Tatars
/ˈtɑːtɑːrz/noun
A Turkic ethnic group historically associated with the Mongol and post-Mongol world, especially the Eurasian степpe and the Russian Empire.
Did you know?Medieval Europeans often wrote the name as if it were linked to Tartarus, the Greek abyss of punishment, turning an ethnonym into a nightmare of apocalyptic imagination.
Etymological Timeline
Early 5th century
Old Turkic
Tatar
“A tribal/confederation name among steppe peoples of Inner Asia”
13th Century
Mongolian
Tatar
“A major tribal name encountered by the Mongols and later by Europeans”
13th Century
Latin
Tartarus / Tatari
“Medieval Latin forms that associated the people with the infernal abyss in learned and popular writing”
14th Century
Old French
Tartre / Tartare
“European forms influenced by the hellish association, used for the people and the mythic abyss”
Modern English
English
Tatar(s)
“The historical and modern ethnonym for Tatar peoples”
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