Tengri
/ˈtɛŋɡri/noun
Tengri is the supreme sky deity and cosmic power in ancient Turkic and related Inner Asian religious traditions.
Did you know?In Old Turkic inscriptions, Tengri was portrayed not merely as a distant god but as the heavenly power that granted rulers legitimacy and could remove it.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Turkic
Proto-Turkic
*täŋri
“Sky, heaven, celestial deity; the reconstructed ancestral form”
6th–8th Century
Old Turkic
teŋri
“Heaven, sky, or the supreme divine power”
8th Century
Old Turkic
Tengri
“The heavenly force invoked in the Orkhon inscriptions as granting rule and success”
Medieval Period
Mongolian
tengri / tenger
“Sky, heaven, and the high celestial deity; likely inherited or borrowed within the Inner Asian cultural sphere”
Medieval–Modern
Turkic languages
tanrı / täŋri
“God, deity, or God in Islamic-era usage among several Turkic peoples”
20th Century–Modern
English
Tengri
“A name for the ancient Turkic sky god and the central divine concept of Tengrism”