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Ottoman Hungarian tughs captured by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria in 1556^[1]

A tug (Mongolian: туг [tʰʊɡ], Turkish: tuğ, Ottoman Turkish: طوغ ṭuġ or توغ tuġ, Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰆𐰍, romanized: tuğ) or sulde (Mongolian: сүлд, Tibetan: བ་དན) is a pole with circularly arranged horse or yak tail hairs of varying colors arranged at the top. It was historically flown by Turkic tribes such as Tuğluğ Confederation^[2] and also during the period of the Mongol Empire, and later used in derived Turco-Mongol khanates. It was also used by the Ottoman Empire, a state which was founded by Turkic Oghuz tribes.^[3] In the 17th century, it was also adopted by Slavic cavalry (cossacks, haidamaka), under the name bunchuk (Ukrainian: бунчук, Polish: buńczuk) which is the reflection of the original Turkic word boncuk. This word is derived from the Mongolian words montsog, moltsog and is likely an evolution of it. It is still used by some units of the Polish military.^[4]

History

Early history

According to Gerard Clauson, the Turkic word tu:ğ, for traditional Turkic standards made from horse-tails or bunches of horse-hair, was borrowed from Middle Chinese *dok 纛 "banner, standard" (whose ancestor is Old Chinese *du:g (ZS)^[5] ~ dˤuk^[6] and one of whose many descendants is standard Chinese dú). In contrast, according to linguist Sevan Nişanyan, the author of the first etymological dictionary of Turkish, it is more likely in terms of cultural history that the Chinese word tu or dú is borrowed from Turkic or Mongolic.^[7] Annemarie von Gabain (1955) (apud Maenchen-Helfen, 1973) was inclined to derive Chinese 纛 *duok from Turkic *tuɣ; however, Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen thought that the loan direction had been apparently from Chinese into Turkic, as 纛 (GS 1016) was the same as 翿 dào < d'âu < d'ôg, "staff with feathers" (GS 1090z) 斿 (variant of 旒) liú ~ yóu < iâu < diôg "pendants of a banner" (GS 1080a) 游 liú ~ yóu < "pennon" (GS 1080f), which had been attested in the Classic of Poetry and Zuo Zhuan, centuries before the first appearance of the allegedly Turkic-speaking Xiongnu.^[8]^[9] Chinese observers stated that the medieval Göktürks displayed a tuğ decorated with a wolf's head at their camp's gate in order not to forget their origin from a she-wolf ancestress.^[10]^[11] A Western Turkic tribal confederation, the Duolu, was possibly named after tuğ, if Old Turkic Tuğluğ (𐱃𐰆𐰍𐰞𐰍), which was "mentioned in the Chinese annals under various names: Duolu MChnL tuet-lǐuk[...], Dulu 都陸 MChnL tuǝ-liwk, Duolu 咄禄 MChnL tuet-luk", means "have flags (banners), have standards".^[12]

It was also used by Mongolic tribes too. The white-haired banner is used as a peacetime symbol, while the black banner was for wartime. Usage of the horse tail is symbolic because horses were central to the Mongols' livelihood. This is similar to the use of horse tail hairs for the morin khuur. The original white banner disappeared early in history, but the black one survived as the repository of Genghis Khan's soul. The Mongols continued to honor the banner, and Zanabazar (1635–1723) built a monastery with the special mission of flying and protecting the black banner in the 17th century.^[13] Around 1937, the black banner disappeared amidst the great purges of the nationalists, monks and intellectuals, and the destruction of monasteries.

Genghis Khan proclaimed Khagan of all Mongols. White banners can be seen on the right. 15th-century ms. of Rashid al-Din's "History of the World" (BNF Supplément persan 1113, fol. 44v)
The Mongols besieging a city in the Middle East. The black banner can be seen behind the trebuchet, early 14th-century miniature from a ms. of Rashid al-Din's "History of the World" (Edinburgh University Library)

Modern era

The Nine White banners

The Nine White banners came into renewed significance in Mongolia after democracy was adopted in the early 1990s as a symbol of the traditional Mongolian state, replacing the previous communist red flags.

The state banner flown by the Mongols, the Есөн хөлт цагаан туг, (Yesön Khölt tsagaan tug, 'Nine Base White Banners)', is composed of nine flag poles decorated with white horse tail hairs hanging from a round surface with the Mongolian symbol of the 3 pronged flame, which appears on the Soyombo (Representing the past, present, and future^[14]), on the top. The Nine White Banners was a peacetime emblem used exclusively by the Khans in front of their yurt. The central banner is larger in size than the rest and is placed in the center of the other eight. The modern Mongolian nine white banners are kept in the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar. On National Pride Day, a traditional ceremony for the Nine White Banners is held.^[15]

Black banners

The Dörvön khölt khar sulde^[16]^[17] (Дөрвөн хөлт хар сүлд) or the lit. 'Four Base Black Banners' was used in wartime. It is made of black horse tail hairs and flown in the same fashion. According to the illustrated Japanese chronicle Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba, the banner of the Mongolian Yuan fleet that invaded Japan was black. The modern Mongolian black banners are kept in the Ministry of Defense.

Tugs in the Mongolian military

Within the Mongolian Armed Forces, the black tug is used as the finial in military colours' flagpoles, while the white tug is used by the Mongolian State Honor Guard and is the finial in the colours of the civil security services.

Notes

References

^ Boeheim (1890), pp. 510, 511
^ Kenzheakhmet, Nurlan. Ethnonyms and Toponyms of the Old Turkic Inscriptions in Chinese sources. Studia et Documenta Turcologica. pp. 302–304.
^ Довідник з історії України. За ред. І. Підкови та Р. Шуста. — Київ: Генеза, 1993.
^ Бунчук // Энциклопедический словарь Ф.А. Брокгауза и И.А. Ефрона
^ Zheng Zhang (Chinese: 鄭張), Shang-fang (Chinese: 尚芳). 纛 – 上古音系第二千四百八十九字 [纛 - The 2489th word of the Ancient Phonological System]. ytenx.org [韻典網] (in Chinese). Rearranged by BYVoid.
^ Baxter, William H. & Sagart, Laurent (2014) Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction, version 1.1 (20 September 2014): order: by Mandarin and Middle Chinese (pdf) p. 23 of 161
^ Nişanyan, Sevan. "tuğ - Nişanyan Dictionary". Wayback Machine: "tuğ - Nişanyan Dictionary". Nişanyan Sözlük. Archived from the original on 2023-03-04. Retrieved 4 March 2023. Doerfer II.969, Gerard Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish sf. 464 Çinceden alıntı olarak değerlendirirler ise de, Çince sözcüğün Türkçe veya Moğolcadan alıntı olması kültür tarihi açısından daha güçlü olasılıktır.
^ Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J. (1973). The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press. p. 411
^ Clauson, Gerard (1972). An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-13th Century Turkish. Oxford University Press. p. 464
^ Zhoushu vol. 50. quote: "旗纛之上，施金狼頭。侍衞之士，謂之附離，夏言亦狼也。蓋本狼生，志不忘舊。"
^ Suishu vol. 84 quote: "故牙門建狼頭纛，示不忘本也。"
^ Kenzheakhmet, Nurlan. Ethnonyms and Toponyms of the Old Turkic Inscriptions in Chinese sources. Studia et Documenta Turcologica. pp. 302–304.
^ Jack Weatherford Genghis Khan, p.XVI
^ "Buddhist and Mongolian Symbols".
^ "Symbol of Peace and Eternity, the Nine White Banners". MONTSAME News Agency. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
^ Монгол Улсын бүх цэргийн хар сүлдний товч танилцуулга
^ "WWW.MEDEELEL.MN". medeelel.mn. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2022.

Boeheim, Wendelin (1890). Handbuch der Waffenkunde: Das Waffenwesen in seiner historischen Entwickelung vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig. [1]
William Erskine. A history of India under the two first sovereigns of the house of Taimur, Báber and Humáyun. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854. Pg 265. [2]
Zdzislaw Zygulski, Ottoman Art in the Service of Empire, Hagop Kevorkian Series on Near Eastern Art & Civilization, New York University Press (1992).
Angelo Paratico Una Feroce Compassione, Gingko Edizioni, Verona (2022).