Tamga

A tamga, or tamgha (Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, lit. 'stamp, seal'; Mongolian: Тамга, ᠲᠠᠮᠠᠭ ᠠ; Adyghe: тамыгъэ) is an abstract seal or brand that was used by Eurasian nomads and cultures influenced by them, initially as a livestock branding. The tamga was used as a livestock branding for a particular tribe, clan or family. They were common among the Eurasian nomads throughout Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Beyond livestock branding, tamgas served as dynastic and state symbols on coinage, architectural inscriptions, and official seals. The Khazar Khagan adopted a bident tamga as a dynastic emblem, which was later appropriated by the Rurikid dynasty of Kievan Rus, appearing on coins minted by Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise. Among the Mongols, tamgas were used as administrative stamps on official documents, giving rise to the Persian and Turkish word "damgha" meaning customs duty or tax seal, from which the English word "tammage" derives. In the Caucasus, the term was borrowed into Adyghe and Kabardian languages where it still denotes clan identity markers. As clan and family identifiers, the collection and systematic comparison of tamgas is regarded to provide insights into relations between families, individuals and ethnic groups in the steppe territory. Similar tamga-like symbols were sometimes adopted by sedentary peoples adjacent to the Pontic–Caspian steppe both in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Branding of livestock was a common practice across most sedentary populations, as far back as the ancient Egyptians. Among the Circassians, most families maintain a tamga to this day, and the customs related to tamga are integrated into Adyghe Khabze. It has been speculated that Turkic tamgas represent one of the sources of the Old Turkic script of the 6th–10th centuries, but since the mid-20th century, this hypothesis is widely rejected as being unverifiable.