Sakha
/ˈsɑː.kə/noun
A name for the Turkic language and Indigenous people of northeastern Siberia, also known as Yakut.
Did you know?Sakha is the people’s self-designation, while Yakut is an outside name used in Russian and many other languages; scholars still debate how either name originally arose.
Etymological Timeline
Early historical period
Sakha
саха / saqa
“The people’s self-designation; its deeper origin is uncertain.”
Medieval period
Turkic
Sakha
“An ethnonym associated with the ancestors of the Sakha people; the precise historical development is disputed.”
17th Century
Russian
якут / yakut
“Russian exonym for the Sakha people, later extended to their language and homeland.”
17th–18th Century
English
Yakut
“The conventional English form adopted from Russian.”
20th–21st Century
English
Sakha
“The increasingly preferred form for the people, language, and Republic of Sakha, especially in contexts emphasizing Indigenous self-identification.”