Archive for the ‘Idel Volga’ Category

Idel (Volga)

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

The Turkic peoples living along the river formerly referred to it as Itil or Atil “big river”. In modern Turkic languages, the Volga is known as İdel (Идел) in Tatar, Idyll in ancient Bulgar[citation needed], Атăл (Atăl) in Chuvash, Idhel in Bashkir, Edil in Kazakh, and İdil in Turkish. The Turkic peoples associated the Itil’s origin with the Kama River. Thus, a left tributary to the Kama River was named the Aq Itil “White Itil” which unites with the Kara Itil “Black Itil” at the modern city of Ufa.

Under the Asians, the river was known by its other Turkic name Sarı-su “yellow water”, but Mongols also used their own name: Ijil mörön “adaptation river”. Presently the Mari, another Ugric group, call the river Юл (Jul), meaning “way” in Tatar. Formerly, they called the river Volgydo, a borrowing from Old Russian.