Korkut and Karakhanid سلجك (Selcuk) attested in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, of uncertain etymology. Compare modern Turkish Selçuk. Pelliot & al. favored derivation via Arabic سَلْجُوق (Saljūq) from Proto-Oghuz [Term?] (*Sälčük), following some accounts taking the name from Proto-Turkic *sāl (“raft”) + *-čük (“-ock, -let: forming diminutives”) from the warlord's supposed birth on a raft on the Syr Darya. There are other early Persian and Arabic transcriptions, however, including سلجوك (Saljūk), سلچوق (Salčūq), and سلجق (Saljuq). Some sources take the original form of the name to have been *Salçuğ or *Salçığ with the meaning "one who fights", "disputes", or "struggles". Some arguing for an original pronunciation of [Term?] (*Selčük) or [Term?] (*Selčuk) would derive it from an early borrowing of Persian سیل (seyl, “flood”) + *-čük (“-ock, -let: forming diminutives”); others from *Sel as an earlier name of the Muztagh Ata in the Eastern Pamirs. Caferoğlu and Gedikli argue for derivation from a modified borrowing of Old Uyghur clean, pure (sil) + Proto-Turkic *-čük.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: سلجوق, سلجك, سَلْجُوق, *sāl, -, سیل
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sɛlˈd͡ʒuːk/
- British English: /ˈsɛld͡ʒuːk/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Seljuk Empire