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Thread: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

  1. #1

    Default Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    Hi all,

    In modern day Turkish, one name of crossbow is Tatar bow which is quite strange since Tatars are also great archer community just like Turks.

    What could be the reason behind this naming?

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    This is what I have been wondering for a long time. Perhabs Ottomans learned the crossbow via Tatars.
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  3. #3
    Magister Militum Flavius Aetius's Avatar δούξ θρᾳκήσιου
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    Default Re: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    It's more likely the Ottomans learned of the crossbow via the Romans or Crusader states. However, I'm pretty sure the Tartar cities of the Crimea used the Crossbow heavily, which could explain it.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    The chronicler of Seljuk Empire, Ibn Bibi mentions about Armenian "Charkchi" contingent promised by Armenian king to send to Seljuk Sultan as tribute. "Chark" is stirrup crossbow of large size in Arabic. Some scholars even claimed that the Byzantine word for crossbow "tzangra" is derived from the word "Chark".

    One thing to support Aetius's point is, Ibn Bibi's account about Sugdak campaign in 1224. During the Mongolian invasion that disrupted trade between Anatolia and Crimea, Sugdak was a very important trading post under Byzantine rule. Ibn Bibi states only defenders were using crossbows with the same word, "chark".

    It is quite strange there is no answer about this. It is likely that there were soldiers using crossbows in cosmopolitan Mongolian armies invading Anatolia thus Turks named weapon after this.
    Last edited by HeroSK; March 30, 2014 at 02:47 AM.

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    Default Re: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    AFAIK Tzangra is not the Byzantine word for crossbow. The Greeks didn't have a word for it, they called it a Frankish bow I think.

    The Romans controlled most of the Black Sea prior to their collapse of control in 1204, when the Genoese and Venetians took control of the Roman trading cities like Theodosia (Kaffa).

  6. #6

    Default Re: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    In the book, The Medieval City Under Siege, Paul E. Chevedden argues;

    . The most plausible derivations of the two Byzantine terms for crossbow, (tzangra) and (tzarch), which appear for the first time in the eleventh century, are from two Persian terms for crossbow, zanburak* (little wasp) and charkh (pulley wheel), respectively.
    He also mentions weapon list of the expedition against Crete. List includes, cheirotoxobolistron, hand-bow-ballistae which was highly likely a type of crossbow.

    Also, in the book, Warfare in Late Byzantium 1204-1453, Savvas Kyriakidis mentions a special position established for crossbowmen;

    In the 1270s, the Angevin forces in Albania recruited many crossbowmen, while the author of the Chronicle of the Toccos indicates that crossbowmen were essential for the defence of fortifications. It is logical to infer that similar small companies were employed by the Byzantine state for the defence of fortresses and fortified towns. Moreover, in his account of the siege of Philippoupolis in 1323, Kantakouzenos points out the effectiveness of the crossbow in siege operations. He relates that the shots of the crossbowmen of the Byzantine army penetrated the armour of the defenders killing and injuring many of them.The importance of this weapon in late Byzantium is indicated by the creation of the office of stratopedarches
    ton tzangratoron (crossbowmen)

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    Default Re: Why is crossbow called Tatar Bow in Turkish?

    That's usually what the Romans called it, some variant of the word "Ballistra" (Catapult) or "Arcus" (Bow)

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